Banks (in the US) have always been assholes about this, for the last 30 or so years I’ve been an adult. If you don’t have an account, or if the check’s not drawn from one of their accounts, they will as likely not want anything to do with you.

Businesses used to be better about this (what do they care if they have one $20 or four $5s?), but over the last 20 years three separate factors have combined to make them unlikely to want the hassle too. First, the perception of counterfeiting being rampant makes them want to deal with bank notes as little as possible, even for denominations that are unappealing to true counterfeiters. This is why you read so many stories about people being arrested (even when it turns out their bills were real, or they had just gotten them from the ATM). Second, (for better or worse) we are on our way to becoming a cashless society and they want as few cash transactions as possible. Finally (and I don’t know the origin of this), the last two years have had multiple local businesses complaining about a “nationwide shortage of coins”… they’re definitely not going to want to give up their rolls of quarters so you can wash your stanky underwear.

At least some of this isn’t malicious, but that doesn’t make any of it any less worrisome.