- Mary Venegas, 66, said she found the money on the ground in her yard.
- Bank of America refused to accept it because the bills were damaged.
A California woman was ‘stunned’ when her bank refused to deposit $6,000 in cash she had found after losing it four years ago.
Maria Venegas, 66 years old, He told CBS Sacramento She left an envelope containing $6,000 in cash somewhere in her yard in 2020.
After four years of searching for the money, which he had initially planned to use to pay his taxes, he found the envelope on the ground, covered by cardboard.
“It was a very good feeling because we had been looking for it for a long time,” Venegas said.
But when she went to deposit the cash at her local Bank of America branch — where she has been a loyal customer for decades — the bank refused to accept it because some of the bills had water damage and the corners torn off.
Mary Venegas, 66, said her local bank refused to accept $6,000 in cash she found after losing it four years ago.
“I was stunned,” she said.
Venegas, who is on a fixed income, hoped to use the newfound money to pay her winter utility bills, which are still behind.
“I don’t like owing anyone anything, and I don’t like owing anyone anything at all,” he explained.
‘I’ve been behind on bills I owe, and I’m not the type of person who likes to be in debt.’
Venegas left an envelope containing the $6,000 in cash somewhere in his yard in 2020, and recently found it on the ground under some cardboard.
He said the bank refused to accept the money because some of the bills were water damaged and had corners torn off.
The U.S. Treasury Department will exchange mutilated currency, but only if half or less of the bill remains, or if its value is in doubt because of its condition.
But the government process could take between six months and three years to complete.
—You know what, I have to be honest. What if I die before I get it? —Venegas asked, anxious to know the value of her money.
“When you get older, you think about all that, you worry about everything. And I don’t like to do that,” he explained.
‘But when we found it, we thought, “Okay, okay, okay. Now we can afford this and that.”
Bank of America later reconsidered and accepted $5,700 of the $6,000.
Fortunately, CBS Sacramento investigative reporters noticed that more than half of Venegas’ bills were still intact and the value of each bill was clearly indicated.
They then asked Bank of America to reconsider its refusal, and bank tellers accepted $5,700 of the $6,000 in cash.
She now has to send the other $300 to the Treasury to be replenished, as she said she has learned “to make my husband take it to the bank.”
DailyMail.com has contacted Bank of America for comment.