Penny production stopped–here's what that means for us

The U.S. Department of Treasury has stopped the production of the penny. While the penny remains legal tender, ongoing supply constraints have impacted Capital One’s ability to source pennies reliably for branch distribution. Therefore, Capital One is no longer able to order or dispense pennies to support customer transactions.   

The production and distribution of a single penny cost 3.69 cents, nearly four times its face value. This resulted in an $85 million loss for the U.S. Mint in 2024 alone. Refer to the US Mint for details on the shift in penny production and availability.

Capital One no longer has pennies on hand to provide to customers due to supply constraints. As a result, Capital One has made adjustments to some cash coin transactions involving pennies.

The impact of this will be felt across the country with businesses and banks all experiencing a lack of pennies at different times. 

As pennies are still legal tender, Capital One will continue to:

• Accept penny deposits.

• Conduct electronic transactions in $.01 increments as we’ve always done (e.g. transfers between accounts in $.01 increments).

• Conduct check deposit transactions, without cash back, in $.01 increments.

• Conduct payment transactions, without cash back, in $.01 increments.

As Capital One branches are unable to order or dispense pennies, our business process will be adjusting certain cash transactions in the customer’s favor by rounding their cash coin payout amount up to the nearest nickel.

Capital One is committed to supporting our customers through this transition. We’ll continue to monitor updates from the Federal Reserve and Treasury and share guidance as it becomes available.