The cheapest way to turn a jar of coins into notes in Singapore in 2026 is a free coin deposit machine. DBS and POSB machines waive the fee completely, and OCBC's new ATMs scrapped the S$0.012-per-coin charge back in 2021, so both credit your account for nothing. The catch is they pay you in bank balance, not physical notes, which for most people is the same thing once you withdraw. The expensive route is the bank counter, where DBS and POSB charge S$1.80 per 100 pieces and UOB and Maybank charge S$2.00. If you want actual notes in hand without paying any fee, spend the coins at a supermarket self-checkout or top up an EZ-Link or SimplyGo balance. This guide covers every option, the exact 2026 fees by bank, the 20-coin rule that decides when a shop must take your change, and how to clear coins without losing a slice to fees.
There is no machine in Singapore that takes coins and spits out notes for free the way a Coinstar kiosk does in the US. What you have instead is free coin deposit, which counts your coins and credits the value to your bank account. Withdraw that from any ATM and you have your notes, no fee paid.
Three banks make this free. DBS and POSB waive the coin deposit fee at their Coin Deposit Machines. OCBC waived its S$0.012-per-coin charge at the new ATMs from 1 April 2021. Use any of these and the full value of your coins lands in your account with nothing shaved off.
Everything else costs money. Bank counters charge by the hundred pieces, UOB charges even at its own machine, and Standard Chartered sets a minimum fee. If you are paying a fee to deposit coins in 2026, you are using the wrong channel.
A coin deposit machine pours your mixed coins into a hopper, counts them in seconds and credits the total to your chosen account. You do not need to sort by denomination first. This is the route to use if you have a meaningful pile, say more than a few dollars, and you bank with DBS, POSB or OCBC.
DBS and POSB run the widest network of free machines, and the deposit fee through these machines is waived. They take 1 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, 20 cent, 50 cent and 1 dollar coins from the Floral Series and the National Icon/Landmark Series. Money deposited before the daily 2pm collection is credited the same business day before 8pm; deposits after 2pm are credited the next business day. Find your nearest one with the DBS or POSB branch locator filtered for Coin Deposit Machine.
OCBC folds coin deposit into its new ATMs, which take coins and notes in the same slot. There is no fee. The constraint is coverage: the new ATMs sit mainly at larger branches and malls with MRT access, so check the OCBC locations page before you carry a heavy bag across town.
Once the value is in your account, getting notes is a normal ATM withdrawal at no charge. If you would rather grow the balance than spend it, parking spare change in a high-interest account makes more sense than leaving it in a jar; see our roundup of the best savings accounts in Singapore.
The fee depends entirely on the channel. Free machine, cheap-ish counter, or a flat minimum that punishes small piles. Here is how the main banks compare for personal accounts.
Two things stand out. UOB is the only one of the big three that still charges at its own coin deposit machine, at S$1.50 per 100 pieces, though UOB waives that machine fee when the coins are worth S$5.00 or less; so for anything beyond a small handful, a UOB machine is not the free option a DBS or OCBC machine is. Standard Chartered's structure means a small bag of coins can cost you S$5 in fees, which can wipe out a fifth of a S$20 deposit.
The smaller banks are worth a quick word. CIMB takes coins at the branch counter only, at S$5.00 per 100 pieces, and only on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 11.30am, so it is both the priciest and the most awkward option on this list unless you hold a CIMB Junior Saver account, which is exempt. Maybank is counter only at S$2.00 per 100. If your coin pile is large and you bank with one of these, you are better off opening or using a free-machine account than feeding a counter that charges by the handful.
| Bank | At the deposit machine | Over the counter | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| DBS / POSB | Free (waived) | S$1.80 per 100 pieces or part thereof | Counter deposits Tue and Thu, 8.30am to 11.30am; coins must be sorted by denomination |
| OCBC | Free at new ATMs (since 1 Apr 2021) | Fee applies; check current pricing guide | New ATMs take coins and notes together |
| UOB | S$1.50 per 100 pieces or part thereof; waived if coins are worth S$5.00 or less | S$2.00 per 100 pieces or part thereof | Waived for Child Development and Junior Savers accounts |
| Maybank | Not widely offered | S$2.00 per 100 pieces or part thereof | Counter deposit only |
| CIMB | Not offered | S$5.00 per 100 pieces or part thereof | Branch only, Tue and Thu 10am to 11.30am; waived for CIMB Junior Saver |
| Standard Chartered | Not offered | Minimum S$5.00, minimum deposit S$20.00 | Waived for e$saver Kids! accounts |
The per-100-pieces fee is charged on piece count, not value, and it rounds up. The phrase "or part thereof" means 101 coins is billed as if it were 200. So a jar of 250 mixed coins at DBS over the counter is three lots: 3 x S$1.80 = S$5.40, regardless of whether those coins are worth S$15 or S$80.
That matters because the cheaper your average coin, the worse the deal. A pile dominated by 5 cent and 10 cent coins has a high piece count for a low total, so the fee eats a bigger share. The same 250-coin jar is far cheaper to deposit at a free DBS or OCBC machine, where you pay nothing on any piece count.
If you must use a counter, sort your coins by denomination first, because DBS and POSB require it and counter coin deposits there only run on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8.30am to 11.30am. Turn up outside those hours and you will be sent to the machine anyway.
If the coins belong to a child's piggy bank, the cheapest route is often the child's own account rather than yours. Several banks waive the coin deposit fee entirely for junior and children's accounts, including at the counter where adults would pay.
DBS and POSB waive the coin deposit fee for Child Development Accounts and the POSB SAYE / kids' savings range. UOB waives its coin deposit fee for the Junior Savers Account and the Child Development Account. CIMB waives the S$5.00 counter fee for the Junior Saver account. Standard Chartered waives it for the e$saver Kids! account. So a parent clearing a year of a child's loose change can do it free by depositing into the child's account instead of a regular adult one.
This is worth pairing with the Baby Bonus and CDA matching most parents already have. Coins dropped into a CDA are still matched by the government dollar-for-dollar up to the account cap, which beats letting them rot in a jar. If you are still setting these accounts up, our guide to the best kids' and CDA savings accounts compares the matching and interest across banks.
Coin deposit gives you bank credit. If you specifically want notes in your hand and refuse to pay a fee, the trick is to spend the coins rather than deposit them, then keep the notes you would otherwise have broken.
The cleanest version is a supermarket self-checkout. NTUC FairPrice self-checkout terminals accept coins and notes, so you can feed a grocery run with loose change and pay any shortfall by card. You clear the coins, your weekly shop is covered, and the cash you did not spend stays as notes in your wallet. Sheng Siong and Giant self-checkouts that take cash work the same way.
Watch the 20-coin rule here. A vendor is only legally obliged to accept up to 20 coins per denomination per transaction, so you cannot dump 80 ten-cent coins into one checkout and demand it goes through. Spread a big pile across a few visits, or mix denominations so no single one tops 20.
Other free spend-it-down routes that swallow coins:
Coins are legal tender in Singapore, but legal tender does not mean a shop must accept any quantity you push across the counter. Under Section 13(3) of the Currency Act 1967, the legal tender limit is 20 coins per denomination per transaction. A vendor is only obliged to accept payment up to that limit and can reject anything above it.
So in one transaction you can compel acceptance of up to 20 five-cent coins, plus up to 20 ten-cent, plus up to 20 twenty-cent, and so on across denominations. A vendor and customer can agree to use more, but only if both sides agree before the transaction. This rule was tightened by a 2019 amendment that brought the S$1 coin under the limit after cases of people paying thousands of dollars in coins to make a point.
Vendors can also post a written notice declining certain denominations or capping quantities, and that notice is valid if it references the Currency Act and is displayed clearly. If a shop rejects your coins without any such notice and you have already incurred a debt, you are entitled to pay up to the legal tender limit. The takeaway for clearing change: do it in modest batches per visit, and do not expect a hawker to count out 60 ten-cent coins for you.
Match the method to your situation rather than defaulting to the bank counter, which is almost always the worst choice on fees.
A coin jar is dead money. It earns nothing while it sits, and the longer it grows the more tempting it is to pay a fee just to be rid of it. Clearing it through a free channel and routing the cash somewhere productive turns dead weight into a small win.
If the amount is meaningful, say a few hundred dollars after a year of hoarding, deposit it free and let it earn interest rather than leaving more change to pile up. Even a modest sum compounds; our compound interest calculator shows what a one-off top-up does over a few years, and the personal budget calculator helps you decide where it should go. The real fix is to stop accumulating coins in the first place: pay by card or QR for daily spend, and the jar never refills.
The same logic applies to old notes you can no longer spend easily. If you have come across discontinued currency while clearing out, our guide to old money notes in Singapore covers what is still legal tender and how to exchange the rest.
Not directly. Singapore has no Coinstar-style note dispenser. Instead, coin deposit machines at DBS, POSB and OCBC count your coins and credit the value to your bank account for free, and you withdraw notes from any ATM at no charge.
DBS and POSB machines are free, and OCBC's new ATMs are free. Over the counter, DBS and POSB charge S$1.80 per 100 pieces, while UOB and Maybank charge S$2.00 per 100. UOB also charges S$1.50 per 100 at its own deposit machine, though it waives that fee when the coins are worth S$5.00 or less. Standard Chartered sets a S$5 minimum fee.
Use a DBS or POSB Coin Deposit Machine, or an OCBC new ATM, all of which waive the fee. Find them with each bank's branch locator filtered for coin deposit. UOB and Standard Chartered do not offer a free coin deposit channel for personal accounts.
Up to 20 coins per denomination per transaction under Section 13(3) of the Currency Act 1967. A vendor must accept payment up to that limit and can reject anything above it. Both sides can agree to use more, but only if agreed before the transaction.
Yes. NTUC FairPrice self-checkout terminals accept coins and notes, so you can clear loose change on a grocery run and pay any balance by card. The 20-coins-per-denomination limit still applies per transaction.
Yes. MAS stopped issuing 1 cent coins from 1 April 2002, but those in circulation remain legal tender. In practice many shops and machines no longer accept them, and DBS or POSB coin deposit machines list 1 cent among accepted denominations.
Not at a coin deposit machine, which takes a mix of denominations. Over the counter at DBS or POSB you must sort coins by denomination first, and those counter deposits only run on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8.30am to 11.30am.
Yes, but only at a branch counter, at S$5.00 per 100 pieces or part thereof, and only on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 11.30am. That makes CIMB the most expensive of the local banks for coins. The fee is waived for a CIMB Junior Saver account, so for a child's coins it can still be free.
Often yes. DBS and POSB waive the coin deposit fee for Child Development Accounts and kids' savings accounts, UOB waives it for the Junior Savers and Child Development Account, CIMB waives the S$5 fee for its Junior Saver, and Standard Chartered waives it for e$saver Kids!. Deposit a child's coins into the child's own account rather than yours and you skip the fee entirely.
It can be, because spending costs nothing while a counter charges by piece count. If you feed S$30 of mixed coins into a FairPrice self-checkout for a S$30 shop, you clear the lot for free and keep the S$30 you would have paid by card or cash. A free coin deposit machine at DBS, POSB or OCBC is just as cheap, so the deciding factor is whether you want bank credit or notes in hand. Only the bank counter actually costs you money, and only on piece count, not value.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.