What is the meaning of "cash in a few favors"?

[Antonia123]

Hi everyone!

Could you help me understand "cash in a few favors"? I found it in this sentence:

"My dad had to pull a few strings and cash in a few favors to keep me out of the army."

I guess it means "ask for a few favors" but I think I may be wrong after I checked "cash in" here http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/cash+inlink. "Cash in" is not related to "ask" at all.

Thanks for your help!

 

[teechar]

Your dad had previously done favours to other people, and so those people owed your dad those favours.
So now your dad can go to those people and "cash in" those favours. That means he can ask those people to do favours for him now.