Is it true? (Ripped notes + US law)

[Slater]

So, today I was buying a parking permit at school from an automated despensing machine. There was a long line behind me somehow right when I got there (morning rush, I guess). (And I looked down and found a $5 dollar bill. Score! But that's not the main part of this thread)

Anyhow, I was trying to put my money in, but it wouldn't accept a single bill and the machine was making very strange noise. I looked into it a bit and found that there was a $10 note stuck in the machine... and by stuck, I mean REALLY stuck. Like, none of the people there could believe how badly it was jammed by this note; would have made a really good "YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG" pic.

Eventually, with the work of a car key and pocket knife, someone managed to extract the bill, but it was heavily damaged; ripped about 60-40, down the length. So, he tossed it away. I picked up the left-hand (larger) piece of the note, and kept it.

Tonight, I was going to throw it away after showing it to my teacher as an excuse as for why I was late for my midterm (wasn't necessary, as another classmate was in line with me), and to show to my parents. However, my mom and dad tell me not to throw it away. Why? They say that, legally, as long as you still have more than half of the note, it's worth its full value!

This sounds extremely awesome, but maybe too good to be true. I mean, the ID number is there still, the face, and the water-mark, and it makes sense that you would have to have more than half of the note; but still... can anyone else confirm this for me? cause if so, yahoo! "Free" pizza tomorrow!

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I believe that if a bill has more than 50% of it intact, then it's usable.

Although I also do believe that some stores don't have to accept ripped bills.

[mechana2015]

you probably should take it to a bank and see if they'll give you a more workable one.

[bakura_fan]

yes from what I understand as long as there is at least 55% of the bill it works the same as a full bill. ^_^ But I agree with Mechana to take it to a bank to get it exchanged for a full one.

[Yeshua-Knight]

i know for a fact that you can mail it into the treasury (have no clue as to what the address would be though) and if i recall correctly i remember watching some kind of program about how the treasury does receive damaged bills from fires and other natural disasters and will carefully examine the remains and if the bill passes, they send the person a check for the equivalent amount, but it's been a while since i found out about that, so it is possible that things have changed since then, best just to ask someone at your local bank about it,

[Nikolai Melodie]

It has been said before, but, the bank would probably be the best option. . They can give you a lot more instruction then we can [unless of course...one of the CAA members works at a bank]

[termyt]

Take it to a bank (preferably yours). They will know the rules regarding ripped notes and they will exchange it for you if you have enough.

My understanding is it must be clearly greater than half the note (like 60%) so you can't tear one in two equal peices and double your money.

[mitsuki lover]

This is the first time I have heard about something like this.