Dear Yahoo!:
How can I exchange a damaged U.S. dollar bill? Does it have the same value?
Tanil
Istanbul, Turkey

Dear Tanil:
We zeroed in on Yahoo!'s Department of Treasury category where we found the official web site for the U.S. Treasury. Our money hunt led us to a frequently asked questions page about damaged currency.

If you have more than one half of the original bill, the Treasury will usually reimburse you for the full face value of the bill. Within the Treasury, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing's Office of Currency Standards (OCS) handles all requests to replace damaged currency, so we headed to the OCS for more detail.

The OCS page provides a mailing address and complete shipping instructions for turning in your damaged currency. If more than half of that dollar is identifiable, they'll give you back a new dollar. If less than half of the bill can be identified, a new greenback will be headed your way if you can explain how the currency was damaged, and also prove to the Treasury that the rest of the bill was totally destroyed. Each case of damaged currency is handled individually, and experts carefully examine each bill submitted.

The OCS only handles mutilated currency, such as that damaged by fire, water, chemicals, or animals. If your dollar is merely dirty, defaced, worn, or ripped, and more than half of the dollar is clearly visible, you can go to any U.S. bank to exchange it for a fresh dollar. Banks can turn over such currency to a Federal Reserve Bank to be retired or destroyed.

So, next time you and your buddies spend a Sunday afternoon burning c-notes, don't worry -- just make sure you snatch the burning bills from the fire before they're half gone.