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Would purchasing a money order be considered a cash advance?

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Anonymous
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Would purchasing a money order be considered a cash advance?

So with the news over debit card swipe fees it has caused me to pay greater attention to my credit union where I have my savings account. Originally had it opened 10 years ago with my parents as joint owners since I was still in high school and needed a place to cash my first paychecks. Through college though I have pretty much drained it to below the minimum balance to earn interest.

 

So yesterday I wanted to get the balance back up to earn interest and more importantly to keep them from closing the account due to inactivity eventually. Having this account open keeps my foot in the door for just in case if BoA has unavoidable fees on their checking account I can move here. I didn't want to transfer the money or get a cashiers check from BoA to avoid the fees so I bought a money order instead and went to deposit it in person at the credit union. I purchased the money order with my debit card at the grocery store and paid for my groceries with credit. I plan on adding maybe 200 dollars every 3 months to the savings account just to be able to keep up a nice little emergency fund. Naturally pretty soon I will have to pay 5 dollars each month I do that. When I bought the money order I swiped the debit card and entered my PIN on the machine like with any standard purchase. Which leads me to ask if I had bought it with my credit card instead? Would it have been considered a cash advance since I would have been depositing money into my savings account that I don't technically have yet? Or would it be considered a point of sale transaction?

 

Of course next time it would probably just be easier to withdraw money from an ATM then put it in a deposit envelope instead of buying a money order, making it out to myself, then depositing it.

Message 1 of 3
2 REPLIES 2
Walt_K
Senior Contributor

Re: Would purchasing a money order be considered a cash advance?

Are you sure you can use your credit card to buy the money order?  I think only a few places even let you use a CC. No idea if it would be a cash advance, but I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

 


@Anonymous wrote:

 

Of course next time it would probably just be easier to withdraw money from an ATM then put it in a deposit envelope instead of buying a money order, making it out to myself, then depositing it.


Yes.


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stan_the_man
Established Contributor

Re: Would purchasing a money order be considered a cash advance?


@Anonymous wrote:

So with the news over debit card swipe fees it has caused me to pay greater attention to my credit union where I have my savings account. Originally had it opened 10 years ago with my parents as joint owners since I was still in high school and needed a place to cash my first paychecks. Through college though I have pretty much drained it to below the minimum balance to earn interest.

 

So yesterday I wanted to get the balance back up to earn interest and more importantly to keep them from closing the account due to inactivity eventually. Having this account open keeps my foot in the door for just in case if BoA has unavoidable fees on their checking account I can move here. I didn't want to transfer the money or get a cashiers check from BoA to avoid the fees so I bought a money order instead and went to deposit it in person at the credit union. I purchased the money order with my debit card at the grocery store and paid for my groceries with credit. I plan on adding maybe 200 dollars every 3 months to the savings account just to be able to keep up a nice little emergency fund. Naturally pretty soon I will have to pay 5 dollars each month I do that. When I bought the money order I swiped the debit card and entered my PIN on the machine like with any standard purchase. Which leads me to ask if I had bought it with my credit card instead? Would it have been considered a cash advance since I would have been depositing money into my savings account that I don't technically have yet? Or would it be considered a point of sale transaction?

 

Of course next time it would probably just be easier to withdraw money from an ATM then put it in a deposit envelope instead of buying a money order, making it out to myself, then depositing it.


I assume the reason you didn't want to get a cashier's check is because you didn't want to pay a fee for it.

 

IME of banking over the past 22 years, neither I nor my parents have ever been charged for a cashier's or other bank check. That's not saying you won't be charged, but virtually every bank teller/manager/supervisor is authorized to waive the fee. They all have throughout the dozens of occassions that we've had one issued.

 

If you want a cashier's check and don't want to pay the fee, just ask nicely and ask for the fee to be waived at the same time -- don't forget to bring a check with you if it's for a checking account (you usually have to cash a check made out to yourself (or the bank) in order for the teller to issue the cashier's check). If they don't offer to waive the fee, don't get the check.

Message 3 of 3
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