It is common to have your paper money rejected due to some small tear or blemish.This can happen with old ladies selling tortillas on the sidewalk or in modern department stores. Can happen anywhere.
This annoyance is due to the widespread and ignorant belief that it is the actual paper itself that has value, as if it were a gold coin, not simply the paper symbol that it is.
El Banco de Mexico, the central bank of the nation, says on its website that a bill holds its value if it has over 50 percent of his surface or, if the folio number is missing, at least 80 percent of its surface.
Feel free to mention that the next time some dunce says your bill is no good due to a tiny tear.
4 comments:
We are enjoying reading your blogs and just wanted to say thank you for sharing all this good information etc.
We are planning to move to Mexico ASAP.
Your posts are helpful
Becky and Doug
Mike, just a comment about torn, ragged, discolored bills. I see the government is putting out tv ads saying it's ok to accept a bill with scotch tape on it now. Even so many people still don't want to take them, this is something to consider if you are out in the boondocks with just a 100 peso note that has a tear.
This paranoia started in the early 70's , if I recall correctly during the presidential campaign of Luis Echeverria. The other political party started rubber stamping bills saying "vote for us", this was mostly around the frontier areas, but PRI's counter attack was to pass a law saying any defaced money was worthless and could only be exchanged at the Bank of Mexico on a certain day of the week at a certain hour. All hell broke loose and nobody wanted to accept bills that weren't in a pristine condition. Now they're trying to reverse that trend but old fears die hard. probably take another ten years or so.
Well before my Spanish had achieved the fluency it now enjoys, I had an argument with a waitress about a torn 100 peso note. I finally persuaded her to take it. I think we both knew her tip was coming out of it.
But it was tricky trying to explain that the banks take torn money out of circulation in a language that I didn't speak all that well.
Next time I'll refer them to the Banco de México website if they give me any guff.
Perhaps more interestingly is the pervasiveness of counterfeiting. A few visits ago, I received a counterfeit 50 peso note, worth about $5 US. When I tried to spend it, the clerk handed it back in a kind of indifferent way and said it was bad and did I have another?
Here, it's hard to imagine passing a counterfeit note without getting into a long discussion with secret service agents.
And of course here up north, no one has any time to counterfeit anything worth less than $20.
It's a good thing the Mexicans who have made their way north are such law-abiding citizens.
Regards,
Kim G
Boston, MA
Believe it or not, bills which have been "defaced" with a message of "political or commerical nature" are NOT considered to be legal tender in Mexico. In other words, the law regarding defaced money is still in effect, although it does not apply to torn bills, etc.
Examine your bills carefully before you accept them...
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