HOW MUCH OF THIS £50 BANKNOTE HAVE YOU GOT? SPEND IT NOW BEFORE 30TH APRIL OR.....- uk.finance.yahoo.com

The £50 banknote featuring a portrait of Sir John Houblon on the back will no longer be accepted as legal tender after Wednesday (30th April). The Bank of England announced it was withdrawing the note back in January as part of its strategy to combat fraud.

From Thursday 1st May only £50 notes depicting entrepreneur Matthew Boulton and engineer James Watt, which launched in November 2011, will count as legal tender.

So if you've got some cash lying around you could have one or more of the notes about to be axed. The Bank of England is advising people who find they have a Houblon £50 note to spend, deposit or exchange it before the 30th April deadline.

From the beginning of May, the Houblon note is unlikely to be accepted as payment by general retailers, though if you miss the deadline to spend it most banks and building societies will allow you to deposit or exchange your old-style notes.

Barclays, NatWest, Post Office, RBS and Ulster Bank have said they will exchange up to £200-worth of notes for customers and non-customers until 30th October 2014.

Santander will also swap the note until the end of October, but only for existing customers up to a limit of £250. Anything over this amount will need to be paid into a Santander account.

HSBC, Halifax, Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland and TSB will also only allow existing customers to deposit the notes after the April deadline until the end of October, but won’t impose a limit, while Nationwide will allow existing customers to deposit the old £50 note on an ongoing basis after the April deadline with no limit.