Can a bank refuse to change your smaller bills to larger notes if you do not bank with them?

Question

I recently went to a bank and wanted my smaller notes changed to larger bills. I was accommodated but later informed by the bank manager that if I did not belong to their bank, they will not allow me the same service next time. Is there justification to this?

Answer 1

Yes. They are there to serve their customers.

Open an account and you'll be entitled to that service.

Answer 2

I don't know if there is justification for it but the same thing happened to me.  

Answer 3

most banks wont let you use any of their services if you do not bank with them. That's their way of getting you to sign up with them.

Answer 4

Yes. Try cashing in lots of change like pennies...no way unless you have an account with them.

Answer 5

It's their prerogative really.  Beyond that, there's no real justification.  If they want the large bills, for whatever reason, they can tell you, a non-customer, they won't perform that service.

Answer 6

I have worked for a bank for five years now... there are a lot of reasons why we should not accept bills from non-customers.

1) All bills in our drawers are accounted for by denomination. When taking in or giving out cash we log the number of each bill in our system under YOUR account number. Without your account number we have no way of contacting you in case of a overage or shortage at the end of the day.

2) Some banks go a little further to comply with the US Patriot Act following the events of September 11th. This requires that we have full account information for all cash transactions as we are required to have a paper trail. If the bills happen to be marked or counterfeit this causes a problem.

3) Because every bank has an on hand cash limit we can only hold a certain amount of cash on hand each day for security purposes. If we give this out to non-customers we may or may not have it for our loyal long term customers and this would be unfair.

Don't assume the bank has bad customer service. Be glad they gave it to you in the first place as I probably would not have made that exception.  

Answer 7

There is no law that says they have to accommodate you however it is quite impolite.  The could have used that opportunity to try and get you to open an account.  You should have thanked them for giving you an idea of how they feel about customer service and let them know that the account you were considering opening will now be opened elsewhere.

Answer 8

wow whenever ive been to a bank to make change or change up they dont even question my account status. that guy must have been having a bad day or something.