The £50 note..

[John]

Hello all,

The £50 note. I can count on one hand the amount of times I've had a £50 note and it didn't really used to bother me too much. For those of you who don't know, the £50 is not accepted everywhere because they are thought to be so rare, nobody would know a legitimate note from a fake note.

However, having just withdrawn £200 from an ATM, I was given 9 £20 notes and 2 £10 notes. That's eleven bits of paper now sat in my wallet.

Now, inflation has obviously gone up year on year and I think the £50 note needs a come back. Going shopping can now easily result in a bill of more than £50.

Anyone with me?

[flesso]

I'm with you on that one.

$100 bills are common occurence in the USA, so why can't we have more 50 pound notes?

Maybe it's something that'll keep the eco campaigners happy as well.

[DPS Computing]

The problem with £50's is that when they were semi-common and in circulation properly they were targetted by fraudsters to make fakes. Not only big time fraudsters but small time ones as well. The costs associated with creating genuine looking fake currency are quite huge so for small time fraudsters its not really worth creating 10s and 20s as they are only small time and are not going to be pumping them out. Whereas 50s are productive enough even for small time fraudsters.

50s are still quite widely available, just not in cash points and shops. If you went in to a bank and asked for £1000 cash they would normally give it you in 50s although some do give it in 20s now - mainly due to the fraud that has been mentioned.

The big question is has anyone ever had the £100,000,000 bank note?

[eukrobert]

I think its strange when you visit Spain seeing 300 euro & possibly 500 euro notes i was shocked to see someone paying for a McDonalds with 500 euro note or it may of been 300 it was still alot of money to pay for something so small.....tourists do not take care of there money maybe offering notes as high as that is a way to allow there businesses to steal

[Brian]

I remember when the Euro came out, well I dont remember that night, was new years, so the next day. Some sham copied a 100 euro nite on the colour copier and handed it over and the clerk took it LMAO. Class stuff. I think it was officially the first forgery. Happend like 30 mins after it came out.

[DPS Computing]

Originally Posted by Brian

I remember when the Euro came out, well I dont remember that night, was new years, so the next day. Some sham copied a 100 euro nite on the colour copier and handed it over and the clerk took it LMAO. Class stuff. I think it was officially the first forgery. Happend like 30 mins after it came out.

Thats the best time to do it i suppose (although I am not condoning it!!!) as the cashiers arn't used to them .

[Xander]

I've carried fifties in the past, a lot more to lose, if you lose your wallet!..

I think the reason we stick to such small currency over here is because we're plastic crazy, debit/credit, solo/maestro/visa/mastercard/amex and many more, in some cases more than other countries..

I don't partciuarly agree with electric money though, i've been witness as to how easy it is to gain through illegitimate ways.

[DPS Computing]

Electronic money is the future - I can see a world in the end where all transactions are electronic and there is no longer a thing called "money".

As long as the security is in place it is a lot easier, convienient and also less prone to fraud and misuse.