Is a coin worth its face value?

[coinfusion]

I quote from the Royal Mint website: "...the silver UK coins we produce in denominations of £5, £20, £50 and £100 are approved as legal tender, they have been designed as limited edition collectables or gifts and will not be entering general circulation. As such, UK shops and banks are unlikely to accept them."

And they go on to say: "Please note that whilst these coins are legal tender, they are not designed for general circulation, so banks and shops are unlikely to accept the coins. The Royal Mint cannot accept returns of such coins outside of the 14 days return policy."

So who will accept them? The Bank of England? Very baffled!

[sovereignsteve]

There are plenty of threads about this on here, a search should find an explanation.

[AgD]

There was an article not so long ago in the papers that one man who took out an air miles style credit card linked it up to the RM and was buying thousands of pound's worth of the 100 for 100, 50 for 50 etc coins then taking them to the bank to cash them in to pay the fee on the card but still keeping the air miles then not long after that the RM sent a memo to banks etc telling them not to accept as legal tender

[sovereignsteve]

14 minutes ago, shortstack68 said:

Ah yes, that was the guy i was referring to...........

Enterprising though, it's a shame when this sort of invention gets stopped.

[AgD]

14 minutes ago, sovereignsteve said:

Enterprising though, it's a shame when this sort of invention gets stopped.

Indeed a very good idea all I could possibly guess is the the RM could not cope with the amount of returnsthey were getting on the coins hence not making nothing themselves out of it

[breaktwister]

"Legal tender" means you can pay your taxes and court fines with it. Banks or shops are not under legal obligation to take it.

[Martlet]

While the face value remains so low compared to the value of the materials, it's a purely academic question.  Who's going to use them in a shop or bank? (aside the edge case of the £20 for £20.)

[coinfusion]

Thanks for all the replies. 

The Bank of England clarifies: http://edu.bankofengland.co.uk/knowledgebank/what-is-legal-tender/

The article mentioning the Airmiles scheme is : 

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3390519/I-buy-Royal-Mint-commemorative-coins-bulk-credit-card-gain-airmiles-cash-bank-s-refusing-accept-them.html

[HawkHybrid]

Quote

 It means that if you are in debt to someone then you can’t be sued for non-payment if you offer full payment of your debts in legal tender.

 

I wonder what would happen if I had a debt

(something like a parking fine) and offered to

pay in full using legal tender £20 for £20 coins?

 

HH

[breaktwister]

28 minutes ago, HawkHybrid said:

 

I wonder what would happen if I had a debt

(something like a parking fine) and offered to

pay in full using legal tender £20 for £20 coins?

 

HH

I think we should all start trying this, as according to the BoE definition, if they refuse to take the "funny money" then you can just walk away and they will not be able to sue you for non-payment.  I think BoE have got this wrong imo, it is too simplistic of a definition to be the full truth.

[sixgun]

51 minutes ago, HawkHybrid said:

 

I wonder what would happen if I had a debt (something like a parking fine) and offered to pay in full using legal tender £20 for £20 coins?

 

HH

These parking tickets are not fines. The council corporations are not in a position to fine anyone. There has been no court hearing. It is not a fine, it is a Notice of a Parking Charge [PCN]. 

i have battled the councils on these parking tickets and tried various things. i got rid of the last one a friend got presented on contractual grounds and told the official if they really felt there was a debt on my part i required them to discharge said debt under Local Government Act 1888 s79 (2) which provides that 'All duties and liabilities of the inhabitants of a county shall become and be duties and liabilities of the council of such county.' As an inhabitant of the county i required this debt be discharged by the council.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/51-52/41

The section of parking tickets is interesting. The remedy is to accept the parking charge but demand a proper signed bill under the Bills of Exchange Act 1882. They must provide a proper bill and they must include VAT details in that bill. They won't, so you have no obligation to pay anything and they have no right to demand you do. i have not used this remedy but i am going to do so at the first opportunity.