Why You Shouldn’t Bring Damaged Dollar Bills To The Dominican Republic

This will be a very short topic, perhaps the shortest I have ever written on this website.

The point is if you are going to visit the Dominican Republic and you are going to carry dollar bills with you, make sure they are not damaged or marked.

By this, I mean that the dollar bills must be in good condition, or else the exchange houses and banks in the Dominican Republic will not accept them for exchange into local currency.

This may not be a big problem for a person who comes with a credit/debit card ready to use.

But it is important to always have cash on hand in local Dominican currency, especially since many local businesses do not accept cards as a form of payment.

That is, most businesses accept credit or debit cards as a form of payment in the Dominican Republic, but some simpler local businesses do not, and the local currency is required to pay.

You could also pay in dollars, but you run the risk of being charged more for everything.

I recently traveled from the US and brought with me some dollar bills, two of those bills have small cuts on the top, almost invisible, but when I went to change them at the bank, the teller gave them a perfect eye exam and rejected them.

She told me “we don’t accept torn or marked bills”, it doesn’t matter if the “torn” part is a small cut on top, banks and exchange houses require the bill to be in perfect condition, and it doesn’t work if you tape it (I tried that).

So, now I have 30 dollars that I would hate to have to throw away or not use simply because they are not new, maybe the best thing to do is to save them for my next visit to the United States.

It is the same with local currency, but in this case, they are not so demanding and do not accept torn or marked bills of local currency, if you have torn or marked Dominican money.

If you have any Dominican bills with natural wear and tear, you can exchange them in some local banks or in the central bank of the Dominican Republic without any problem.

What can I do with torn or marked dollar bills in the Dominican Republic?

You can’t change it at the bank or exchange houses, they won’t accept it for deterioration, I noticed that they are very careful about it.

You could use it in the street, in some informal businesses, yes, it is possible that some informal businesses accept dollars as part of the payment, although this may seem very strange.

Anyway, trying to pay a bad bill to a local business just because they won’t accept it at a bank doesn’t seem fair and is something I personally wouldn’t try to do.