£50 notes with writing on them

[Jose]

hi guys
silly question time again, I have around 1000 pounds worth off £50 notes and they have writing on them, only a small bit but the exchange places will not accept. Any ideas

[Pleng]

Have you tried the banks? They might be a bit more clued up

[Jose]

not yet, was hoping someone on here could confirm if they took them

[moja]

Some of the exchange places in town will change them; you just have to keep trying. We had the same problem a while back with notes that were either torn or defaced in some way or other and eventually we got them all changed. The banks were the most fussy we found. Try to change just the odd note here and there that seemed to work for us.

[Homer]

Ask a Thai person you trust to exchange some as a test.

I had two slightly worn USD 100s which 3 banks would not accept. Asked my landlady if I could borrow her iron to see if that would fool the bank tellers (it worked in the Philippines). Said she could exchange them next time she went to the bank. Converted them for me at the bank's exchange rate for that day.

[richard]

If all else fails try opening an account at Bangkok Bank with them. They seem happy enough to fall over themselves to open accounts and relieve you of hard currency

[pharvey]

Unfortunately, I think you'll find the banks and currency exchange places will have a similar attitude to that in China.

The banks by far are the fussiest - they will generally accept c*ck-all in foreign currency if it is defaced or torn. Unfortunately with UK notes, one way of checking the "authenticity" of say a 20 GBP note is to tear along the metalic strip to see if the strip really is there...... thus defacing/damaging the note. I had real problems in the early days bringing cash across to China and changing (or at least trying to) to local currency in the banks. The vast majority of used notes will have some damage or some writing. The only way to overcome this if you insist on bringing cash is to organise new notes before you leave the UK.

Personally, I would use a pre-paid currency card as has been discussed on a separate thread somewhere..... just can't find the link. These are far more convenient and safer than hard cash IMHO.

Best of luck anyway, and enjoy HH!!