I have come across numerous articles about the withdrawal of old R200 notes as of today. I got my travel money a few weeks back and it appears I have 1 old R200 note. The articles seem to suggest the only place you can change them is at one of 7 reserve bank locations. I am going back to the Bureau De Change where I got my money to see if they will swap it, but if not will I be able to spend it or do I have to go to one of the reserve banks? Anybody who is getting travel money double check all your R200 notes are the new style (purple R200 in bottom right corner) otherwise you may have problems. The only article I could find with pictures of the new and old notes is this one: http://www.jacarandafm.co.za/kagiso...73&R200-notes---the-new--the-old-and-the-fake
It was purely by chance, I went onto the FNB home page (http://www.fnb.co.za/) to look for exchange rates and a message popped up about the old notes no longer being accepted. I did a bit of digging to find pictures (see link in first post), checked my money and I've got 1 old note.
....mmmm it is a very good find! But didn't someone post that there are lots of R200 forgeries? Are they old or new? Will we get given old R200 in shops? Presumably, we shouldn't take them?
The forgeries are the old ones, which seems to be why they introduced the new note, it probably won't take long for the forgers to make a few copies of this one. It's unlikely you'll get given them in shops as R200 is the biggest note, so you can't get one amongst your change, I don't know if they do cash back over there, but that's one way you might get them. If you do get given them I guess just make sure they have the purple 200 before you leave the shop.
Not yet - working on it..... You hardly ever see R200 notes anyway - only if withdrawing huge amounts from the ATMS. Some ATMS ask you which denominations you want - make them R100 or smaller to be safe.
Apparently the new note has ink that changes colour on the "200". The foil strip is also now wider than in the past.
So basically any R200 note without the "200" in the Bottom-right is useless (either old or conterfeit). Is that correct? I just got a stack of R200 notes and they all have the 200 in the corner.
Not quite, apparently you can exchange them at the South African Reserve Bank, there are 7 locations throughout the country, presumably only the real old notes will be changed. I managed to get mine swapped today where I got my travel money a couple of weeks ago. Went in armed with a print out of some articles saying they had been discontinued and after a few words between the two women behind the counter and a phone call to head office they swapped it for a crisp new note. Wonder whether they'll try and palm it off on another unsuspecting customer.