Combination bill accepting and bill dispensing device

A device for validating and accepting paper currency comprising a validator that evaluates selected properties of the paper currency and determines whether the paper currency should be accepted or rejected and ejects the paper currency from the validator if the paper currency is rejected, a processing junction into which an accepted paper currency is fed, said processing junction including at least three processing paths including a first and second paths for accumulating paper currency for later dispensing of the paper currency and a third path for storage of accepted paper currency, and a drive arrangement associated with said processing junction for selectively driving an accepted paper currency along any of said paths;

• said device further including an accumulator and dispensing unit associated with each of said first and second paths, said accumulator and dispensing units having a common dispensing outlet through which accumulated paper currency is dispensed, and wherein said common dispensing outlet accumulates bills to be dispensed and dispenses accumulated bills as a stack of bills.