I need a US Money Order TODAY - I don't care about the fees!

US_Citizen

littlereddevil wrote: »

But it's the UK's fault for being slow ??
I personally have never met so slow people as in the US, and you seem to be one of them!

Natwest says 7-10 working days to get you a US Bank Draft, that's a long time. In the US you get Money Order same day.

US_Citizen

never_enough wrote: »

Sadly replying to ignorance or racism with more of the same doesn't make the world a better place. On the plus side at least the OP admits their own stupidity. Cheers. :beer:

Indeed.
Cheers to that! :beer:

US_Citizen

dzug1 wrote: »

Travelex are a BdeC, and certainly sell travellers cheques. What brand I don't know.....

Looks it up - AMEX.

You can certainly trust them to deliver the goods, not necessarily at a cheap price

Called.
They don't accept Traveller's Checks.
I will try Barclays tomorrow and see.

simongregson

US_Citizen wrote: »

Natwest says 7-10 working days to get you a US Bank Draft, that's a long time. In the US you get Money Order same day.

Yes, but you can get a bank draft in pounds sterling straight away. How quickly could you get a draft in pounds sterling from a US bank? You are not comparing like with like!

PolishBigSpender

I won't even start discussing the stupidity of American banks...

I have it on good authority that one American bank was stupid enough to exchange PLZ (Polish old Zloty) for USD not that long ago - despite the fact that the PLZ is about 12 years out of circulation!

(wonder how easy it would be to get a PLN money order drawn up in the USA outside of Chicago?)

ferf1223

US_Citizen wrote: »

Natwest says 7-10 working days to get you a US Bank Draft, that's a long time. In the US you get Money Order same day.

In the UK you can get a postal order in local currency the same day too.
I'd doubt a US bank would issue you a bank draft in GBP in less than a week.

So I agree with the other posters that you're not comparing like with like.

And I'm also American and while I'm sure I could spend ages weighing the relative pros and cons of each country, I've never found banking in the UK to take any longer than banking in the US - and in some ways, it's more convenient (and less costly) in the UK.

Voyager2002

I am still astonished that the OP does not know anyone who has a US bank account. All that is needed is for such a person to write a check, and then either give it to the OP to be sent off with the forms, or for him to send the forms to the friend who can then post them on together with the check.

I am even more baffled that the government department in question cannot accept most modern forms of payment. Even the British Embassy in the USA accepts credit cards. A government that makes it difficult or impossible for people to pay really does not deserve any money.

All this reminds me of my experience applying for a residence visa for the Philippines. One of the bureaucratic requirements was a particular blood test, one that had apparently been required of people applying to immigrate to the USA in the 1950s. My doctor explained that back in those days, this blood test had been the standard test for VD, but now is hopelessly out of date, but since it is written into the law there seemed to be nothing anyone can do.

nw_man

Question is has the OP got it sorted ?

US_Citizen

nw_man wrote: »

Question is has the OP got it sorted ?

Yes!

Firstly, on behalf of the entire forum community as well as all the British people I do apologise for what I said.
Barclays indeed issued a Money Order, it's drawn on a US Bank (on their branch in New York), I'm very happy with it!!

I cannot post links as I'm a new user so if you want to view the check, I masked all the details, go to i45.tinypic.com/20f2f5j.jpg

In a case others will need it in the future, then this is how it looks, it's drawn on a US Bank, just like the people in the US like it, it's totally cool, although £25 fee but it comes quick, and it's worth the money.

nw_man

Barclays :mad:

Sorry, nothing personal against them, I just loathe them all :rotfl:

Glad to hear you got it sorted.