by Lynette Alice

Created on: August 19, 2009   Last Updated: August 29, 2009

Finding a place to buy money orders is not very difficult, however finding a place to buy money orders at a good rate that will not wind up being a scam is quite another thing. In general there are only a handful of really good companies selling money orders you can buy from without that gnawing feeling something is going to go wrong. As with most things in life, if you don't recognize the company name and the price seems too good to be true, it may very well be so.

One of the best places to buy money orders is at any branch of the U.S. Post Office (USPS). What makes their money orders a great option is availability, price, and it's acceptability almost everywhere in the world. The government may be messed up, but this is one thing they do right. At this time money orders up to $500 (USD) incur a cost of $1.10. Up to $1,000 it only increases to $1.50 which is still very reasonable. Postal Military Money Orders (PMMO) which are only issued on military facilities only cost $.30 which is a great option if it is available to you.

In the case of purchasing a USPS money order to be cashed abroad the rules are a bit different. The first thing you will notice is that they cap the rate for an individual order at $700 instead of $1,000. The second thing is it will cost more than double to purchase it, $3.80, which all things considered is still pretty reasonable as it does provide a bit of peace of mind. A third thing to note is USPS money orders can only be sent to 30 countries at this time so it is a good idea to check their website before heading out to buy one.

A good piece of advice on buying USPS money orders is to not buy the maximum value of $1,000. The reasoning behind this is that while they can be cashed anywhere, most people redeem them at a USPS location and depending on the branch and time of day a large order could be difficult to cash as they make "drops" of cash to the safe regularly. By sending two smaller orders it is more likely there will be enough cash in the drawers to honor at least one. It costs a bit more, but if you are sending them to someone in a small town it may be a wiser option.

Western Union is the second best known location to purchase money orders. The good thing about Western Union is they are nearly everywhere any form of money is present with 170,000 locations which means they are easy to find, and easy to cash money orders at. Western Union does have some steep rates however as a money order originating in the U.S. to a U.S. location

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