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People have saved money by keeping their cash and coins in clay pots, metal boxes, piggy banks and more for years. Whether you find it between the couch cushions, stuffed in jeans pockets or gathered at the bottom of a purse, change adds up over time. In fact, saving it may be the easiest part. Finding a place to change loose coins for cash can be a bit trickier.
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You can cash coins in for free at Coinstar kiosks, banks, credit unions and more. Read on for more on how and where you can deposit coins and get cash for free.
Some banks and credit unions offer free coin-counting services. Most limit this service to customers, and you’ll find some variations in how the services work. Some have self-service coin counters on site. Others restrict the amount of change you can convert in a single visit.
The following list includes a sample of some of the places where you can cash in your coins for free:
PNC Bank
Bank of America
Chase
Citizens Bank
JBT
Manasquan Bank
Republic Bank
U.S. Bank
State Employees’ Credit Union
Penn East Federal Credit Union
Suncoast Credit Union
Coinstar
QuikTrip
PNC Bank accepts rolled coins for deposit into your PNC account. Just visit a branch and make your deposit with a teller. Tellers can also provide coin wrappers.
Bank of America, Member FDIC, accepts U.S. coins, but they must be presented in full rolls at any of the bank’s local financial centers. Find your nearest one by entering your address in Bank of America’s branch locator.
If you have a Chase account, you can deposit your coins there. In fact, Chase has recommended that customers deposit coins to help alleviate the coin shortage. Not all branches accept them, however. To see if yours does, use the branch locator on the Chase website to search your local branches. Branches that don’t accept coins have a “No coin transactions” notation in their listing.
Citizens Bank accepts loose change in amounts below $20 and rolled coins amounting to $20 or more. Some branch locations provide wrappers. Citizens gives you a choice between depositing the coins and exchanging them for cash, but you’ll need to have a valid photo ID and your account information handy when you go.
JBT offers self-serve coin-counting machines at each of its branches. Customers can count change for free. Noncustomers pay a fee, which JBT donates to charity through its Make Change Count program.
New Jersey’s Manasquan Bank has coin machines at many, if not all, branches. Bank clients can bring their coins in for free. Non-clients pay a 15% redemption fee. Check the bank’s location finder to see if your branch offers this service.
Republic Bank’s branches feature Magic Money coin-counting machines for customers only. You can even win a prize for using one.
At least some U.S. Bank branches have a coin counter available for bank customers only.
State Employees’ Credit Union accepts coins and has a Coinstar coin counter to do the work for you. However, the service is for members only. You can deposit the coins into your primary SECU checking or CPG account and access it immediately using your SECU debit card. Or take the voucher to a teller to receive cash, deposit the money or make a loan or credit card payment.
Members of Penn East Federal Credit Union have access to complimentary coin-counting services. Nonmembers pay a 2% fee. The service is available at every branch, and you can either deposit the proceeds or keep the cash.
Suncoast Credit Union has self-service coin-counting machines in each branch lobby, but while they’re cheaper than machines in retail stores, they’re not free. Members pay a 5% fee on the coin total. Nonmembers pay 10%. Note that coins must be loose — Suncoast doesn’t accept rolled coins.
Banks, Walmart stores, supermarkets, gas stations and many other retailers — over 24,000 in all — have Coinstar kiosks that make it easy to cash in your change. Pour your loose change into the receiver and let the machine do the work of sorting and counting the coins.
Coinstar offers a few ways to cash out, some of which are free:
Cash: You’ll get a voucher to take to the cashier to exchange for cash.
E-gift card: You receive a code instead of a physical card. The code works like cash when you make a purchase at the store or restaurant.
Charitable donation: You’ll receive a receipt for tax purposes.
Coinstar’s fees, which may vary by location, include a service fee of up to 12.5% and a 50-cent transaction fee if you want to receive your money as cash. However, the e-gift card option is free. Choose an e-gift card from a Coinstar partner merchant, including Apple, Outback Steakhouse, Nike and Southwest Airlines, and you won’t pay a penny to convert your change.
Charitable donations are also free, but Coinstar keeps 7.5% as a processing fee for regional charities and 10% as a processing fee for national charities.
During the change shortage spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, QuikTrip gas stations allowed customers to exchange coins in full dollar amounts in order to keep enough coins on hand to make change for customers paying in cash. Search your local QuikTrip on the company’s location finder to see if it’s still offering cash for coins.
If rolling coins doesn’t appeal to you, you’ll have to cash in your change at a coin-counting machine. To do it for free, you’ll likely need to go to a bank where you have an account because most only do free coin exchanges for their customers.
Coinstar has a kiosk lookup tool you can use to find the nearest machines.
Loose change can really add up when you’re intentional about saving it to cash in in the future. You don’t need a piggy bank to do it — any container will do as long as it’s convenient to where you accumulate coins, such as in your car, and where you empty out your pockets and/or wallet.
Citizens Bank suggests motivating yourself or your kids to try to do a 52-week challenge, where you start by “depositing” $1 worth of change into a large container the first week, and then increase your savings by $1 each week for a year. At week 52, you’ll sock away $52, for a grand total of $1,378 you can put toward a vacation, luxury purchase or rainy day fund.
Coins you plan to exchange at a coin-counting machine should be clean, dry and sorted through to remove any debris from the container. You’ll also want to load them into a sturdy box or container to keep them from spilling as they’re poured into the machine.
Banks and credit unions might require rolled coins. For that, you’ll need wrappers, which you can get for free from a bank or credit union or at a very low cost from a dollar store.
To wrap the coins, first sort them by denomination — pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. Then count the coins into piles. Each pile should have the number of coins that fit in a wrapper:
Pennies: 50 coins
Nickels: 40 coins
Dimes: 50 coins
Quarters: 40 coins
Spare change can provide a nice little windfall, and every now and then you might even find a rare coin in your stash that’s worth a few bucks. But cashing it in can be more trouble than it’s worth. Sometimes it’s better to just eliminate change by avoiding using cash at the register. Credit cards might be one alternative, but only if you use them judiciously and pay off the balance each month. The following methods are safer alternatives:
Debit card: Debit cards are almost like cash because the money comes out of your checking account right away. Some banks reward debit card holders with cash back and other rewards, so you could earn a few cents in statement credits every time you pay.
Digital wallet: Digital wallets from Apple, Google, Samsung, Amazon, Walmart and others let you pay for purchases using your smartphone. For added convenience, your digital wallet can also store event tickets and other documents.
Payment apps: Payment apps like PayPal, Cash App and Venmo are a convenient way to send payments to family and friends, and in some cases, you can use them to make purchases.
It is still possible to convert your spare change to cash, and you can do this for free if you know where to look. The easiest way to do this is at a bank or credit union with coin-counting machines that do the work for you. Otherwise, buy some coin wrappers and set aside some time to sort, count and roll the change before depositing it in your account. You’ll be able to avoid paying a service fee and can keep more of your cash.
Here are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about converting your spare change to cash.
What is the fee for Coinstar?
Coinstar's fees may vary by location, but its kiosks generally charge a service fee of up to 12.5% and a 50-cent transaction fee if you want to walk away with cash in your hand.
How do I avoid Coinstar fees?
You can avoid Coinstar fees by converting your change to an e-gift card, which can be an appealing option if you frequently make purchases at Starbucks, Lowe's, Domino's Pizza or one of the other partner businesses.
How can I cash in coins without fees?
If you want to turn your coins into cash without paying a fee, be prepared to roll up your sleeves and roll up your change. Many banks accept rolled coins as a deposit. You'll need to sort the change, count it out and insert it into coin wrappers. A single coin wrapper can hold 50 cents in pennies, $2 in nickels, $5 in dimes and $10 in quarters. Deposit the rolled coins into your checking account and withdraw the money as cash.
Allison Hache contributed to the reporting for this article.
Information is accurate as of March 19, 2024.
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 13 Best Places To Turn Coins Into Cash for Free
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