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Is rent through Money Order safe?

A

abdibile

TUG Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2007
Messages
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Location
Germany
Until now I always received payment for my rentals via PayPal without any problem.

Now a potential renter tells me he tried to open a PayPal account several times but it has never worked (does not go into details what was the problem).

He wants to send me a Money Order for the rent.

Living in Germany, I have no clue what a money order is and if I even can receive it in Germany. Bit the potential renter claims that it is no problem.

Is it safe for me to receive the rent for a March (Starwood Scottsdale Spring traingin) rental via Money Order?

Thanks!
 
On the one hand there is plenty of time between now and the rental if it falls through. On the other, the renter has got to learn how to use paypal. If you were in the US I would suggest the renter sending you a personal check and letting that deposit - not sure if a personal check made out in dollars could be easily cashed in Germany. Maybe tell him that it is fine and once it is deposited you will transfer the names.
 
Here is the quote from the US Post Office re International Money orders. I don't see Germany on the list so the potential renter may well be mistaken.

Outside of accepting a personal cheque, a business friend who can process a credit card might be another alternative.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

International Money Orders

Let us help you send your money around the globe easily.

Sending money to other countries is easy and convenient using a direct international money order.

You can purchase international money orders to 30 countries, with additional countries being added in the near future (some exceptions apply - see below). You can then send your money order using Priority Mail International® or Express Mail International®. The money orders can be cashed at the post office locations of the destination country. See fees & values.

List of countries accepting direct International Money Orders:

Albania
Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Bolivia
British Virgin Islands
Canada
Cape Verde
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador ($500 limit)
Grenada
Guinea
Guyana ($500 limit)
Honduras
Jamaica
Japan
Mali
Mexico
Montserrat
Peru
St. Christopher (St. Kitts) and Nevis
St. Lucia
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Sierra Leone
Trinidad and Tobago

See International Money Orders for more information.
 
IMHO if the renter is "unable" to open a paypal account, he is just in the process of moving the terms to a manner in which he is in control and scamming.

Move on to the neXt renter
 
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in college I paid my rent through money orders, because of course once the free checks with your checking account ran out, what college kid orders new ones? ;)
 
I think this is suspicious. It is very easy to open a Paypal Acct., so either this person is not very astute, or they don't have a bank acct. or a credit card, or they are trying to scam you.

Scammers will not open a Paypal Acct., because they don't want to register their financial info.

Is the wording or phrasing in this person's email odd or irregular?

You only have 7 weeks until March, and living in another country, it may very well take most of that time to verify whether a money order or other form of payment is valid. If it is a scam, by the time you find out, you wouldn't have much time to find another renter, although you could deposit the week with II with no penalty.

I wouldn't take the risk myself. YMMV
 
Last edited:
abdibile said:
Until now I always received payment for my rentals via PayPal without any problem.

Now a potential renter tells me he tried to open a PayPal account several times but it has never worked (does not go into details what was the problem).

He wants to send me a Money Order for the rent.

Living in Germany, I have no clue what a money order is and if I even can receive it in Germany. Bit the potential renter claims that it is no problem.

Is it safe for me to receive the rent for a March (Starwood Scottsdale Spring traingin) rental via Money Order?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

can you use an escrow company to facilitate the payment from him and then to you?

My experience when getting an out of country check is that it can takes several weeks to 2 months before you get credited for the payment as the foreign bank in this case, Germany has to forward the paper check/money order to their US Bank to process and then credit back to the German Bank.

I had to do it once for an escrow deposit and I want to say it took about 6 weeks for it all to finally credit and you get the rate of exchange on the day the bank cashes the check in the US and forwards the Euro over.

Dave
 
We have rented twice from folks in Europe...once from Belgium and once from The Netherlands.

Go to your bank and ask what is their procedure for accepting an international fund transfer/wire transfer from a Bank in the US? Then request the renter to do a wire transfer from his bank directly into yours. Your will have to supply the renter with your name as it appears on your Bank account, your account number, the Bank's routing number, and full address. Ask your Bank what additional information is required. Also find out from your Bank if they charge you a fee for this and add it to the renter's rental fee. There is a charge on the renter's end for initiating the wire transfer. You will know in a matter of hours if your account is credited. Be sure to request the renter submit the monies in Euros, also.

Stay away from the Money Orders.
 
If you move on to the next renter, try Redweek and Craigs List, Scottsdale. You have a very attractive rental. You can also list it on the TUG marketplace section. Funtime
 
I've had a similar experience with a renter in MX. They tried several times to use PayPal with their bank account, but it just didn't work. On my end, I called PayPal and they told me there were issues with certain banks in MX that wouldn't work with PayPal.

That said, I'd agree with the previous poster that you have a nice location and should be able to rent it out should you decide to not take the risk.
 
The OP is in Germany - but his renter is in the US, so should have no problem opening a Paypal Acct.
 
DeniseM said:
The OP is in Germany - but his renter is in the US, so should have no problem opening a Paypal Acct.
Click to expand...

Guess I don't see a mention of the renter being in the US. Are money orders only used in the US? If so, it's good to know I can still learn something new every day. :)
 
See post #3 for the details - there are International US Money Orders, but Germany isn't listed as a country that accepts them.
 
muranojo said:
Guess I don't see a mention of the renter being in the US. Are money orders only used in the US? If so, it's good to know I can still learn something new every day. :)
Click to expand...

The renter is from the US, but before I could tell him I will not acept the money order he informed me that he found another unit elsewhere.

So doe not sound like he was a scammer.

Thanks everyone!
 
funtime said:
If you move on to the next renter, try Redweek and Craigs List, Scottsdale. You have a very attractive rental. You can also list it on the TUG marketplace section. Funtime
Click to expand...

I would love to use Craigslist, but the last time I tried, It required me to enter a US phone number where I would reecive a call with a PIN code or something.

As I do not have a US phone number (being in Germany) I could not move forward.

Does anyone have a hint for me how to put an a dinto craigslist without an US phone number?
 
CL has gotten very difficult lately. They are making me do phone verification at least once a week, and also want me to change my password frequently.
 
abdibile said:
I would love to use Craigslist, but the last time I tried, It required me to enter a US phone number where I would reecive a call with a PIN code or something.

As I do not have a US phone number (being in Germany) I could not move forward.

Does anyone have a hint for me how to put an a dinto craigslist without an US phone number?
Click to expand...

we live in the UK and use craigslist to rent our our US-timeshare weeks. If it asks you for a US phone number, just try again the next day and you should be fine. It seems to ask me for the phone number at random intervals, but probably about once every 2 weeks when I'm actively using the site.
 
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