Mode of paying bills? Money orders!

[anykey]

Gosh- $1.10 at post office. .79 for western union MO.

I don't want to take the risk of my checking being seized due to a judgment.

I had used pay online- for most bills. But I can not take that chance now.

Beware with some pay online. The phone had a $3.50 surcharge to do it a certain way. The gas company had that if you pay online you forfeit a paper bill. I personally must have a paper bill for that expense.

Being that my phone bill runs $7.19, it makes sense to pay a few months at a time.

So where do you buy money orders?

I have to complain about western union MO. I had one lost and to do a search I had to pay $15. No reply. Nothing. Not even yeah it was cashed. Had I known that - I would not have even paid to do the search.

A friend of mine has only paid by money orders the past 20 years. She has never ever had a bounced check fee!!

So- I am wondering how I pay my ISP, I might have to get a prepaid visa- but the fees on those are high.

Any ideas to keep the cost down of paying bills?

[AngelinaCat]

We buy money orders only at the post office. Western Union MOs are probably okay, but they have been counterfieted so often that some creditors may not take them.

[marie]

AMSCOT is free money orders

[ToughSpot]

I have an account at Chase (converted from WAMU when they bought it) I am keeping the account at $50 as I have over $150k with them that will be included when I file my 7. They do money orders for free. So I just bring cash and they trade me for a MO. I guess there is a tiny risk that I give the teller the money and at that moment the computer tells them to keep it and not hand be back the MO but not likely.

[DeadManCrawling]

Marie is right.

Amscot gives money orders for free. Of course they try to sell you all of their other "services", which mostly means cash advances. It is a lure to get you into the building. Anyone looking for free money orders is probably also in financial straits, so they upsell everything else.

But, if you go in knowing that, and ready to simply get free money orders without caving in to temptation for "easy" cash, you will do fine.

Amscot is not national, I think, but there may be some sleazebag company in your neighborhood offering the same deal.

Just don't feed the snake that is offering the free money orders and you will be fine.

[debtprison]

Re: Amscot

Also be aware that they like to ask a lot of financial questions.

Re: Hidden checking account

Keep in mind that usually the bank will provide info in the form of a 1099 to the IRS at the end of the year. Also there are ways for creditors to try to discover your open accounts. There is always the risk of garnishment, be aware of that if you keep money in there.