Well, only one question, and hopefully it’s not *that *stupid.
I do not bank with a brick and mortar bank. I bank online with ING/Capital 300 or whatever they’re calling themselves now. On the rare occasion that I have to deposit an actual check, I upload an image of the front and back, and it is deposited into my account easy peasy. So knowing that banks will cash money orders, when I received one, I just photographed both sides, deposited it online, and walked away business as usual. Except it got rejected because ING 360 doesn’t accept money order deposits. Okay! My 30 seconds of Googling has revealed that my options for cashing a money order are go into the bank (not an option), cash at USPS if a USPS-issued money order (not an option, as it is not), or go to check cashing place. Check cashing is an option, but they charge you through the asshole, and I don’t feel like handing over an ungodly percentage of my own goddamn money to them. But it might be my only choice?
Is that all there is? Is there something I don’t know? Halp, por favor. Thanks!
One option could be to sign it over to a friend who has a bank account at a place that allows deposits of money orders, and have them pay you the funds in cash or a check that you can deposit.
Some supermarkets will cash money orders. I don’t know the details about what ones they accept or how much they charge but they’re probably better than the check cashing places.
Looks like you'll have to have someone else cash it, use a check cashing service or you might possibly be able to cash/use it at a supermarket/Target etc.
If you live near a Wal Mart, pop in there and see if they’ll cash it for you (at Customer Service). They do a whole lot of money stuff. If they cash paychecks and send moneyorders, I bet they cash moneyorders.
This. I am unsure why the OP feels that she cannot go to a bank to cash the money order. If the issuing agency (bank, credit union, Western Union, whatever) is willing to make good on it, then a bank–any bank–should have no problems cashing it.
There may be some service charges, but I fail to see how any bank cannot cash a properly-executed money order by a recognized bank or other authority. If you want to deposit the funds to ING, then tell the bank you’re in. Again, there may be some service fees, but as far as I can tell, if you can recite to the cashing bank all the necessary info as to your ING account, the money will end up in your ING account.
Doesn’t hurt to ask a local bank, anyway. Ask and find out.
In the United States, few banks are willing to cash checks for non-customers. You need an account at a bank to cash a check there. Maybe back in the 1950s, your friendly town banker would cash a check for a non-customer, but this is not common practice in the United States.
For one thing, the bank has no a priori way of knowing whether the issuing agency will make good on the check other than to process it and wait to see if it is returned. Even if the bank were willing to go to the trouble of calling the issuing agency for a non-customer, that is no guarantee that the person presenting the check is the real payee, that the copy of the check being presented is genuine, that payment will not be stopped on the check, or that there will still be sufficient funds in the account when presented to the issuer, or various other frauds. No issuing agency will guarantee that a check will clear.
And further, if the check bounces, the bank has no recourse against an unknown person who may have presented a fake or stolen ID. And even if they can find the person, they may have to pursue a long and expensive collection process.
But to fill the void for the unbanked, we do have places called “check cashing stores” that will take the risk of cashing checks for strangers for a substantial fee. In Illinois (where I believe the OP may reside), these are called “Currency Exhcanges” (which poor people use instead of banks and where you cannot actually exchange any currency).
And you seem to be implying that a random bank would transfer money for a non-customer to a different bank??? Not in the United States. Some might willing to do a wire transfer if you brought in a wad of cash and paid a substantial fee. But a non-customer coming in with a money order and demanding that the bank transfer money to a different bank, no way in heck.
To MeanOldLady who issued the money order? Western Union, Travelers Express, American Express, a bank?
It used to be that in order to open an Ing Direct account you had to supply a linked checking account at another bank to and from which you can transfer money. Did you close that account or did they recently remove that requirement?
This is one of the reason why you need a local bank account in addition to your online bank account(s). If you ever needed a signature guarantee, a cashiers check, change, small bills, more cash than you can take out of an ATM, or any number of other services, you would be up the creek if you don’t have a B&M bank.
You can check with the issuer of the money order to see if they have any local agencies that cash their money orders or your can trek to a check cashing store.
You misread that page. It is for the deposit by smartphone app. If you look near the top of the page, it says “Deposit Checks > Image Upload > The Basics.”
Of course you can mail in a money order to ING 360. But it sounds like the OP wants to cash it, like get currency right now, as opposed to deposit it and get currency later. I’m stumped on that, but again: you can mail it in to ING 360.
Bars and liquor stores will often cash checks and money orders. My local watering hole doesn’t even charge anything. I always feel somewhat dirty doing it, since I assume they do it to help you drink away your paycheck instead of buying formula for the baby.
Right, this exactly. Which is why I pointed out in my OP who I bank with. I thought it would be understood that banking online is the crux of my problem, but apparently people think you can wander into a bank that’s not yours and expect them to perform services for you.
I wish it were issued by a well-known institution. It was issued by some folks called Continental Express out in Orange County, CA. You might be wondering who the hell paid me with a money order. My idiot brother who is so bad with money that he had to borrow it from me, and just when I thought I was never going to see it again, he mails it to me a year later with a fucking money order. This guy, I swear…
Anyway, when I opened my ING account, I had a local bank account, and then I closed it. Don’t ask me why. I think they had too many fees or something. In any case, you are very much right about why it’s important to have a local account. I found this out twice the hard way this weekend! First when I lost my debit card and found out it would take FIVE business days to receive a replacement. Yikes! Five days access to my money? I have a credit card that could keep me afloat but still, that’s ridiculous. And second, trying to redeem this f-ing money order.
You cannot mail in the money order to ING/Capital One. I called them just now. No money orders, period. And I don’t care when I receive the money. Whether I cash it now or deposit it into my account makes no difference. I’d just like to redeem the damn thing.
Heh, that does seem kind of seedy, and I’d totally feel like a hobo doing so, but I s’pose if it came to it I would. Apparently WalMart cashes money orders for all of $3. I really doubt any of the bars around here would cash a money order for me, but I reckon $3 isn’t an exorbitant amount of money, and I’d pay that. So I think I’ve answered my own question. Actually, the guy at Capital One told me this, but the point is I believe my question has been answered for now.
Maybe that was allowed before Capital One took over, but now they won’t take them. And it IS total BS. I didn’t even think twice about trying to deposit it. Banks cash money orders, therefore my bank would accept my money order, right? Wrong! So very, very lame.