Despite the regulation of fines of 20-40 million VND, many places still openly sell small bills.

As Tet approaches, the service of buying and selling small change, exchanging new money and strange money with monkey images becomes more and more active both online and in stores. The fee for exchanging small change is sky-high.

Gold plated USD worth tens of millions

According to our survey, after the US central bank decided to print a 2 USD bill with a monkey image, this bill is being sold everywhere for up to 450,000-600,000 VND. Similarly, the 1 USD bill is also being sold for an extremely high price: 300,000 VND.

Currently, there are many websites advertising foreign currency exchange, especially small denomination USD with advertisements such as "Exchange 1 dollar, 2 dollars, all beautiful serial numbers, good luck, good fortune...".

To convince customers, the owner of a website selling lucky money also said that a $2 bill will bring luck, happiness, and wealth to the person who keeps it. "Similarly, a $1 bill also brings miracles to the person who buys it" - the owner of this website advertised.

Especially as a gift for the upcoming New Year, a thickly plated 100 USD bill, covered with 9999 gold on a tray, is being sold online for tens of millions. Despite the sky-high price, many people still seek to buy it.

Not only the US, but Indonesia also printed low-denomination monkey bills this year and these bills are being sold for 25,000 VND. Or Australia's small-denomination monkey bills are also being sold for quite high prices. However, these bills do not attract customers as much as the US dollar.

Along with selling foreign currency, many places also sell gold-plated and silver-plated coins with monkey images for prices ranging from 200,000 VND to 3 million VND per coin.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese coins with birth year series, progress series (1234, 4567..), prosperity series, god of wealth series or triple series, quadruple series, six-season series... are also being sold busily. Also appearing on the "black market" are old 10,000 dong bills (pink bills) being sold for 30,000 dong/bill.

A $2 bill with a monkey printed on it in a leather box is being sold for 450,000 VND/bill.

Changing small change is getting hotter every day

Besides buying and selling coins that are believed to bring luck to the buyer, the service of exchanging small change is also heating up day by day.

Many websites publicly exchange small bills. For example, with a denomination of 500,000 VND, exchange 10 for 7, meaning exchange 10 million VND for 7 million VND or a little lower. From 1,000 VND or more, exchange 10 for 9.

At some money exchange points in the market, the fee is: 100,000 old money will be exchanged for 80,000 new money; or 100,000 old money can be exchanged for 50,000 500 dong denominations. Many places charge up to 70%-80% for exchanging new money.

"Order early to get the goods because the closer it gets to Tet, the higher the exchange rate and the harder it is to get the small denomination" - a person working in money exchange service threatened.

At the recent press conference, the State Bank of Vietnam said it will continue to use small denominations of money reasonably and economically during the Tet holiday. Specifically, this year's Tet holiday will only circulate used small denominations (from 5,000 VND or less) like the previous three years. Based on the amount of used money stored in the warehouse, the State Bank of Vietnam will transfer it to units to distribute, ensuring cash demand during the Tet holiday.

The State Bank also requires commercial banks and bank branches to continue to strictly meet the demand for small denomination money, not to put into circulation newly printed money with denominations of 5,000 VND or less if there is still inventory, only when the money has been circulated to meet people's payment needs.

However, talking to a commercial bank employee on Le Van Sy Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City about exchanging small bills, it is known that if you exchange 10,000 VND bills, it is possible and there is no fee. However, there will be both new and old bills. As for the low denomination of 500 VND or less, all banks shook their heads because the State Bank of Vietnam no longer prints small denomination bills.

The State Bank of Vietnam explained that small denomination money is not used properly, causing great waste to society in printing, issuing, counting, classifying, transporting and preserving.

heavy fine

In fact, although the State Bank does not print additional small bills during Tet, money is still being offered for sale in large quantities on the "black market" and online.

Talking to us about the above situation, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Minh, Deputy Director of the State Bank of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City Branch, said that according to Decree 96/2014 of the Government, if discovered by the authorities, people who exchange small bills to get a difference in price in violation of regulations will be fined 20-40 million VND.

The State Bank of Vietnam said that to limit the widespread and unreasonable use of small bills in temples, pagodas, festivals, etc., the State Bank of Vietnam will coordinate with relevant units to handle the matter.

At the same time, if necessary, interdisciplinary inspection teams will be established to examine and strictly handle cases of illegal trading of small denomination money that negatively affect the circulation of currency, culture and image of Vietnamese currency.

According to PLO