There are few things as pleasurable as finding a forgotten banknote in a jacket pocket last season. The money was always yours and you didn’t miss it, but the discovery is welcomed like manna from heaven.

Well, imagine how Mary Venegas, a 66-year-old woman living in Sacramento (USA), felt when she found $6,000 buried in her garden, which her husband had used to pay taxes he had lost four years earlier. The interesting part of the story is not the joy Venegas undoubtedly felt upon her discovery, but the fact that the bank refused to accept the banknotes she found.

The mystery of the $6,000Mary Venegas told CBS News Sacramento that she lost the $6,000 four years ago. The cash was hidden in an envelope that Mary was supposed to have deposited into the bank to pay her taxes. Venegas lost her money somewhere between her home and the bank, creating a mystery that has never been solved.

The CBS reporter asked the protagonist of the discovery: “Mary, how did you lose $6,000 in cash?” “I don’t know, I’m a very, very forgetful 66-year-old woman.” Venegas admitted that somehow the envelope of money fell on the floor covered with cardboard.

The weirdest thing: A bank that doesn’t accept moneyThe envelope containing the money remained half-buried in Venegas’ backyard for four years. The woman who found it thought her recent financial problems had been solved by the “loan” she had received four years ago. But when she tried to deposit the money at the Bank of America office, her initial relief turned to disappointment.

The bank refused to accept the notes because they were in poor condition. Dampness and fungus had damaged the paper. According to the bank, the bills were too damaged to be accepted by the institution and its policy was not to accept or distribute damaged, stained or mutilated currency.

It is possible to recover “destroyed money”, but not quicklyThe United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) uses the term “mutilated currency” to describe paper money that has been damaged to the point that banks reject it. When this happens, the BEP’s Mutilated Currency Unit intervenes, which is responsible for analyzing the notes and determining whether the damaged note can be replaced with another in good condition of equal value.

In order for the value of the ticket to be recovered, the issued tickets must retain at least 50% of the original ticket or their condition must not raise any doubt about their value. Banknotes can be damaged by various factors such as fire, water, chemicals, explosions, animal movements, insects, rodent damage and deterioration due to burial. The refund request for damaged tickets must be made using a form and the agent’s decision can take from six months to a year.

The popularity of Venegas accelerated the processVenegas’ initial joy was jeopardized by a bureaucratic delay, a considerable time for someone like Venegas who urgently needed the money. Television coverage of the case caused Bank of America to reconsider its decision and eventually accepted the recovered damaged money.

But the organization could not accept the most damaging bills, and so Mary Venegas was finally able to pay off her past-due bills by depositing $5,700 of the $6,000 she had collected from her garden. The remaining $300 will have to go through the usual channel for such a lawsuit.

The same thing is happening in SpainLosing 6,000 euros at home may not be the most common situation, but it is common for a financial institution, such as Bank of America, not to accept damaged bills.

However, the Bank of Spain has a mechanism that allows the banknotes to be revalued with new banknotes. The basic requirements for an exchange will be that the note represents more than half of the original surface or that it can be proven that the missing piece has been destroyed. In this sense, banknotes damaged by breakage, accidental exposure to moisture or fire are accepted. However, those showing signs of intentional breakage or those stained with anti-theft inks or adhesives or traces of these substances are excluded.

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