Got $100-bills? How to change them into $20s without showing ID.

Having read recent articles from multiple mainstream media outlets and leading figures recommending or calling for termination of the $100 Federal Reserve Note, such as Lawrence Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury, I thought it would be a good idea to convert those that I have into smaller bills. I packed up my evil $100-bills and headed for one of my banks, a major U.S. bank, to do just that.

I asked the teller, “Could you please give me $20s for these?” and placed a few $100-bills in the tray. "Do you have an account?" he asked I said “Yes, and my original credit card, as well, but because of an unauthorized charge on the account I am waiting for a new card to arrive in the mail.” He immediately asked for my driver's license and would not break the $100s without it. I walked out and went to another branch of the same bank.

At the second branch I presented my credit card to the teller and told her that there had been some unauthorized charges on my credit card, the matter had been handled, the balance was zero, and a new card was coming in the mail. I handed her the original (but invalid) card and asked her to check the account (not the number per se, just the account) just to make sure that no more charges had been made. She entered the card info and a moment later looked up said “No, the account has a zero balance.”

Having won her confidence as a loyal and trustworthy customer of the bank, I asked her to please change a few $100s into $20s. She then turned back to her keyboard and began typing again. After about 10 seconds she stopped typing, took the $100s, and gave me $20s in exchange as requested.

This major U.S. bank is logging all requests to convert $100s into smaller bills and refusing to do it if the party making the request is not a customer of the bank or will not produce ID.

You can expect the same from all banks very soon.

You also can expect the $100 Federal Reserve Note to be eliminated—most likely without warning, like they recently did in India to the 500 and 1,000 Rupee notes.

If the $100-bill is designated for extinction, holders will be given a small window of time to appear at a bank and present ID in order to exchange the soon-to-be-worthless bills in their possession for smaller ones. An ugly situation.

If you want to change the $100s you have into $20s, but do not know what to do or where to go without showing ID or having your request logged by your bank, here is a simple solution: Buy money orders, deposit them into your bank account, and then, using your debit card, immediately begin hitting the ATMs until you have as much cash in $20s as you need. The United States Postal Service sells money orders up to $1,000.

~ Lockesmith.