Converting two £20s and a £10 into a £50 note costs an extra £5 - if you are not a customer at the bank.
Lloyds TSB has been accused of stingy and "ludicrous" behaviour - after it tried to charge a member of the public £5 for exchanging cash for a £50 note.
Arthur Williams, a teacher who lives in West Kirby, wanted to give his niece a new note as a cash present for Christmas. He was told at a local Lloyds branch in Merseyside that the £5 charge for converting two £20s and a £10 was a handling fee - standard for all cash transfers.
Shocked at the extra cost, he gave the 15-year-old the old notes as a gift after all. "I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was absolutely stunned," Mr Williams said.
"It's a simple exchange of notes, how can they get away with charging £5 for a straight swap. There was no way I was going to pay the extra, it was ludicrous. I left the bank immediately."
Commenting on the incident, a spokesperson for Lloyds TSB explained: "Because the gentleman was not a customer we had to apply the standard administration charge for money changing. Any Lloyds TSB customer can of course change money at our branches free of charge."
