Western Union money orders

Gary W. Graley

Gary W. Graley

“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Mar 2, 1999
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How long would you think it takes for a Western Union money order to clear?

a few days?

a week?

two weeks?

It's been about that now and still has not cleared the bank, I guess I will need
to insist on US Postal Money orders as those were deposited the same time
cleared within two days...

Ugh, sorry to vent, just drives me crazy, just a little ;)

G2
 
Gary, I cash USPS money orders at the P.O. don't even chance those. Too many fakes and it is going to get worse.
 
Gotta agree, cash the PO money orders at the post office, or at least convert them to secondary PO money orders purchased with the one you were sent.

This way the onus is on the post office to immediately determine if the MO is the real deal.

Unfortunately, the only way to have the same security with a Western Union PO is to cash it at the currency exchange or other WU outlet.

This will cost you a few dollars, and if this eats into the funds a little, your alternatives are waiting for the MO to clear prior to shipping or asking that anyone submitting a MO add the cost of the WU service charge. The second is admittedly a little hard to sell.

G2, paypal is by no means perfect, but it has been pretty easy all things considered. I'm sorry to hear about your hassle here.
 
Anything Western Union scares me off these days as there are so many scams involved with accepting Western Union money orders. I agree Paypal is not perfect but it is relatively painless, but I hope it all works out for you.
 
I heard that the Post Office had a lot of problems with forgeries
and now have slick new style with a metal strip inbedded so that
should help.
Paypal, I've just stayed away from that for a long time, but may
consider it this year, but likely not.

I've had a couple of checks bounce as well, turned out it was a banking
problem on the other person's side, they were good for it but for what
ever reason the funds didn't show as available and so it bounced, throwing
my ever balancing checking and savings in turmoil and creating havoc with
the wife for ever accepting checks in the first place, always fun!
G2
 
Not trying to hijack your thread Gary but I have a question to all.

How many of you have had an actual phony USPS money order? I hear about so called forgeries and I don't deny that happens as anything can be counterfeited but….

I’ve bought and sold probably 100 – 150 knives over the last 5 years and I’ve never bought a fake MO or received one from a buyer. Not a large number I realize compared to a lot of folks but it still makes me wonder. How many people actual have had one?

Just curious as I hear so much about them.

Thanks.

Vr

Mark T.
 
Mark, the USPS money order has changed its format precisely becuase it was becoming the most widely counterfeited currency in the USA.

The USPS not only was issuing them in the same fashion as the Fed prints money, but they had as recently as six months back NO way whatsoever to verify electronically that the MO was valid.

I discovered this when I received one very quickly from a BFC member and went to cash it, and the PO told me that they would not cash it since it was too new to show up in their system. Interesting, eh? The local PO would not cash it since they could not tell if a MO from the USPS in FL was legit, since their tracking system was screwballs.

The little stripe means nothing, frankly. And while I have not had the experience personally, I have a friend who was taken for several thousand dollars in postal MO.

So yes, it is true, and I would suspect that until they can verify instantaneously that the MO is legit, the only safe way is to cash them at the PO.
 
I've not heard of anyone personally that was taken with counterfiet MO's, just what
the PO has told me.

The new ones look 'fancier' and I would guess the little stripe just makes it slightly tougher
for folks to copy, but people are clever!

G2
 
Gary, they run that pen over all US bills over $20 for a reason, and those are WAY harder than the fancy USPS MO ;)
 
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