3 Times You Should Never Ask For $100 Bills at the Bank
I’m a Bank Teller: 3 Times You Should Never Ask For $100 Bills at the Bank
Andrew Lisa Wed, April 3, 2024 GoBankingRates
According to data intelligence firm SAS Analytics, $100 bills account for 34% of paper currency in circulation in the U.S. and 82% of its value.
In short, most of our paper money is in hundreds — by a mile — but that doesn’t mean there’s never a bad time to walk into a bank branch and ask for one.
Whether you need a fresh, crisp C-note to put in a birthday card, a wedding envelope or just to stash in your emergency cash pile at home, you’ll want to pick your moment.
Here’s what you need to know.
A Note About the Curious, Cumbersome and Crime-Fueling C-Note
The Wall Street Journal and the New Republic are among several publications that have recently reported on a peculiar monetary irony. Although the $100 bill is far and away the most common note — it surpassed even the ubiquitous $1 bill in 2016 — it’s the least commonly used, by far.
ATMs don’t stock hundreds, many retailers don’t accept them and the mere sight of one makes register clerks reach for the counterfeit-detection pen. Look in your wallet. It’s likely you’re not holding any hundreds, and neither is the vast majority of upright citizens.
Bye, Bye, Benjamin?
As part of a longstanding campaign to stop printing and even recall existing $100 bills, the New Republic wrote, “Benjamins are the favorite currency of criminals and almost no one else.”
Rich tax evaders, corrupt foreign officials, money launderers, counterfeiters and other bad actors hoard them, but the law-abiding masses rarely use them except for overseas travel or special occasions.
As far back as 1976, an economist named James Henry called for an end to the $100 bill in an article in The Washington Monthly because — even nearly a half-century ago — it was the preferred currency of organized crime and tax evaders almost exclusively. In 1945, the Treasury stopped printing $500 and $1,000 bills; and, in 1969, it recalled all remaining $1,000 bills, $5,000 bills and $10,000 bills because of their overwhelming prevalence in money laundering.
That leaves just the mighty C-Note at the top of the hill.
In short, there’s no bill quite like the Benjamin, and asking a bank for one isn’t like asking for any other denomination. Here’s when to avoid doing so.
Avoid Peak Banking Hours
Michael Ashley is a financial planner and the founder of the personal finance site Richiest, but he spent years as a bank employee at Wells Fargo and Citi, two of the largest financial institutions in the country and the world.
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