reisner_68

I have a friend that is in London England and he made the mistake of bringing U.S money orders to london and now he can not find a place to cash them and he has to get back to the states. He tried to mail a few of them back to the states but they got lost in the Royal mail and he insured them but the Royal post office said that it would take 4 weeks to investigate it. All he has is U.S money orders and no way of coming home to cash them. Is there anywhere he can cash in the U.S money orders?

flanneruk

If your friend can contact you, he can contact whoever issued these instruments. If they're exchangeable somewhere outside the US (USPS domestic money orders aren't), the issuing bank will tell him where to change them.

If he can't contact the issuer, the chances are he's lost the money. If the issuer tells him they can't be exchanged, he might try hanging round the gates of RAF Mildenhall or RAF Fairford to see if an airman can help him out. Or try having a word with the Marine on the desk at the American Embassy.

Or ask your embassy.

kayd

Has he tried the US consulate? Their job is to help Americans abroad, so they may have dealt with this in the past and could tell your friend where he might cash the money orders. But why money orders and not travelers' checks -- he must have had some bad advice.

Christina

I think it's impossible if you mean he bought a domestic US money order in USD. If he bought an international one, it should be cashable at banks or post offices or something. But that doesn't sound like what he did.

That's all I cn think of, I have sent US postal orders abroad, but they were international ones.

He should find a better way to transmit them to the US for someone to cash them for him, I suppose. Otherwise, I'd suggest he find a US bank in London. Isn't Citibank there? But fake money orders are a real scam, so I don't know who would just give him cash for those immediately. The people I sent them to (and they were international) used them as deposits for things, so if they bounced, they'd find out and I'd lose my deposit. Maybe some US bank or place would cash them but not give him the money for some time until they found out if it were good, but he'd probably need to have an account there.

fmpden

This whole thing sounds bogus. I am sure it is a scam. Reiner-68 just join in March 2010 and this is his/her first posting. Money orders are a major fraud instrument. Even international money order are very suspicious. Nobody would be stupid enough to come to London only with money orders.

Christina

I would think it a scam if reiner was asking someone on Fodors to cash the money orders, as that's was scam artists do -- ask people to cash them and say they can keep 10 pct, give them the rest, except they bounce. I think first posts are usually to advertise if bogus, and reiner may have just googled and tried to find some international/travel boards to ask this question. Not a bad idea.

It is a very weird thing for anyone to do, though, and weirder that such a person would have no means of support and no credit cards, ATM card, etc. Most people have probably never even heard of postal money orders.

adrienne

I'd like to know how the friend got into England without showing credit cards or enough cash to live on during his stay. Maybe British immigration is more lax now but I've always received a good grilling whenever I've tried to enter GB.

Dayenu

A money order is the same as a check. In the US it's impossible to deposit/cash a foreign check, so probably it's impossible in London to do the same.

OK, this may be stupid, but if your friend endorses them to you, can you take them to a Western Union, or AmEx or such currency exchange place?

Why did he use post office to mail back? Is there something like FedEx or UPS?

flanneruk

"probably it's impossible in London to do the same. [deposit a foreign check]"

Bollocks.

That might be the case in insular villages like New York - though actually, grownup banks like HSBC operate globally even there. But in my tiny Cotswold market town - like everywhere else in Britain - all banks accept cheques from most proper foreign banks (ie, in the case of the US, practically any institution with a routing code), and charge about 1% commission for doing so. Though, of course, they won't release cash till the cheque's cleared, which can take up to three weeks.

But the problem is that US money orders AREN'T "the same as a cheque". USPS - unlike what happens with a First National Bank of Nowhereville cheque - explicitly refuses to allow foreign encashment of its domestic money orders. And many other US domestic money orders aren't issued by conventional banks.

Which is why the simple answer is to contact the issuing institution.

nytraveler

This is possibly the stupidest thing I have every heard - and I'm assuming it's a troll. The only people who use money orders are those who can't have checking accounts - due to lack of funds or history of fraudulent financial activities.

If the person is truly destitute they should go to the US embassy - who will help them contact someone at home who must organize to send them money. When, if the person does exist, he returns to the US he should take the money orders back where he got them and cash them in.

Michel_Paris

I must live under a rock, cuz I can't figure out how this makes any sense at all. My brain melts over this one...

LoveItaly

I just read an article a few hours ago about Gmail being hacked and the hackers would send emails to the person's friends requesting money and lo and behold the article said the email stated the friend was in England without funds.
Here is the article from the SF Chronicle.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...F0006DF5D0.DTL

Probably a co-incidence but I can't help but wonder if the OP received the information about his friend in England via an e-mail or if he has spoken to him via a phone call. I realize the OP did not say his friend was asking him to wire him money but that could be the next step if hackers have hijacked his friends email account. Just wondering.