How do I get an international money order in the US to send to Portugal?
July 20, 2015 9:41 AM Subscribe
I need a 20 euro money order to get some documents from Portugal. How can I get this in the United States?
I've tried the post office and they don't have international money orders for Portugal. I asked my bank (Bank of America) and the teller said they only do domestic money orders. What's the easiest way to make this happen? Thank you!
I've tried the post office and they don't have international money orders for Portugal. I asked my bank (Bank of America) and the teller said they only do domestic money orders. What's the easiest way to make this happen? Thank you!
Response by poster: Sorry, meant to mention, Western Union only does domestic money orders.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:47 AM on July 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:47 AM on July 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
I recommend PayPal. International money transfers through banks or other financial institutions from the US to Europe tend to have high fees (much more than the 20 Euros) whereas PayPay is reliable and has nominal fees. Of course, things may have changed since I did this last so others with more recent experience could give even more up-to-date information.
posted by smorgasbord at 9:59 AM on July 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by smorgasbord at 9:59 AM on July 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Does it absolutely have to be a money order? If they'll accept a bank transfer, BofA will do it for $50 (in addition to the euros) or you can do it much cheaper than that at xe.com. Actually, xe.com might possibly do money orders, you should check. If it's not critical, you might just mail a €20 note. Not secure or insurable, but likely to work.
posted by wnissen at 10:24 AM on July 20, 2015
posted by wnissen at 10:24 AM on July 20, 2015
Just send a 20 Euro banknote, unless cash is absolutely not acceptable. The cost to get the money order will definitely exceed the risk that your small amount of cash will go missing.
posted by ssg at 10:45 AM on July 20, 2015
posted by ssg at 10:45 AM on July 20, 2015
Is this something you could get a virtual assistant in Portugal to do in person and then pay them via PayPal, etc.?
posted by Naberius at 11:55 AM on July 20, 2015
posted by Naberius at 11:55 AM on July 20, 2015
Do they accept payment by PayPal? This would be the easiest and least costly method, I think.
posted by tckma at 1:28 PM on July 20, 2015
posted by tckma at 1:28 PM on July 20, 2015
It's weird that WU doesn't send here, considering there's a few WU ads downtown, aimed at Brazilian and Eastern Europe immigrants, and it's one of the payment methods on the post office website. Maybe it's not enough money to process?
Other service I've seen around tourist hotspots is MoneyGram (has ties Montepio, a bank). All others I can recall are services that operate between here and former colonies.
Failing everything else (and I do mean everything, as I hate dealing with other people's money) I can send a postal order (or whatever it's called, in here it's a Vale Postal - like a regular cheque, but delivered to an address and cashable at any post office) for cheap (IIRC it's like €1,5), but I never transferred money from PP to my bank account (WOO MAJOR SALES ON MY BANDCAMP) and don't know how that is fee-wise.
posted by lmfsilva at 2:32 PM on July 20, 2015
Other service I've seen around tourist hotspots is MoneyGram (has ties Montepio, a bank). All others I can recall are services that operate between here and former colonies.
Failing everything else (and I do mean everything, as I hate dealing with other people's money) I can send a postal order (or whatever it's called, in here it's a Vale Postal - like a regular cheque, but delivered to an address and cashable at any post office) for cheap (IIRC it's like €1,5), but I never transferred money from PP to my bank account (WOO MAJOR SALES ON MY BANDCAMP) and don't know how that is fee-wise.
posted by lmfsilva at 2:32 PM on July 20, 2015
For comparison, here's the boilerplate answer from Wells Fargo.
On a couple of occasions, I've done both wire transfers and foreign bank drafts. I'm fairly sure the fees on those would be more than the original 20 euros you're trying to send. But, if you need to prove that the money got where it was supposed to go, it might be worth it to you to pay those fees.
Note that in Minneapolis, you can do these as a walk-up customer at a special window at the main Wells Fargo location in the Wells Fargo tower downtown. A regular teller at a neighborhood location probably won't know what you're talking about. I'd expect that pattern would be true at any similar large bank in a large city. You'd probably want to call your bank and ask if you want to pursue this.
I'll note too, that there are a lot of Moneygram agents in my neighborhood. Some of them are big companies (Cub grocery stores, CVS), many are mom-and-pop businesses catering to Hispanic and /or Asian customers. That's out of my experience, but could be worth looking into. Moneygram's website suggests to me that a euro-denominated money order would cost roughly $12. You might want to check the process involved with Moneygram and make sure your recipients are okay with it.
Or, if it's okay with the recipient and you're relatively trusting....like others have said, a 20 euro note is easy to send.
posted by gimonca at 4:55 PM on July 20, 2015
On a couple of occasions, I've done both wire transfers and foreign bank drafts. I'm fairly sure the fees on those would be more than the original 20 euros you're trying to send. But, if you need to prove that the money got where it was supposed to go, it might be worth it to you to pay those fees.
Note that in Minneapolis, you can do these as a walk-up customer at a special window at the main Wells Fargo location in the Wells Fargo tower downtown. A regular teller at a neighborhood location probably won't know what you're talking about. I'd expect that pattern would be true at any similar large bank in a large city. You'd probably want to call your bank and ask if you want to pursue this.
I'll note too, that there are a lot of Moneygram agents in my neighborhood. Some of them are big companies (Cub grocery stores, CVS), many are mom-and-pop businesses catering to Hispanic and /or Asian customers. That's out of my experience, but could be worth looking into. Moneygram's website suggests to me that a euro-denominated money order would cost roughly $12. You might want to check the process involved with Moneygram and make sure your recipients are okay with it.
Or, if it's okay with the recipient and you're relatively trusting....like others have said, a 20 euro note is easy to send.
posted by gimonca at 4:55 PM on July 20, 2015
Response by poster: Thanks so much everyone -- I got in touch with them and I can send cash by registered mail so I'll just do that. I'm marking lmfsilva as best answer in case for some reason that doesn't work and I need a contact in Portugal (totally understand, I too hate dealing with people's money). Thanks for your kind offer -- hopefully it won't come to that!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 7:24 AM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 7:24 AM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by xingcat at 9:45 AM on July 20, 2015