The next time you make a withdrawal at an automatic bank machine, you may want to count your cash carefully. Especially if you get a pile of new twenty dollar bills made out of polymer.
With more and more of the new, polymer 20-dollar bills being circulated, a new problem is cropping up.
Global News has already reported how the new 20’s aren’t being accepted at some of Skytrain ticket vending machines, and now people are discovering that some ATMs aren’t always counting the 20’s accurately.
The twenty dollar bills went into circulation November 7. They last longer and are harder to counterfeit. But when you get several of the new polymer notes, they tend to stick together and now Global News is getting reports they could be causing problems at bank machines.
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Loyd Goch says he experienced it first hand.
“What happened with me was I took out $100 out of a bank machine, I thought I took out a hundred, but when I counted it, it was only 80 dollars
He says his bank quickly reimbursed the missing twenty dollar bill, but he also learned he wasn’t the first person to have experienced this problem with the new 20s over the past week.
“I was probably the fourth or fifth customer. They said there has been a number of people in the bank before me,” says Goch.
The new 20-dollar bills have also been causing problems at Skytrain stations.
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Ticket dispensing machine software has not yet been upgraded so they won’t accept them.
The new polymer notes have forced banks to make changes to their money counters and businesses who deal with the bills in large quantities say they are bracing for losses.
The twenty-dollar bill is the most widely used currency in Canada.
Most bank machines deal in twenties and it’s not uncommon to withdraw several of the bills at one time.
The Canadian Banking Association says they haven’t received any reports yet.
If anyone is getting extra twenties, they’re not saying.
How big the ATM problem is, isn’t clear.
“There are well over 500 thousand machines in Canada,” says Trevor Frers with Bank of Canada. “So it depends on machine and size, some are large machines, some are small machines, so depending on the manufacturer and what needs to be done to it, it is really important that each business checks their own machine.”
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