My $20 Bill Was Torn Up By My Dog, Is It Still Worth Anything?

'My dog ate my homework!" We've all heard that phrase right? Well, I'm adding one to it, 'my puppy dog tore my $20 bill to shreds!' and I'm wondering if it still has any value.

It started when my daughter received the $20 bill in the mail as a birthday present from her grandmother. She left it on the counter in the kitchen to put in her piggy bank later, looking back now she knows this was a mistake! Along comes the puppy dog (who can stand on her back legs and look to see what's on the kitchen counter) and she spots the money and proceeds to pull it off the counter to play with it and eventually tears into it like its her chew rope! My wife caught her in the act and was able to pick up and salvage most of the pieces.

After doing a little research online, I have found out that the torn up $20 bill may still have $20 in value! I learned while working at Six Flags Over Texas as a teenager that if someone presented to you a torn dollar bill and the bill was more than 60% intact, it was still good. It appears to be true and I can take it to a bank and exchange it for another bill. However, in my case as I read further, I may end having to send this bill off to the U.S. Treasury Department and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to be reimbursed because to bill is in a number of pieces as you can see in the pic above! At any rate, I'm going to the bank just up the road here from the station to see if they'll exchange it or if they'll send me to the treasury department!

My daughter did learn a little lesson from this, don't leave anything on the counter because the dog will get it and tear it up!

UPDATE: The bank right up the street from the station traded this 'mutilated' bill for a new one!