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How to get a Money Order?
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I have to go to the bank tomorrow to get a money order to pay my rent. I just learned what they are (thought they were the same thing as checks but apparently not). Can someone explain what I need to do to get one and how to fill it out? Also do I have to fill it out at the bank? I did some research online but am still a bit confused. Thanks in advance!
Top Comment: FYI, money orders are usually cheaper to get at Walmart as opposed to a bank or post office. You go to the little financial services/check cashing area usually located at the front of the store. Stand on line, tell them you want a money order for X amount, use your debit card, and for a small fee, they give you a money order which looks like a check but is much more valuable. You have to protect it like cash, because there is no financial protection if a money order is lost or stolen.
Extra money charged for orders.
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Hi. I have brought some items at 11.11 and yesterday I went to my online banking and saw that with every purchase there are some small extra charges about 1 Euro each. Anyone knows what they are? Thanks.
Top Comment:
Tax
Money making pro tip: Create dirt-cheap buy orders on popular items.
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Title. Then turn around and sell it at market price.
Example: I have a buy order for 5000 timber at 0.01 coin. I've gotten thousands so far for basically nothing.
Then, I turn around and sell them at a rate of 0.40 - 0.60.
That's a 40x - 60x return for doing almost nothing! Since timber is consumed for furnishing, these usually sell quickly so I'm not left bagholding a ton of timber.
Rinse and repeat across other items that are bought en masse for leveling crafting.
What are some tips you guys have for making money?
Top Comment: Ive been doing this but havent thought about timber. How often are you getting buys?
Why can't atms print out money orders and why are money orders always under $500?
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It's so annoying that I have to physically go to a bank every month to pay my rent. Why can't the ATM just do it? Third-party Banks charge fees all the time. So I know for a fact that atms can charge a simple money order fee
Top Comment:
They aren't always under $500.
Some banks like Chase and Bank of America (some states) will issue them up to $1000.
The USPS and Walmart also issue them up to $1000. And, those outlets are cheaper than banks.
Money orders can be forged. People steal entire ATM machines. Letting them steal money is one thing, but giving them blank money orders is really asking for more trouble.
ELI5: Why get money orders vs checks?
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I live in a small town and work in an even smaller town. People come in my work to purchase money orders to pay their bills (rent, electric, credit cards, eBay purchases). Why?
Why not use a check? Why not get a bank account and use a debit card?
They're paying an extra $1.25 - $1.60 per money order (sometimes more at Walmart or a grocery store), so what's really the point?
Most of them do have bank accounts (I assume) as they cash their paychecks a there, so why not splurge for checks?
Top Comment: When I get a check, it's a promise from the person handing me the check that I will get my money. But when I get a money order, it's a promise from the company issuing the money order that I'll get paid. So, that's probably a bank or the post office or Western Union or some other reputable company. I may have no reason to trust you -- but I can trust the company who is backing the money order.
FYI Don't use Money Orders : r/povertyfinance
Main Post: FYI Don't use Money Orders : r/povertyfinance
ELI5 Money Orders
Main Post: ELI5 Money Orders
Top Comment:
In short a money order is like a cheque that is guaranteeing payment because it is backed by a banking or other institution. To get one, you can go to a bank and request one for a specific amount(we will say 500$). In return the bank will charge you that amount and typically a fee and give you a money order.
In this case, a personal cheque has a risk of it being fake or not having individual funds in an account. So a person receiving a payment may prefer a money order because the payment essentially comes from the bank and such a risk is almost non-existant.
An individual may choose to pay someone in a money order because a cheque has a bank account and routing number on it. Also it is also capable of being counterfeit or tampered with. For this reason, a money order offers more security.
Why Do People Use Money Orders?
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Is there a legitimate reason why people use money orders? I have been trying to think of a situation where they are a better option than a check, cash, cashier's check, ACH/wire transfer etc. and I can't. Yet, I see they get used all the time and there are so many problems with them; they can get lost, are expensive to buy, and seem to be associated with scams/fraud frequently. So, why do people use money orders?
Top Comment: Some people don't have checking accounts. Search on the "unbanked."
Ten Basic Questions and Answers on Money Orders
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This post briefly covers how to use money orders, MOs, in MS. MOs are a very useful way of increasing your MS volume when you’ve exhausted any fee-free methods (like Serve, BlueBird, etc.).
- Question 1: What is a money order?
Money orders are great because they’re a good way to liquidate debit-based gift cards. A lot of stores sell money orders on debit, so you can take a VGC or MGC and buy one.
A money order is basically a prepaid check. A normal check is basically an IOU note with information (account number, bank routing number, etc.) on how to claim that money. Checks normally (although not always) pull money out of a checking account. Importantly, you don’t have to have enough money in your checking account when you write a check; it’s only when the check is deposited that the money tries to get withdrawn.
In contrast, when you buy a money order, you need to have all of the value of the MO upfront. Once you do that, a machine prints out the money order for a specified amount, and that’s as good as cash. If you lose it, you’re mostly out of luck (hopefully you kept the receipt so you can file a claim for a replacement money order).
- Question 2: Are there different kinds of money orders, and if so, what are the differences?
There are two main types of money orders: MoneyGram (MG) and Western Union (WU). In the real world, there are some small differences, but for MS, there are only a couple of things to think about.
WU money order machines are probably more common than MG just in terms of number of places, so if you try to spread out where you get money orders (which is probably a good practice), you’ll probably find WU locations more often than not. WU are usually (although not always) capped at $500 per order while MG are usually topped at $1000.
Besides those general differences, the two kinds of money orders appear different. And that’s important when you’re trying to deposit them or dealing with some kind of automated system. Some systems recognize WU better than MG or vice versa. This is dealt with further down.
- Question 3: How much do money orders cost?
Because they’re prepaid, they cost at least as much as the amount you put on them. If you buy a $500 MO, it’ll cost at least $500.
Besides that, stores usually charge fees of a dollar or less per order. Walmart, for example, charges $0.70 per money order, with a maximum money order amount of $1000. That means that if you have a bunch of smaller cards you’ll want to try to do a split tender transaction just to cut down on any MO fees. How much each particular store charges per order depends, and you’ll usually have to call or walk in to be sure.
- Question 4: Where do I buy money orders?
Here’s a MG locator. https://secure.moneygram.com/locations Here’s a WU locator. http://locations.westernunion.com/ With both, make sure you change the filter to show stores that sell money orders. Note that I’ve found some stores that sold money orders that didn’t appear on either list or found that a listed store didn’t actually exist, but that only happened two or three times. By and large, the above locators are accurate.
In general, though, there are a few stores that MSers like to frequent because they’re almost guaranteed. Walmart is a big example of this. Some even have automated machines that sell money orders (see KATE). Some Kmarts do as well, and grocery stores are another good case. There are also some “convenience stores” that sell money orders. These are usually attached to gas stations, but they’re sometimes independent stores.
In general, though, just go around and check for yourself in your local situation.
- Question 5: X store won’t let me buy with debit. What do I do?
You move on. Not every store will let you buy with a debit card, and you’re probably not going to win in an argument with the cashier.
When I’m in a new location, I’ll go through the locators above to find nearby stores and I’ll actually call. Gasp Yes, there’s nothing wrong with calling to make sure that they actually do sell money orders (maybe their machine is out of order right now) and that they sell by debit.
“Hi, I was wondering if your store sells money orders. Oh, you do? Great. Can I buy with a debit card? Oh, I can’t? That’s too bad. Thank you for your help, though.”
- Question 6: Y store lets me buy with debit, but they check the cards to see if they have a name/are bank-issued/aren’t gift cards/etc. What do I do?
You have four main options. You can move on. See above. You don’t always want to push your luck and potentially get kicked out of the store (maybe for life) for getting into an argument.
Or you could go to the store when there’s a cashier who doesn’t care. Not every cashier at a store checks or cares if you use a bank debit card.
Slightly risky is getting personalized gift cards. These will obviously have your name, so you can pull out your ID to show that it’s really you. On the other hand, most personalized gift cards still have the word “Gift” somewhere on them. If a cashier looks really hard, they’ll probably find that and may or may not deny you. You probably won’t have any major issues, though, since it’s still fairly obvious that you’re not stealing anything (hopefully the cashier knows this).
The fourth option is the riskiest because it’s the shadiest. You can try misleading or otherwise getting the cashier to not see that you’re using a gift card. Maybe you swipe when they’re not looking. Maybe you hide it under your real bank debit card. There are a lot of different sleights of hand that you could do. If you get caught, though, you’re probably going to face consequences. The worst is that they could call the police on you and be placed under arrest. That’s an extreme situation, but it’s still a possible. In general, the cashier will probably just cancel the transaction and tell you you’re not allowed to buy money orders. It’s up to you if you think this method is worth it.
- Question 7: What about post offices? I know you can get money orders at post offices.
Yes and no. Yes, you can buy money orders at post offices, often with debit cards. I’ve never done it for the next reason, though. No, gift cards can’t be used. Post offices code money order transactions as something other than a regular debit purchase (it’s either a cash advance or a withdrawal, but I think the latter). Either way, gift cards can’t do it, so the transaction will fail.
Post offices can still be useful for non-gift cards. If you have a rewards debit card (which are increasingly rare), then you can pump out a bunch of money orders at a post office. Or you could use a reloadable debit card that does have a withdrawal feature (e.g., Nationwide Buxx, T-Mobile Visa, etc.). Maybe you actually find a gift card that works at post offices (they could exist). In any event, post offices are something to keep in the back of your mind, even if it’s not useful for most purposes.
Edit: it seems that more than quite a few post offices work with various gift cards, including Vanilla Visas and Vanilla Mastercard. Thank you to everyone who gave data!
- Question 8: Okay, I have my money order. Now what do I do with it?
The most common thing to do is deposit it. Go to your bank’s teller or ATM or use the mobile app to deposit it. There’s a whole thread on FlyerTalk about banks that allow mobile or ATM deposits of MOs. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manufactured-spending/1545203-banks-allow-money-order-deposits-via-smartphone-atm.html
- Question 9: What bank accounts should I use to deposit money orders?
The thread I linked above gives some examples of banks that don’t mind money orders and aren’t prone to shutting people down. Personally, I use USAA and Radius Bank. To those who love USAA and its customer service, yes, I do too. And believe me, I get it. You don’t want to risk ruining that relationship. “Don’t sh*t where you eat” and all that jazz. I’m just saying that they haven’t questioned my repeated MO deposits. You don’t have to do what I do, but I used to deposit $1000 every three days or so for about two months (I’ve slowed down since then just because of my schedule, not because they warned me). The mobile app accepts both WU and MG, but MG can be a huge pain to get scanned sometimes. A really neat feature is that funds are available immediately, no matter when you deposit.
Radius Bank is a small institution in New York. I have a whole guide to both for MO and other purposes, but that’s not the main point here. Suffice it to say that they’ve also accepted a decent volume of MOs. New accounts are limited in that a hold is placed on any checks for five days. After your account has been opened for a while (30 or 60 days; I can’t remember), that’s decreased, and checks post the next business day.
- Question 10: How about paying off a credit card from a money order directly, either in branch or by mail?
Yeah, you can. Some bloggers are touting this as the ailment to our woes of bank account shutdowns. I don’t really like it just because I like MS to be as couch-y as possible, and paying a credit card either means going to a bank or mailing it out. Call me lazy if you want.
Other than that, this isn’t a completely fool-proof method (neither is depositing into a bank account, even if a bank is known for its tolerance). There are still people who have been shut down for paying credit cards by money order. It could still be safer than bank deposits, but it’s not completely safe.
Feel free to ask any other questions I missed!
Addendum:
- Question 11: Are there any other uses for money orders?
Sure. Money orders can be used to pay for almost anything that can be paid for by check. u/Mortgasm has the great suggestion of paying things like contractors, who normally don't accept credit cards or charge fees for it. I've also seen people ask about things like tuition for school. If you don't want to risk a bank account shutdown at all, this can be a great way to liquidate money orders as long as you get confirmation that MOs are okay.
There are also places that cash money orders, but those usually charge really high fees, so I tend to stay away from them.
Top Comment: Thanks for this sub. The other one is getting a touch too heavy handed on moderation. Good guide
Where's the cheapest place to get a money order?
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I have Citibank account but I think they charge $5.
Edit: Thanks for all the replies guys, I got it from 7/11 for $1.29/$500. Found out later that DuaneReade had it for $0.99/$500 too, but thanks for guiding me to the right place.
Top Comment: Walmart currently charges 70 cents . Though make sure to call ahead, not all Walmart's have them. Post offices have money orders under $500 for $1.20, or $500 to $1000 for $1.60. Most drug stores have them also at reasonable prices, but again you should call any individual drug store first to confirm they offer the service.