Money orders can be used to pay for goods and services. A money order is an order for a specific sum of money, usually purchased with cash at a bank or post office, which can be used to make payments. Many merchants like to receive them because they do not bounce like personal checks can. To completely understand money orders a person should first know the history and how they came to be in existence.

A money order has an interesting history. It all began in England in 1792. However, the original system was too expensive and therefore did not sit very well with the people of the land. However, in 1838, the United States postal service took this system over and it was welcomed, as an alternative, for those who did not have checking accounts. One could pay for various services with this type of alternative money.

The good news is that people abroad can still purchase money orders. Depending on what country they live in will determine what and where they can get their cash orders. For example, in Japan, this universal currency must be on pink and yellow paper and have the words “international postal money order” printed on them. This security measure helps to prevent fraud.

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 5:56 am and is filed under Financial Services. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.