Old Europeon Money ... can it be changed for Euros?

I think maybe, maybe, a bank could help you out. A money exchange kiosk is probably a big no. The EURO is almost 10 years old so the grace period has probably expired. Still, you never know until you ask. Try a European bank but don't, pardon the pun, bank on it.

That question came up recently and the answer was that a bank in that country would exchange the money. I doubt if any money exchange would do so. However, you might just try selling it on ebay. There are money collectors who might be interested in the old money.

I seem to recall that the period for exchanging Marks, Francs, Lira, etc. has expired. IIRC, there was a two or three year period after the adoption of the Euro when the old currency could be exchanged.

Whoops! In checking Wikipedia, I find that Austria, Germany, Ireland and Spain will continue to convert their old currency to Euros forever. All of the other countries using the Euro have set cut-off dates on acceptance of their former currencies.

In France a couple of years ago it was only La Banque de France which would do the exchange and if I am remembering correctly, not for coins but for bank notes.

Yes, the question did come up. I thought the time limit was probably up for exchanging but another poster showed that the exchange period was still open. I can't recall whether the question was about Marks, Lira or Franks (or another old currency).

I think you have to go through a commercial bank rather than a kiosk (but I might be wrong again). Even if you don't have to, a kiosk is the last place you want to change money - it's just too expensive.

Thanks to everyone who's responded. We'll take the old currency to a bank and see what happens. After all, it doesn't take up much room in the suitcase.

If we can't change it, we may end up putting it on eBay.

Not knowing how much you have, if it is the equivalent of less than $50 US per country, then it would hardly be worth the effort on your part, or theirs.

Nancy, and we all know "a movie" is a better "fact-checked source of information", than, say, the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland or the European Central Bank...

Millions is also set in North West England, not Ireland. The Euro changeover that is used as a plot device is entirely fictional.

I have a two hundred French franc note that I tried to trade in about 2 years ago and was told that it was way too late. Makes a pretty souvenir though.

This came up with my Canadian money. Canada used to be my home away from home back in the 1980's. My bank told me I can't exchange the Canadian bills for any currency! I was hoping to exchange it for pounds, but now my Canadian dollar bills are useless. How frustrating! I have $100 in Canadian dollar bills!

Don't understand your problem. The Canadian dollars are not worthless. Just send them to a contact in Canada and they can buy any currency that you want. It is just that a US bank is not going to accept Canadian currency as payment for anything.

What I wanted was to exchange the Canadian dollar bills for pounds I can use on my London trip. They do have pounds at my US bank as well as Canadian dollars.
The bank said because my Canadian money is over 20 years old, I can't do that. They said I could exchange if the money was less than 20 years. I didn't know money expires! Oh well, I can keep it for whenever I return to Canada.
I guess I'm just a stupid, ugly American that does not understand these things. Lol!

Take your Canadian dollars to London and exchange them there.

You can certainly normally change Canadian dollars in the UK.

One thing about the "20 year old" issue that maybe one of our Canadian friends can help with. In the UK there have been occasions when they've changed the design of notes and "retired" the old types (usually to incorporate new security measures.) The retired notes can be exchanged forever at the central bank but they are not usable normally. Could this be the issue, has Canada removed any notes from circulation in the last 20 years? If so the PP probably won't be able to exchange them in the UK either.

I don't think you can change Canadian one dollar BILLS in England to pounds -- because we only use loonies (what we call the one dollar coin). I was in retail when we made the switch and I recall there being a deadline to switch any over -- I have one in an old photo album, as I do the $2 bill.

I used to work at a commercial bank. It's not unusual to have a minimum value of bill that can be exchanged and coins not exchanged at all. I'm guessing your hearing that the dollars can't be exchanged because the minimum may be a five (or ten) dollar bill to exchange.

You have made some good points! Thank you!
In Canadian, I have 20's, 10's , a total of $100. Wont take up any room at all for me to take to London, just to see if I can change them to pounds. If not, not a big deal. I just thought I could try to get some use from the Canadian money since I'm not planing a trip to Canada anytime soon. Thanks again for your suggestions and your knowledge.

In Canada, as far as i know, you can still use all bills. I haven't seen a $1 or $2 bill in years, but last I did, it was still accepted as currency. But there are essentially none left in circulation. But we still use $5 $10 $20 $50 and $100 bills etc (although the $50s and $100s can be harder to use in retail stores and really are not that common. YOu should have absolutely no problem changing them in London.

Over the years, they have changed the design, but a bank should know. If you don't have any luck, you can certainly take a trip up here ;)

Thanks for your reply! I see you're from Toronto. That is where I spent much time working, in all of the 1980's. So after all these years, I still have some Canadian $$ left over from those days!

To answer the Canadian $ question, according to the Bank of Canada, the $1 and $2 bills remain legal tender.

http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/banknotes/general/character/1986.html

I almost paid a cab driver in Salzburg a $2 Canadian bill! I thought it was a Euro, but then I noticed it wasn't. I'm glad I noticed before he saw it. I'm still so used to having bills be green!
Thank you for the link! I'll check it out. Thanks for all of your helpful suggestions.