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Accepting International Payments Just Got Harder..

I deposited a Money Order from Japan today, and was met with quite a suprise. My Bank (National City Bank, Ohio) slapped a 45 day hold on the funds! Their reason, simply, it is an international Money Order/Check, and their Fraud Department decided to implement this new rule about 1 month ago (without alerting any of the banks customers), to protect their assets, because they have recently experienced a tremendous amount of fake/phony Mony Orders and Checks from international sources. This new rule (Federal Regulation "RegCC" applied to the extreme) applies to ANY non-USA source of funds (that means Canada too). Check with your bank before accepting a Non-USA Money Order, that's all I have to say. One last thing, look into "HyperWallet" for USA-Canada/Canada-USA shipping ( http://corp.hyperwallet.com/index.jsp )

Curtis
zorathustra
bpwalsh
1,197 posts
 
Fmpnd, great advice! Hope all is well with you! I strongly recommend wire transfers, having been through this with large overseas sales. A $25 or so fee should be expected if you are the recipient.
Brian
hiradi
25 posts
 
Hello from Australia...
I have done many a deal by now with fellow Audiogon members and only use Wire Transfer with XE.com for large sums...NO cost or delay involved on your end...takes usually about 3 to 5 days... I would not accept Bank Cheques or Money Order on any of my sales ,only Wire Transfer which means all funds are cleared !!! Paypal for smaller transfers !!! Thanks Helmut ....
pbb
1,140 posts
 
What's great is dealing with tiny local banks in the USA who can't even find Canada on a map. Trying to deal with Oade Brothers I understood what people are up against in the USA.
fmpnd
481 posts
 
Eldartford, a bank's Fraud Department CAN verify immediately for one of their own checks/money orders whether a check is counterfeit (if the customer requests it). As far as a US Postal money order or another bank's cashier's checks/money orders are concerned, some Fraud Departments will assist the customer in verifying this via the telephone (again, if the customer requests it).

This doesn't apply with respect to forged personal checks as that has to come from the account holder giving notice of same to the bank.

Hey Brian, how goes it? I need to call you!!!
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
Banks probably could do a lot of things people mention to be able to immediately cash the few international money orders they get. However the high cost to do so would mean they'll charge you a very large fee to cash it immediately. Would you pay for that service?

Many banks waive a lot of their fees if you have enough on deposit. I get free bank money orders and cashiers checks among other things. Comes in handy trading gear. I only have to keep $5k on deposit for a lot of free stuff like that. There are also ways at that bank to get most of those fees waived for only $1K.
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