[kellyhound]

A Sydney man sold his Toyota Supra sports car for $15,000 and stored the cash away in the oven.

He stored the cash in his oven because his wife never uses it.
But that evening she turned on the oven to pre-heat chicken nuggets for their two girls.

The man, who asked not be identified out of embarrassment, sold his sports car on Saturday afternoon and decided to store the cash temporarily in his oven.
Australian money is made from plastic.

The entire cash melted in the heat of the oven while his wife heated chicken nugget in it.

The man said he was forced to sell his sports car to pay bills because of a slow-down in the building industry that affected his metal roofing business.

The man laments that his family has been rendered penniless by the act of his wife turning on the oven to prepare chicken nuggets for the kids.

The family is now in dire financial straits and the family's water supply was cut off after failure to pay the water bills.

The man said, "It was everything I had." He added: "I've got nothing to my name. That money was supposed to go towards my mortgage.

I had a call from Westpac on Tuesday asking me when I would pay because I missed a payment on Monday. I told them 'I'll pay tomorrow' but then the money was burnt.'"

The man said: "After a while it started to sink in, you've got kids, a mortgage, a family car to run and I'm thinking what am I going to do."

The man's distraught wife said she "could not stop crying" when she told her husband what had happened.

She said: "I struggled to breathe, I said 'I burnt the money, I burnt the money.' I felt like I was going to faint."

The man took the cash to his bank to deposit it but the bank cashier at the Merrylands' Westpac branch refused to accept it.

He pleaded with her: "I asked her to send it to the RBA, I told her 'please it's all I got' but she didn't want to."
But there is still hope for the family.

When a spokesman for Westpac Merrylands was contacted, he offered an apology and said: "we will do whatever we can do within the guidelines."

The Reserve Bank of Australia has a policy on damaged and incomplete banknotes and advises people to take them to the bank.

The RBA policy guidelines say: "If several pieces of the same banknote are presented, the Reserve Bank's policy is for each piece to be worth a share of the value in proportion to its size. The combined value paid should be the face value of the original banknote."

According to the RBA policy, "If less than 20 percent of the note is missing full face value is paid, but if between 20-80 percent of the note is missing value is paid in proportion with the percentage remaining. If more than 80 percent is missing no payment is made."

ooops

[K9Grip]

That really really really sucks. I'll be honest though, there's no way I'd hide all 15k in one spot. I understand the wife doesn't cook, but all the "what if's" would keep me from putting it there.

[DannyDrama]

Originally Posted by K9Grip ↗

That really really really sucks. I'll be honest though, there's no way I'd hide all 15k in one spot. I understand the wife doesn't cook, but all the "what if's" would keep me from putting it there.

H a dumb motherfucker for sure. My rule is, never put anything that can be destroyed into/around/on/under anything that can destroy other things.

[Oswald2001]

That's called self-sabotage.

[Karma]

Wait, what? Australian money is plastic? I didn't know that. That's crazy!

[St. Geno]

Ever heard of a bank account?

[Wolf]

As opposed to a bake account?

[DiamondSmiles]

He should have told his wife it was there.

[rheedork]

He should've at least told her. Why did he need to HIDE the money when they would've used it to pay bills.

[Seven Of Nine]

Originally Posted by Karma ↗

Wait, what? Australian money is plastic? I didn't know that. That's crazy!

The Australian money as well as Canadian money (likely more Commonwealth countries as well) are made of a polymer plastic. They are supposed to be the most durable bank notes ever issued. I live in Canada and the introduction of these bills began late last year. We only have the $100 and $50 notes to date. Here is a picture of our money in circulation (mostly) now as well as an image of the new notes.

I feel so badly for that couple, things like this can cause relationships to end and suicide at times. Shame.