ARTICLE - "HOW TO REPLACE DAMAGED OR DESTROYED U.S. CURRENCY"

How to Replace Damaged or Destroyed U.S. Currency

from the Tip Hero website
(http://tiphero.com/replace-damaged-currency/)

If your cash is just soiled or ripping at the corners, you should still be able to use it, but if one of those bills is torn in half, you will have to tape it together and bring it to your local bank. There, a teller should be able to confirm its authenticity and add the money to your balance, or even replace it with an intact version.

BUT, if your cash has been mutilated due to fire, water, chemical, explosives damage, animal damage, or deterioration by burying–a.k.a. the most common ways cash becomes severely blemished, according to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing–then it’s time that you contact the agency for help.

On its official government site, the BEP gives the following instructions to those who need their ruined cash replaced:

1. Write down the amount of cash that was damaged, your contact info, and an explanation of how the bills became damaged. Also, be sure to include your bank account number, along with a routing number. If you’d rather receive a check, including payee and mailing address information.

2. Carefully place all of the mutilated cash that you have in the envelope, making sure that the packing process doesn’t further damage the bills.

3. Send as a certified package to:

Personal Delivery and Non-Postal Couriers, i.e. FedEx/UPS

Bureau of Engraving & Printing

MCD/OFM, Room 344A

14th and C Streets SW

Washington, DC 20228

USPS Delivery

Bureau of Engraving & Printing

MCD/OFM, Room 344A

P.O. Box 37048

Washington, DC 20013

4. Wait for your claim to be processed. At this time the BEP is dealing with a high number of currency claims, so it might take anywhere between 6 and 36 months to receive a final decision. Also, if the amount of money that was damaged was particularly high, the BEP may decide to contact law enforcement to help them confirm the authenticity of the claim.