Exchanging Old or Damaged Money - Frequently Asked Questions

Applications are considered and determined in accordance with the Central Bank’s procedures which are governed by the Decision of the European Central Bank of 19 April 2013 on the denominations, specifications, reproduction, exchange and withdrawal of euro banknotes (ECB/2013/10) and the Central Bank Act 1989.

The Central Bank will make all attempts to process your application as quickly as possible. There may be occasions where we require additional information or documentation to support your submissions so providing any and all supporting documentation with your application will help.

Higher value submissions require additional scrutiny so these may take longer. We may also have to engage with other competent authorities for their input (e.g. the Office of the Revenue Commissioner, An Garda Síochána etc.) which can impact the turnaround time of your submission being processed.

If your application does not meet all the application conditions and has been either fully or partially refused, we will send you a letter to inform you of our decision and explain the reasons why. For example, this may happen if you submit less than half of a banknote for exchange and do not provide evidence that the missing parts have been destroyed. Once cash has been received for exchange, it will be retained by the Central Bank and will not be returned to you.

We accept only valid official forms of identification containing your full name, date of birth and a recognisable photograph (i.e. passport, driving licence).

When you are completing a banknote exchange or coin exchange form, the Central Bank of Ireland asks you to provide personal data for the purposes of assessing your application. If you do not provide this personal information, we may not be able to assess your application and reimburse you.  This data is requested to ensure we comply with laws and regulations applicable to the Exchange of Banknotes. Data necessary to assess the application includes full name, address, date of birth, contact details and bank account details.

For claims above £150 / €200 you will be asked to provide proof of identification, proof of address of the named applicant or proof of authority if you are submitting the application on behalf of someone else, along with proof of bank account that is listed on the application form for the named applicant.

For claims of £750 / €1,000 or more, in addition you are required to provide evidence of the source of funds (i.e. the source of the physical banknotes or coins) and proof of your ownership of the banknotes or coins.  Increased checks for higher values are necessary to assess the application in compliance with Exchange of Banknotes obligations and the performance of a task carried out in the public interest.

We use this information to confirm your identity, that you have a right to request this exchange and to facilitate assessments in compliance with our Exchange of Banknotes obligations as a Central Bank.  Your personal data is processed in accordance with the requirements of data protection legislation and specifically for the purposes of facilitating reimbursement. On occasion and in accordance with our obligations, we may share information with relevant authorities such as An Garda Síochána and the Office of the Revenue Commissioners. When doing so, matters that will be considered include money laundering and terrorist financing, revenue and criminality. Submissions above a certain threshold set by the Central Bank of Ireland may also be referred to relevant national or international competent authorities. Your data will be stored for a period that the Central Bank considers appropriate to assess your application, support the prevention of crime and to enable its compliance with relevant laws.

You have a number of rights under data protection laws. Personal data will be processed in accordance with data protection legislation.  Queries concerning the processing of personal data by the Central Bank of Ireland may be directed to: [email protected]. You can find out more about how the Central Bank of Ireland deals with your personal data on our privacy page.