New $20 Bill Design to Debut in September

The newly designed $20 bill will start showing up at banks, stores and automated teller machines next month, Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin said Tuesday.

The new bill, like the revamped $100 and $50 notes before it, is aimed at making it tougher for computer-savvy counterfeiters to produce highly deceptive fakes. But some counterfeiters might try to take advantage of the public’s initial lack of familiarity to pass what later would be unconvincing knock-offs.

So, the Treasury Department is launching a public education campaign to make sure people can tell between bona fide and bogus bills.

“It’s critically important that people know what to look for and that people look,” Rubin said.

The new notes, with a larger and off-center portrait of Andrew Jackson, the nation’s seventh president, on the front, will be issued Sept. 24. The north side of the White House will appear on the reverse, and the denomination will appear in large dark numerals on a light background, to help those with poor vision.

The new notes will replace the old notes, which also depict Jackson on the front, and the south side of the White House on the back, as they wear out. That should take about two years. However, Rubin stressed that the old notes always will remain legal tender.