Here is a little knowledge on MoneyGram money orders...
Yes, Wal Mart is the main place to buy them and cash them. BUT, there are instances in which Wal Mart wont even cash Money Gram money orders that were purchased at a Wal Mart store. This happened to me back in January. A friend of mine owed me some money but had it on her debit card. She went to Wal Mart to cash out $2400 in money orders. They had to break them up into three money orders: $1000, $1000 & $400. I went to pick them up from her and tried cashing them the next day.
When I tried cashing them at my local Wal Mart the two $1000 money orders were rejected. For some odd reason they need your ssn to cash money orders. Anyway, the cashier handed me a receipt for each rejected money order. They had some 800 number on them. The $400 one cashed with no problem. I went to two different walmarts, a check cashing store and even a liquor store. Nothing.
So I finally called the 800 number. Turns out, this is the hotline for the company walmart uses for check verifications and what not. The receipts they hand you have different codes, so when you call the 1800 number you must key in your code. I forgot what my code was, but I received an automated message saying that Wal Mart would not cash these money orders, there is nothing they can do to help me and no customer service rep or manager will be able to give me any assistance. And that was that.
SO I called MoneyGram. MoneyGram told me that this issue has come up many times before and that I would be best off going outside of the network of retailers that uses the check verification system. She suggested some places I do not remember but I heard "Wells Fargo" loud and clear. Went to Wells Fargo (which is like 2 minutes from where I live) the next day and opened an account. They wont cash them, but you can deposit into your account and it clears the next day. Worked like a charm.
After a major headache I did some research and figured out the verification system runs a credit check to determine whether or not they will give wal mart the thumbs up or thumbs down on cashing the money order. It seems that smaller amounts are fine, but $1000+ can be an issue. There are other reasons they wont cash your money order as well.
So there ya go. Try opening up a Wells Fargo account.
Then again this was a 2009 issue. Lol sure hope he got it handled since then.
Last edited by megalon; 03-13-2013 at 02:42 PM.
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