time to switch to direct deposit...

December 30, 2011 1:46 PM

I accidentally endorsed a money order meant for my landlord. How can I fix this?

The rent is, of course, due Monday and we got out the cash and changed it to a money order because our landlord doesn't accept cash. I was filling out the check in a Friday afternoon stupor and accidentally signed the back. Can I go back to the money order place for a new one? Can I just cross out my own signature and initial? Help!

posted by chaiminda to Work & Money (7 answers total)

It's up to the bank whether they want to accept it, but the main thing is that they have his sig on the back, or else the words "for deposit only". My memory from retail bank work is that your signature is, at worst, superfluous. So yeah, cross it out and initial, and it should be fine.
posted by middleclasstool at 1:50 PM on December 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

Worst case scenario, you can cash the MO yourself and buy a new one, and you're out the second fee. But I agree that crossing out your endorsement is the way to go.

If you can trust yourself to remember to do so, put off endorsing checks and MOs in general until you're literally poised to deposit them- the endorsement makes it easier for anyone else in the world to cash it.
posted by Sunburnt at 2:11 PM on December 30, 2011

bank shouldn't have the discretion to reject it whether you cross your name out or not. money orders (at least where i live) are bearer paper, i.e. they're payable to whoever's got them. same as cash.
posted by facetious at 2:44 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

A money order is a negotiable instrument, intended to bear multiple endorsements if it has passed from hand to hand. Your endorsement would not affect whether or not he can cash or deposit it. He just endorses under your endorsement.
posted by jayder at 2:58 PM on December 30, 2011

Sunburnt wrote: the endorsement makes it easier for anyone else in the world to cash it.

Not just easier, but completely allowed. An endorsed check or money order is a bearer instrument. Jayder's details are correct. Your endorsement doesn't matter since the money order wasn't written to you.
posted by wierdo at 4:42 PM on December 30, 2011

Response by poster: Thanks folks! I feel silly but it's a relief to know it's not a real problem.
posted by chaiminda at 6:11 PM on December 30, 2011

When you cross it out, initial and date it. I did that once on a check (more as a reflex because that's what you do when you make an error in a lab notebook) and the teller at the bank actually commented on how impressed she was because almost nobody knows to do that.

I just took a page from my cat and did my very best "I meant to do that" face.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 9:46 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]