Mutilated Money? This Place Will Give You a Fresh Stack

Yes, there is a Mutilated Currency Division of the U.S. Treasury Department, and, yes, its entire purpose is to assess, extract and repair damaged U.S. tender so it can write that money’s owner a reimbursement check.



Replacing the nation’s trashed cash is a free service the government provides to keep money moving: removing damaged bills from circulation and getting that money’s owner the value of the currency back.



It’s also an incredibly tough job. The 20 or so people who work in the Mutilated Currency Division keep it hands-on and low-tech, using only scissors, knives, scalpels, tweezers, glue and tape to figure out how much money the owner is owed. In a year, these intrepid assessors handle as many as 23,000 cases and reimburse over $40 million.



Of course, it’s not just about the money. The Mutilated Currency Division always sees a spike in cases after national disasters like the California wildfires or Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas. Being able to return some semblance of relief and peace of mind after so much loss is often the best part of the job for the division’s dedicated currency crusaders, they say. Money that’s been badly burned or soaked to the point of petrification after flooding might seem lost, but the division’s specialists can reimburse any amount as long as 51% of the bill is present in some form. That means rebuilding can start faster for the victims of tragedy after the unthinkable happens. So fear not: From a hungry dog to a hurricane, the Mutilated Currency Division has your greenback.