QCOSTARICA – As of today, October 1, 2022, all ¢10,000 bills printed on cotton paper (the old ¢10K notes) cannot be used as a means of payment.
If you still have the old notes on hand, forgetting to change or spend them, not to worry, they have not lost their monetary value.
You can still deposit or exchange them for the newer polymer bills (a material similar to plastic) at your bank. Our understanding they can be exchanged at any financial institution, though each (bank, cooperative, mutuals, etc) may have some rules governing the exchange.
Without question, the banknotes can be exchanged indefinitely, according to the Central Bank. That is good news, especially for those of you who took home a bill or two on your last visit to Costa Rica.
This completes the total withdrawal of all the old cotton paper bills and in circulation are only the polymer bills of ¢1,000, ¢2,000, ¢5,000, ¢10,000, and ¢20,000.
