I just found my long-lost envelope with $6K, but the bank says the cash is too damaged to accept | Call Kurtis Investigates
What does a 66-year-old Sacramento woman do after she finds an envelope containing $6,000 in cash she misplaced years ago?
For Mary Venegas, she went straight to her bank to deposit the money. But, the bank refused to accept it because some of the bills were damaged.
"I was flabbergasted," Venegas said. "It was such a good feeling because we had been looking for it for so long."
Venegas recently discovered the envelope with the money inside. Four years ago, her adventure began when she lost the envelope after putting it down somewhere in the yard. Somehow, the envelope ended up on the ground, eventually getting covered up by cardboard. That was the day she planned to deposit the money to cover her taxes.
Venegas doesn't know how she could've lost the money.
"I'm just a 66-year-old woman who is very, very forgetful," she said.
The money is now back in her hands, but there's one problem: The bills are dirty, damaged by water, and some of the corners were eaten away.
After being told by her bank that they wouldn't accept the damaged bills, she contacted CBS13 and the Call Kurtis consumer investigative team for help.
Venegas is on a fixed income. She really needs the money now because she's still behind on her winter utility bills. She says Bank of America, where she's been a loyal customer for decades, refuses to take them.
"That's why I called you," she said. "I said, 'Oh my gosh, let me call Kurtis because I think he may be able to help me.' And I said, if anybody's going to help me, it'll be Kurtis."
The U.S. Department of Treasury does exchange mutilated money, but only if half or less of the original note remains, or its value in question is based on the condition. Usually, the money is damaged from fire, explosives, water, chemicals, and animals or insects.
In 2012, CBS13 and the Call Kurtis team reported about Abby, a dog who ate Ryan Runca's birthday money.
Ryan's mom, Shannon, discovered Abby's crime in the living room.
"I bent over and picked it up and saw Benjamin Franklin's eye," Shannon Runca said at the time.
If the bank won't take it, the government process to exchange it could take anywhere from six months to three years.
"You know what? I got to be honest. What if I die before I ever received it?" Venegas asked.
Considering that more than half of Venegas' $6,000 in bills were still intact, and the value for each bill was clear, we turned to Bank of America to see if they would reconsider. They did. They accepted $5,700 of the $6,000.
"You're an angel of the sky in disguise", she says. "Thank you so much. It would eliminate a lot of distress. I mean, it is stressing. It's stressing. When you get old, you think ahead about all of these, you know, you worry about everything. And I don't like to do that, but when we found it, we thought 'Oh good, good, good. Now we could pay off this and that.' Look, and they made it so hard on us. Yeah. That's why I contacted you, I've heard of you doing so many good things. And I said, if anybody's going to help me, it'll be Kurtis."
Now that Venegas has her money, she plans to pay off her late bills.
"I don't like to owe people and I don't like to owe at all," she admits. "I've been behind on bills I owe, and I'm not the kind of person that I like to owe."
If you have mutilated money and have questions on what to do, the Bureau of Engraving & Printing offers answers here.