FedCash® Services: Older-Design $100 Notes in your Federal Reserve currency order
April 3, 2020
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, FedCash® Services is experiencing higher demand for currency. While the Reserve Banks have sufficient currency to meet current demand, we are implementing a contingency measure to further increase the availability of $100 notes.
Beginning April 6, the Federal Reserve will start including fit older-design $100 notes (issued 1996-2013) in financial institution orders. Financial institutions ordering from the Federal Reserve may receive older-design $100 notes and current-design $100 notes (issued 2013-present) in the same strap.
In addition, this measure will allow the Federal Reserve to generate and pay out more fit $100 notes which work better for some institutions’ note handling systems than new notes.
We want to reassure you that the Federal Reserve Banks have appropriate currency reserves on hand to meet the needs of financial institutions, and this is only a proactive measure to increase currency supply further in the event of any potential transportation delays that could occur as a result of the pandemic.
As a reminder, all designs of Federal Reserve Notes are secure, and it is U.S. government policy that all designs of Federal Reserve notes remain legal tender, and legally valid for payments, regardless of when they were issued. This policy includes all denominations of Federal Reserve notes.
For resources on how to authenticate older-design $100 notes, visit uscurrency.gov (Off-site).
We ask for your assistance
While all Reserve Bank offices are fully operational and are prepared to meet demand for currency orders, we ask financial institutions to place reasonable orders for currency, and not order more currency than is needed. This will help prevent unnecessary spikes in ordering that could strain our cash operations or the supply chain. Working together, we will ensure that everyone who needs cash can receive it.
Service and Support
Please contact your local FedCash Services customer support if you have any questions.
For a complete list of customer support contacts for your institution, please visit the Contact page. You may wish to print a hard copy of this list in case of power or internet disruptions.