Been saving loose change, wrap or coinstar?

[princessh]

Ok, We have been saving our loose change for a few months. I was thinking of cashing it in now and start resaving as our change jar jug is almost filled. I don't know much about coinstar, but heard they take a portion of the total amount for the service. We have a lot of change, and it is going to take forever to wrap it. Anyone know about the coinstar fees and if the loss from the fee is worth spending all that time wrapping? Thanks in advance!

 

[lynn71092]

I didn't think banks took wrapped coins any more. I just take my can of coins in and the bank has a machine that counts them. I've heard that some banks charge for that but mine doesn't. My coffee can had over $400.00 in it when I cashed it in.

 

[gravymom]

I don't know about you, but I am not about to give CoinStar any of my money. They take like 15 cents on the dollar. Wrap it while you are watching TV or something. Get the kids to help.

 

[momsully]

You might check with your bank. We use Wells Fargo and they have certain days where you just bring in your jar and they count it for you. We cashed ours in the beginning of April and had almost $200 in pennies and nickels. It would have taken all day to roll but the bank counted it in a few minutes.

 

[HayGan]

Certainly check with your bank. Our bank has one location not far from me with a self service coin machine. It counts all the coins and prints out a receipt. You take the receipt to the cashier and they either give you the cash or deposit it into your account. You can also use it if you aren't a customer but they charge you 5% (still even cheaper than Coinstar)

At our old bank we used to have to write our name and account # on every single roll of coins!!! That was really a pain!

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

If you have a Commerce Bank near you, you can take it to their coin machine. You get a slip of paper with amount on it and take it to a teller to cash it in. No fees, and you don't have to have an account at the bank either. We take ours there all the time - we have even counted what we have at home and bring it there to make sure it's accurate, and they always are. We have accounts there, but a few of my friends don't and they do it there too. Coinstar is a big rip off - don't use them.

 

[WithFaith50]

From http://chevychasebank.com/promo/change_express.html:

Chevy Chase Bank Change Express provides free
self-service coin counting for both Bank customers
and those who are not yet customers. Customers,
young and old, are enjoying the ease of bringing their
box, bag or jar of coins into the branch, watching the
machine count the coins and then taking their Change
Express receipt to the teller window for cash redemption
or deposit. It’s that easy.

Children in particular seem fascinated by seeing the
Change Express turn those nickels, dimes and pennies
into real money. In order to make the process easier
for children, each Change Express machine comes with
a matching step stool just for them. No more counting
and rolling coins at home in front of the television!

What our customers have said about Change Express:

Easy and fun to use!
It's very convenient and fun. I love it!
Great idea.
Chevy Chase Bank Change Express machines are installed in just about all non-Giant Food store branches.

 

[princessh]

Thanks for all the tips. I could not see wrapping all those cions, but really hated the thought of giving money to cionstar! I will look for a couple of these banks near me!

 

[Lewisc]

Previous posters are right, FIND A BANK THAT WILL COUNT FOR FREE. If that's not possible try to take all your quarters and higher out of your jar and just use coinstar for pennies, nickels and dimes. You might even pull out the dimes. You'll reduce the fee dramatically without adding that much work.

 

[digskat]

My Hubbie rolls all our change and takes it in to buy american, it's amazing how fast it adds up. We save our Loonies ($1) and Twoonies($2) coins as well. We have a container that actually tells you when you have enough for a roll as per the # on the side.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I work at a local credit union and have worked at other banks and just wanted to let you know that if you do wrap them most banks require you to put your name and acct. # on each roll. And when the tellers use those rolls and they are short or over the difference is added or subtracted from your account. I wouldn't ever go to the places that charge because that's a rip off. When I collect change in a jar, when the jar is a little bit full I take some out and wrap them and put them back in the jar wrapped, so it's not as overwhelming when it's full. We don't have an automatic wrapper at our bank

 

[MEM]

Our local banks do not have the counting machines but the credit union where my children have bank accounts set up (a service of their elementary school) does have the machines. DH takes the change over to the CU, deposits some in the kids' accounts and brings the rest home to me. A little complicated but better than using Coinstar.

 

[Bev J]

Our family has a 5 gallon water bottle that coins go in, when it is nearly full we drag/roll it down the stairs and dump the whole pile out on some sheets (money is very dirty) and let the sorting began.
The kids, even the older teens like sorting the coins- we do it for fun. We all try to estimate how much money there is and write it down. We have even tried weighing a pound of what ever coin, counting how many are in the pound to get an estimate, works pretty good got it down within about $150 once.
We go to the bank and get money sacks then take it up for counting. Our bank says NO wrapping. We can use the counting maching for free since were customers (they dump in the machine)

The person closest to the amount gets a bonus $$. That jar is getting pretty full and DS/10 is starting to mention it, maybe we will count before Disney...

Last time the $$ was almost $3000, now that's alot of loose change.

Bev

 

[princessh]

I just called our bank and they said we had to wrap it. We do not have a Chevy Chase or commerce bank near us. I will have to check out our Wells Fargo and the credit union. Please let me know if there are other banks out there that have them.

 

[jimmysmommy]

Our Bank actually does take rolled coins, but does not want you to put your name or anything on them.....They said it is because of privacey issues. I don't mind wrapping, it's just so dang heavy lugging it to the bank!!!!

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Try this website...the person hasn't updated it for three years but maybe there is a bank/credit union on the list that's near you.

http://www.theunderstory.com/maryland.htm

 

[lilred]

My DH and I just wrapped $246 dollars worth of coin in just over an hour over the weekend. It was a good opportunity for our family to chat while doing it! Print a sheet of labels on your computer with the information your bank requires...saves a lot of time compared to hand writing it.

 

[welovedis]

I always had DS help, worked great to encourage his money skills! Just wash everyone's hands really thoroughly afterwards as the coins can be really dirty!

 

[Anne34]

Just went to Bank One today and brought in my change. It was $194.70 -- Whoo hoo!! They count it for free if you have an account at that bank.

 

[Tissa]

Well I guess I'm the only one but I use Conistar. It charges 8 cents per dollar. I hate wrapping coins so just being able to dump my jar into the machine is worth the charge. The charge has never added up to enough for me to gasp at.