A Guide to Changing Foreign Coins for Cash
Posted by: Ian • 22 Oct 2025
If you've got a jar full of mixed foreign coins sitting at home, you're in good company. Many of us come back from holidays with leftover shrapnel, assuming it's more or less worthless. But what if there was a fast, easy, and 100% guaranteed way to turn that forgotten currency into real cash?
This guide walks you through a straightforward, hassle-free service trusted by major brands, including UK charities, supermarkets, airports, and police forces, for changing foreign coins and notes.
Turn Your Leftover Foreign Coins Into Cash
That collection of holiday money, old banknotes, and random coins in your drawer actually has value. The trouble is, high street banks and currency exchange offices will often turn you away if you try to exchange foreign coins.
Our specialised service is designed to solve this problem, making it simple to convert both foreign coins and notes into pounds sterling. We’ve built a 100% guaranteed, no-fuss process that's quick and completely hassle-free. Best of all, there's absolutely no need to sort your coins.
Millions of foreign coins are sitting in homes across the UK, often dismissed as clutter after a trip abroad. If you think about it, even a modest average of £5 in leftover currency per household adds up to a national stockpile worth hundreds of millions.
Our service is designed to tap into this hidden value. We accept every coin and note from currently circulating world currencies, plus hundreds of obsolete ones, making sure nothing goes to waste. You can read more about how we process such a wide variety of currency on our Cash4Coins.co.uk blog.
Why Our Service Is Different
One of the biggest headaches when you exchange foreign coins is the mind-numbing task of sorting them all out. We get rid of that step completely. Our process is fast, easy, and built on trust.
Here's a quick look at the advantages of our simple and secure process for changing foreign coins.
Why Our Foreign Coin Exchange Service Works for You
| Feature | How It Helps You |
|---|---|
| No Sorting Required | Just send us all your mixed currency. We handle the hard work of identification and valuation, saving you hours of tedious work. It's a truly hassle-free experience. |
| Trusted by Major Brands | We're the trusted partner for leading UK charities, supermarkets, airports, and even police forces to manage their foreign currency collections. Our credibility is second to none. |
| Comprehensive Acceptance | We convert both current and obsolete currency, giving you value from money that is otherwise unusable. |
If you’ve ever wondered what to do with old foreign coins, our service is the perfect solution. We’ve streamlined everything to be as efficient as possible for you.
Our mission is to provide a reliable and easy way for individuals, charities, and businesses to unlock the value in leftover currency. We believe the process should be transparent, secure, and rewarding for everyone.
Whether you're an individual with a small pot of coins, a charity processing donations, or a business that handles international cash, we offer an effective way to exchange your foreign currency. Stop the clutter and start the conversion by visiting our homepage.
How to Prepare Your Currency for Exchange
Getting your leftover currency ready to send to us is incredibly simple. We've designed the whole process to be fast and completely hassle-free, so you can turn that drawer of clutter into cash without any fuss.
The most important thing to remember is this: there is absolutely no need to sort your currency. We can't stress this enough. Just gather up all your leftover foreign money – coins, banknotes, even old or obsolete currency – and pop it all in together. Our specialist team, trusted by major UK charities and businesses, will do all the heavy lifting for you.
Securely Packaging Your Coins and Notes
Choosing the right packaging is key to making sure everything arrives with us safe and sound. It really just depends on how much you're sending.
- For smaller amounts, a padded jiffy bag works perfectly.
- For heavier collections, a sturdy cardboard box is your best bet.
Whatever you pick, just double-check it’s strong enough to handle the weight without tearing. A bit of extra tape along the seams is always a good idea for added security. If you need more specific tips, you can find them in our comprehensive guide to packaging your currency.
Before you seal the package, there are a couple of final, practical things to do. First, weigh it on your kitchen scales. This gives you an accurate weight so you know exactly what the postage will cost before you even get to the Post Office.
Crucial Tip: Always pop a piece of paper inside the package with your name, address, and email. This simple step is a brilliant safety net. It means we can identify your currency and process your payment quickly, even if the outer label gets damaged in transit.
Once that's done, your package is ready to go. A few minutes of preparation ensures a smooth and efficient process from the moment your currency leaves your hands to the moment the payment lands in your account.
Getting Your Foreign Currency to Us Securely
Once your currency is all packaged up, it's time to get it in the post. Don't worry, this part is just as quick and straightforward as the prep work. We’ve designed a secure system to make sure your leftover currency gets to us safely, so we can get your payment processed without a hitch.
First things first, you'll need to fill out our simple online form. This is a really important step. It gives us all the details we need to connect your parcel to your payment info, which means you get paid faster. It only takes a minute or two and sets the stage for a smooth exchange.
Choosing the Right Delivery Service
When it comes to posting your package, you’ve got a few solid choices. The best one for you usually comes down to the value of the currency you're sending. We want you to have complete peace of mind, so we always recommend using a tracked service.
Here’s what we usually suggest:
- For smaller amounts: Royal Mail Signed For is a great, cost-effective option. It gives you proof of delivery, so you’ll know the second your package has arrived safely with us.
- For larger collections: Royal Mail Special Delivery is the way to go. It offers a much higher level of security and insurance, making it the ideal choice if you’re sending a significant amount of foreign coins and banknotes.
Opting for a tracked service just adds that extra layer of confidence, confirming your currency is on its way to being valued. It's this kind of secure, reliable process that has helped us build trusted relationships with organisations like police forces and major airports.
By focusing on every detail, from packaging tips to secure delivery options, we make the experience of changing foreign coins feel safe and reliable. Our 100% guarantee covers the entire process, ensuring a trustworthy service you can count on.
For a complete rundown, feel free to check out our full shipping guidelines for sending currency, which cover everything you need to know in more detail.
How We Count and Value Your Coins
Ever wondered what happens to that jumble of foreign coins after you post it to us? The moment your parcel lands at our secure facility, our expert team gets to work. It’s a careful and transparent process we’ve perfected over the years, all designed to get you the very best return for your leftover foreign currency.
We bring together the best of both worlds: high-speed, precision machinery and the sharp eyes of our currency experts. This hybrid approach is our secret sauce. It lets us sort through huge volumes of currency quickly, but with the manual checks needed to make sure every single coin and note is correctly identified. It’s how we stand by our 100% guarantee.
We Take Pretty Much Everything
One of the things that sets us apart is our ability to handle unsorted, mixed-up bags of currency. This includes the old, obsolete, and withdrawn money that high street banks and exchange bureaus simply won't touch.
- Current Currencies: We value all circulating global coins and notes, locking in the value based on up-to-the-minute exchange rates.
- Obsolete Money: Still got some old French Francs or German Deutschmarks from a trip years ago? No problem. We can convert foreign coins and banknotes like these too, finding value in money you probably thought was worthless.
- Damaged Notes: Don't worry about torn or worn-out notes. Our experts will assess their condition and give you a fair exchange value.
This comprehensive approach is exactly why we're trusted by some of the biggest names out there, including UK police forces, airports, and major national charities. They count on us to process their currency collections securely and efficiently.
Our entire process is built on trust and accuracy. From the moment your package arrives, we treat it with care, ensuring a fast and hassle-free valuation that unlocks the true value of your leftover currency.
The world of physical cash is always changing. Even major players like the UK's Royal Mint have seen their foreign coin production drop as digital payments take over. But as their overseas sales show, there's still a massive amount of value circulating in physical coins. If you're curious about these shifts, this report on the Royal Mint's foreign coin business offers some fascinating insights.
Our deep expertise in this complex market means we can navigate these changes to get you the best possible rates for every single piece of currency you send our way.
Getting Paid: Fast, Simple, and Guaranteed
Now for the best part: turning that leftover foreign currency into real cash in your account. We've designed our payment process to be just as quick and hassle-free as the rest of our service, and our valuation comes with a 100% guarantee.
Once our expert team has sorted and valued your collection of foreign coins and banknotes, we’ll send you a full breakdown. From there, you're in complete control of how you get paid.
Your Payment, Your Way
We offer flexible options to suit everyone, from individuals cashing in a bit of holiday money to large organisations processing significant volumes.
- Direct Bank Transfer: This is by far the fastest and most popular choice. We'll send the funds straight to your UK bank account.
- Cheque: For those who prefer a more traditional method, we're happy to post a cheque.
- Charity Donation: Feel like doing some good? You can choose to donate your foreign coins to charity by directing the payment to one of our fantastic partners.
This flexibility is why we’re trusted by such a wide range of clients, from individual travellers to major supermarkets and even police forces. A family might send us a small jar of coins worth £25 after their summer holiday and get a quick bank transfer. On the other hand, a national charity might process thousands of pounds in donated currency and prefer a single, consolidated payment by cheque.
We guarantee a fast turnaround. Typically, we process payments within just a few working days of you accepting our valuation. Our goal is to make this final step as smooth as possible for you.
The world is moving away from cash, and while billions of UK coins are still technically in circulation, their use in daily life is dropping. You can read more about the UK's coin circulation on Wikipedia. This trend just highlights the problem of what to do with physical money, especially when it's from another country. Our service provides a simple, modern solution to that exact problem.
Of course, it’s only natural to have a few questions before you send your currency off to us. We get it. To give you complete peace of mind, here are the answers to some of the most common queries we hear from our customers.
What Kind of Currency Do You Actually Take?
This is probably the question we get asked more than any other, and the answer couldn't be simpler: we take almost everything. Seriously.
There’s no need to spend hours sorting through that jar of mixed coins and notes. Our service is set up to handle it all, including:
- Current coins and banknotes still in circulation anywhere in the world.
- Old, obsolete currency you might have forgotten about. Think German Deutschmarks, Spanish Pesetas, or even old pre-decimal British coins. We love seeing what comes through our doors!
- Damaged currency is no problem either. Don't worry about slightly torn notes or tarnished coins—we can still assess them and find their value.
Just gather up your collection, send it over, and let our experts do the heavy lifting. We’re the same team trusted by major UK airports, high-street supermarkets, and police forces, so your currency is in safe hands.
How Long Will I Be Waiting for Payment?
We know you don’t want to be waiting around, which is why we’ve made our process as quick and efficient as possible.
Once your currency arrives with us, our team typically gets the valuation sorted within a few working days. As soon as you give us the thumbs-up on the valuation, we process your payment straight away. A direct bank transfer is usually the fastest way to get your money, and it often lands in your account shortly after we send it. This speedy service is all part of our 100% guarantee to make things as smooth as possible for you.
Can I Donate the Money to Charity Instead?
Yes, absolutely! It’s a fantastic way to make a real difference, and many of our customers—from individuals to large businesses—choose to donate foreign coins to charity.
When you go through the process, you'll have the option to pick one of our partner charities to receive the payment. It turns that pot of leftover holiday money into a meaningful contribution, with zero fuss.
Our entire system is built on trust and credibility. Being the chosen partner for police forces, major charities, and businesses across the UK is a responsibility we take seriously, ensuring every transaction is secure, transparent, and rewarding.
Ready to finally sort out that leftover currency and turn it into cash? The process is fast, easy, and guaranteed.
Start the quick and hassle-free process today to exchange foreign coins and notes. Visit our homepage to fill out the form and turn your unwanted currency into value.