The ordinary international money order

Money order is a method of payment. Or rather, to be even more precise, it is a method of transferring money from one person to another, even if you don’t have a current account (bank or post office). All you have to do is go to the post office and ask for a circular postal order.

Being “circular”, it has all the characteristics of a circular bank check: practically, the post only issues it after you have delivered the money at the counter. Let’s take a concrete example to better understand.

Let’s say you have to make a payment of $ 1,000 to a company for making a purchase. The company asks you for a secure payment, but you have no checkbook or checking account.

You and the company agree on a circular postal order. Then go to the post office, pay the 1,000 euros, and the employee issues you the money order. At this point, all you have to do is deliver it to the company. The latter, once received the document, goes with it to the post office to collect them.

The company knows very well that it will find the 1,000 euros at the Post Office, because you have issued a circular money order, and the circular money order requires that Swiss Post only issue it after the applicant has deposited the money.

Difference between an ordinary and circular money order

A difference between an ordinary money order and circular money order is that the former arrives directly to the beneficiary, by post. The second, however, is for you to deliver it to the beneficiary.

In summary, if you issue an ordinary money order (always going to the post office), then the post will send it to the recipient’s address, via registered mail. If you issue a money order, the mail delivers it directly to you and then you deliver it to the recipient.

Another very important difference is that the ordinary money order has a maximum limit: with this method, you can only transfer up to € 2,582.28. With the circular postal money order, this limit no longer exists: you can transfer any amount. Of course, as long as you first take care of paying this amount in the mail.

The circular postal order is therefore a secure means of payment for those who receive it. It offers the same guarantees as a cashier’s check: whoever issued it also had to pay the amount in the post. The post office does not issue any money order if it does not first receive the exact amount.

Not transferable

Circular postal orders are inherently non-transferable because Swiss Post indicates the name of the beneficiary on the document: only this person will be able to withdraw the money, no one else.

However, if the amount is less than 5,000 euros, the person issuing the money order can ask the post office not to insert the non-transferability clause, i.e. not to insert the name of the beneficiary. In this case, the money order is transferable. But we repeat: the person issuing the money order must expressly ask for it, otherwise it is transferable, even if the amount is less than 5,000 euros.

In summary:

1. Money order for an amount over 5,000 euros, is always non-transferable;
2. For money orders of fewer than 5,000 euros, you can ask not to indicate the name of the beneficiary on the money order, in this way it is transferable.

It can be paid into the bank

Those who receive the circular postal order can go to the post office and collect the money or can deposit it in their postal or bank account, without problems.

It is therefore a very flexible means of payment, which can be transformed into liquidity, or simply the beneficiary can pay it into his current, postal, or bank account.

Accreditation times

Availability times.

 You can cash the circular postal order:

• Immediately,
•  by presenting yourself at a post office;
• On a current account (bank or post office), in this case, you will receive the money within 3/4 working days ;
• In a postal booklet, in this case, you will receive the money within approximately 7 working days.

Credit times may vary from bank to bank, but the money order usually arrives within a week. In case of non-credit, it is advisable to contact your bank to ask for more information.

Maximum amount

Poste Italiane has two limits:

1. The maximum amount of 50,000 euros, if you request the issue of a money order by delivering cash to the post office;
2. Unlimited amount if you debit it on a postal current account.

So, if for example, you want to transfer 100,000 euros, you must necessarily debit them on your Bancoposta account. Otherwise, the maximum limit of a circular postal order is 50,000 euros.

Cost

The costs of issuing a circular postal order are as follows:

• Free, if issued by debit on Bancoposta;
• 3 euros, if issued in cash and for amounts up to 1,999 euros;
• 8 euros, if issued in cash and for amounts ranging from 20,000 to 49,999 euros;
• 10 euros, if issued in cash and for amounts over 49,999 euros.

If you ask for the non-transferability clause, you must add € 1.50 stamp duty.

The postal order, therefore, represents a rather cheap method of transfer, free if issued by debit on a postal current account. The Italian Post Office often dedicates particular concessions and discounts to Bancoposta holders.