How does a postal order work?

Question

How exactly does a postal order work and does it involve a bank account etc?

Answer 1

You ask for it in the post office, no bank account involved. You pay the PO the money (and a little bit extra for a fee I think) and it is made out to a person (only that person can cash it). You then give it to that person (or post it!). The person then receives it, takes it to the PO and cashes it.

Answer 2

It doesn't involve a bank account at all, you basically go to the post office and ask at the counter for the amount you need they'll then give you the postal order for that amount, but be careful as the more the postal order costs the more the charge is on top of it, for example a £20 postal order will cost approx £24 as the post office will want a fee for there service!

Your best off, just writing a cheque or better still paying cash! Hope this helps!

Answer 3

you can pay for things with a postal order or you can pay it into a bank account. It goes in as cleared funds just like cash as the postal order has already been paid for at the post office so there is no real risk of it bouncing. Companies you are paying it with will accept it the same way as if it was cash but Its not a highly common way to pay as you are charged a fee at the Post Office each time you buy any postal orders which gets higher, the larger the amount.

Answer 4

You go to a Post Office and buy one for any amount, then you can send it to the recipient who simply takes it to a Post Office and cashes it there and then, so it doesn't involve a bank account. The Postal Order itself looks sort of like a cheque. However there is a charge when you buy one. e.g. buying a Postal Order for £20 will cost you about £23. the higher the amount of the Postal Order the more the charge will be.

Hope that helps

Answer 5

It is like a cheque that you buy from the post offece, for a commission over face value, you then detatch the counter foil and send the main part to the payee. they can either bank it or cash it at the post office if you send the counterfoil to them, under separate cover for safety.

Answer 6

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/content2?mediaId=19900224&catId=19400177

thats the link where you can see the fees and it tells you how it works and that

i prefer paying by postal order than cheque. i hate waiting for cheques to clear!