Bank refuses to cash money orders

[ILovePaypalNOT]

I accept payments in the form of money order from time to time, and I only have one brick & mortar bank locally that i deal with, and they refuse to cash the money orders. Not even one of them . They want to hold them for 11 days..
They are authentic Moneygram money orders, I have auithenticated them with moneygram and they are not ⊗⊗⊗⊗ or anything.

So basically I have a bunch of useless money orders unless I give in to the banks ridiculous hold??

[GreenBean]

Money order fraud is endemic. Bank is trying to protect itself. Sign of the times these days. Either accept it or stop taking them
May the force be with you


eta: bank in WA state came back to us 7 months after cashing in a MO.
It was forged but had been passed as OK. This was about 14 months ago. Bank policies became much stricter.

[ILovePaypalNOT]

7 months is a long time...

Wonder how long it takes for the money order to clear usually? I assume if it cleared before the 11 days it would be credited to the account...

I assume they work sorta like checks... but I dont know

[Here We Go Again]

If you ask your customers to send you a US Postal Money Order then you can take it to your Local Post Office and they should cash it on the spot.
They run it through their system and can see if it is a ⊗⊗⊗⊗ or not.

[jbluntz]

Try a check cashing place like Check Masters and charge the customers extra for the check cashing fee. Or even any place that uses money gram may cash it for a fee.

[oge]

I just got a few moneygram money orders and was successfully able to cash them at Walmart no problem. They had to call a 1 800 number and it must of been automated and they were able to cash it after verifying it. This was done just a few weeks ago.Best part was not even a fee.

[SlickJane]

Ask your customers to get their money orders from the post office- with those, the bank verifies on the spot with a phone call.

[unfortuantemistake]

Like Oge stated, WalMart is the main issuer of Money Gram Money Orders, they will cash them free of charge.

Also, just request the buyers to pay you with a USPS Money Order, they can be cashed at any local post office, and really the only Money Order I would ever accept.

[megalon]

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.

[vogeltron]

megalon, you are right cashing money orders that amount. I think you can with Postal Money order at your local post office. Even if you are doing legit business if you buy to many money orders or try to cash too many they might get suspicious. But anything else over $100 or so can be a hassle. Just to add to the thread. I do accept Money Gram and Western Union MO from time to time. Postal MO orders always preferred. But the WU and money gram. If you are worried about fraud, there is normally a 1-800 number on the back you can call type in the numbers and find out if it has been cashed or at-least a real number. Might not be perfect but I always do that before shipping any items just as an added precaution.