--- title: No, Banks and ATMs Are Not About to Stop Accepting $50 Bills description: A viral rumor claims the government is retiring the $50 bill and that banks will stop taking it in order to "modernize the monetary system." authors: - name: Pete Grieve role: Lead News Reporter url: https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/ bio: Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. In his time at Money, Pete has covered everything from car buying to credit cards to the housing market. education: University of Chicago, BA Political Science at_money_since: 2022 articles: 601 covers: - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/pete_grieve - https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138 - https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4 editors: - name: Julia Glum role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/julia-glum/ bio: Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. She also writes Dollar Scholar, a weekly newsletter that teaches young adults how to navigate the messy world of money. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2018 articles: 453 covers: - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - Newsweek - International Business Times - CBS News - Good Morning America - WUSA9 - Pix 11 - The New York Times - Mashable - The Washington Post - CNBC - Politico social: - https://x.com/superjulia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-glum published: '2024-10-09T14:59:46.000Z' modified: '2024-10-09T14:59:46.000Z' section: Banking tags: - News word_count: 705 canonical: https://money.com/50-dollar-bill-rumor-false/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Photo collage of hands holding different dollar bills with an emphasis on the hand holding a fifty dollar bill](https://img.money.com/2024/10/News-Banks-Fifty-Bills.jpg) The $50 bill isn’t nearly as common as other denominations. In fact, it's on track to be be the least-printed bill in 2024, even behind the $2 note. But if you happen to have a $50 bill in your wallet, don't worry: You can still use it pretty much anywhere. Rumors are circulating online this week that the government is retiring the $50 bill and that some banks have stopped accepting them as of last month. But Money investigated this claim, and we can report that it’s four-Pinocchio, pants-on-fire false. ## Get more from your Checking Account with cashback rewards from Discover® ### A cashback-enabled checking account not only provides the convenience of managing your finances seamlessly but also rewards you with cash incentives for everyday transactions, putting money back in your pocket. Click on your state to learn more. [See Details](https://money.com/pr/y52cd0cece7f?ap_referrer=%2F50-dollar-bill-rumor-false%2F) First, here's a look at the claim: According to one blog post, "The Federal Reserve of the United States has announced that certain $50 bills will cease to be accepted at banks and ATMs nationwide… Major financial institutions such as Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citibank will stop accepting $50 bills with specific descriptions." Money reached out to those four banks, and all of them said the claims about a $50 bill policy change are incorrect. - Daniel Castorina, a spokesperson for Chase, says he checked with his team and can confirm it's not true. They’d never heard anything about this, he adds. - Don Vecchiarello, a spokesperson for Bank of America, replies in an email: "The statement about $50 bills is not accurate." - Julia Tunis Bernard, a spokesperson at Wells Fargo, says, "Our branches and our ATMs accept $50." - Lastly, Colin Wright, a spokesperson at Citi, says in an email, "This is not true." ## No, $50 bills are not going away A Federal Reserve spokesperson declined the opportunity to comment but directed Money to several online articles that confirm $50 bills will continue to be treated as "legal tender," indefinitely. "It is U.S. government policy that all designs of Federal Reserve notes remain legal tender, or legally valid for payments, regardless of when they were issued," according to the U.S. Currency Education Program's website. Some of the articles about the purported end of the $50 bill’s life mentioned that older notes in particular would be affected "due to the release of new designs and models for currency notes" in an effort to "modernize the monetary system, ensuring that the currency in circulation is up-to-date and secure." However, a [frequently asked questions post](https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/currency_12768.htm) shared by the Federal Reserve spokesperson refuted this assertion. "You do not have to trade in your old-design notes for new ones. All U.S. currency remains legal tender, regardless of when it was issued," the FAQ reads. Another one of the recent articles alleging the retirement of the $50 bill made reference to policy changes regarding mutilated or damaged bills. But the U.S. government hasn’t announced anything about that, either, and the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) continues to offer [free mutilated currency redemption services](https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/what-should-i-do-if-i-have-damaged-or-mutilated-currency.htm). According to the federal government, private businesses are free to accept — or not accept — whatever U.S. currency they please. Barring a state law that says otherwise, that means a cashier *can* turn down your $50 bill, but it isn’t all that common. In online forums, some fans of the $50 bill say they're fond of it because it tends to be accepted more frequently than the $100 bill, which can be too much for businesses to break and there's a greater loss involved if a Benjamin happens to be counterfeit. It’s hard to tell where all these rumors originated. As far as Money is aware, there have been no changes involving the bill $50 in recent months. The bill’s current design entered circulation 20 years ago, on Sept. 28, 2004. (Perhaps that anniversary has something to do with the false claims?) Over the years, there have been several unsuccessful efforts to take former President Ulysses S. Grant off the bill — most notably in 2010 when Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., [introduced a bill](https://mchenry.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=174295) to put former President Ronald Reagan on the note citing polls of scholars that rank Grant in the bottom half of all the presidents. But this proposal didn't gain much traction. ## Enjoy the convenience of banking while earning 1% cash-back on your regular purchases ### Experience the dual advantage of effortless money management and financial perks with a checking account offering cashback from Discover®. Click below to learn more. [See Details](https://money.com/pr/n6bf5e6e0627?ap_referrer=%2F50-dollar-bill-rumor-false%2F) ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/19978/medium_09303199-0eb1-4bc1-81f4-bba87bf39bd2.png) Open a SoFi® Checking and Savings account today [See Details](https://money.com/pr/e2eb41300f54?ap_referrer=%2F50-dollar-bill-rumor-false%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/50-dollar-bill-rumor-false/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Banking", "item": "https://money.com/banking/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "News", "item": "https://money.com/tag/news/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "No, Banks and ATMs Are Not About to Stop Accepting $50 Bills" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/50-dollar-bill-rumor-false/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/50-dollar-bill-rumor-false/", "name": "No, Banks and ATMs Are Not About to Stop Accepting $50 Bills", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2024-10-09T14:59:46.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/50-dollar-bill-rumor-false/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/50-dollar-bill-rumor-false/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-10-09T14:59:46.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "No, Banks and ATMs Are Not About to Stop Accepting $50 Bills", "articleSection": "Banking", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2024/10/News-Banks-Fifty-Bills.jpg", "width": 2025, "height": 1350, "caption": "News-Banks-Fifty-Bills" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Grieve", "url": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/#author", "description": "Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. 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