Early Tet lucky money exchange service

About a month before Lunar New Year, office workers ask around for help exchanging small bills to give as lucky money, while the black market is bustling with fees of 10-50%, even 70%.

Like many other Vietnamese families, Ms. Thu Nga’s family, an employee of a media company in District 10 (HCMC), still has the tradition of giving lucky money to grandparents, parents and grandchildren for luck on the occasion of Lunar New Year. Because of her large family, every year Ms. Nga has to prepare a stack of 10,000 VND or 20,000 VND to give as lucky money.

Last year, Ms. Nga said she had to go around many banks but could not exchange 20,000 VND bills because this denomination was announced to be very rare, usually reserved for VIP customers. After that, she also had to work hard to exchange 2 million VND into 10,000 VND bills. "This year, I had to proactively call early to ask some friends who work at the bank to exchange for me. However, until now, I still don't know if I can exchange because they are only given a limited amount and there are too many people asking," Ms. Nga shared.

Mr. Hai Nhan, an employee of an electronics company in District 6, also said that because his family in the countryside is very large, while he is the only one working in the city, every year the responsibility of exchanging lucky money "falls on his head".

On average, every Tet, he has to exchange tens of millions of dong in new, small bills to bring back to his hometown. "Unfortunately, I don't have any acquaintances working in banking, and I don't do many transactions with banks all year round, so it's quite difficult for me to exchange this amount of money," he confided, adding that last year he had to spend a whole day, going around dozens of banks to exchange that much new, small bills. Now he's worried about whether he can exchange this year because he has so much work that he's afraid he won't have time to go all day. If he exchanges it on the black market, it's easy, but the fees are too high," he said.

Ms. Nhan, a teller at a joint stock bank based in Ho Chi Minh City, added that in the past few days, she has been "overloaded" with requests from relatives and friends to exchange small bills. "If I refuse, I'm afraid they'll be angry because they think I work in a bank but can't help. However, if I accept, I'm afraid I won't be able to exchange because each employee is only allowed to exchange a certain amount of small bills," she explained.

Meanwhile, the black market coin exchange points have also started to operate busily. Many points on Su Van Hanh Street, 3/2 (District 10), Nguyen Oanh (Go Vap), Le Quang Dinh (District 1)... said that many people have come to exchange or deposit money. In addition, a series of online coin exchange sites have also flourished with commitments to buy and sell at home, ensure real money, match series and especially low exchange fees.

However, a quick look at the fees shows that they range from 10-50% depending on the denomination. In particular, the 500 VND denomination is considered scarce, so many places ask consumers to pay a fee of 70-80%.

Currency exchange fee applied by an establishment.

Representatives of commercial banks said that banks are usually allocated a certain amount of small change throughout the year, so the pressure on this type of money is not too great. However, due to the Lunar New Year holiday, the demand for small change and new money has increased.

"Therefore, if a business or individual needs to exchange new small bills, they should send a document or notify in advance about the quantity and type of money to be exchanged so that the bank can prepare," said the Deputy General Director of a joint stock bank.

The State Bank of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City branch, believes that the need to use small, new bills for lucky money is real, but it should not be pushed to the point of becoming an unhealthy phenomenon, allowing many people to take advantage of it. "Only exchange when absolutely necessary, especially do not abuse small bills for going to temples and pagodas, causing confusion in the market," the agency warned.

In Vietnam's current currency circulation, there are denominations from 200 VND to 500,000 VND. The demand for new small denomination money often increases locally at the end of the year for lucky money, going to temples, etc., leading to the emergence of money exchange services to profit from the difference. According to Decree 96 on penalties for unauthorized activities, if discovered, small change exchange activities with a fee will be fined 20-40 million VND.

According to VNE