Postal order guidance

Hi,

Thanks everyone for putting up wonderful info on this forum. Given the recent woes ppl are having with payment via Credit/Debit cards getting declined, I thought of going with the option of postal order. Even though it is expensive, I thought it would give peace of mind regarding payment. I will be applying Tier 1 Extension along with one dependant. I have never dealt with postal orders before, so thought would be useful discussion for people in future.

I understand, postal orders can be taken for a maximum of 250£ and carry a charge of 12.50£. So in my case I would need 6 postal orders (for 1500£) for me and 3 postal orders (750£) for my wife.

1) Can I post both applications in same envelope?

2) In which case these postal orders (6+3), where should I attach? Together inside the envelope? Or is it ok to staple it against each application? ie, 6 on mine and 3 on my wife's application. Are we allowed to staple it?

3) Payable to 'Home Office' and cross it as "A/C Payee only" . Will Post office guys do it? or can I do it myself? Is it just drawing two lines at top left hand corner of Postal Order and writing inside the line as A/c Payee only isnt it?

4) And I need to write my name and DOB at the back of 6 postal orders and Wife's name and DOB at the back of 3 postal orders.

5) Do we need to sign it anywhere? I know we need to sign if we sending by cheque. Is it not needed for postal order to sign anywhere?

6) Should the date I'm taking postal orders match with application date or it can be any date?

The guidance says, "Please make sure that the date and the
amount (words and figures) are correct and that the cheque is signed properly"

Answers welcome and would be useful.

Thanks

I guess it would be better to take a Bankers draft together. It works out cheaper as well. Around 20 quids charge for 1500+700 £. But you need to inform the bank a day earlier to collect it. Dont forget to write your name and your wife name on the bank of the draft while submitting.

Good Luck

I have made my mind for postal order as we are guaranteed that payment is made... With Banker's draft we are not sure whether they have deducted the money or not and banks dont give much info about this...

With Royal Mail we know if something goes wrong then its between UKBA and Royal mail...unlike Banks which nowadays I dont believe which is the reason I'm not going for Debit/credit cards....

Also I want to make this thread a postal order guidance for everyone in future. So no other modes of payment suggestions please. Thanks

Any one please?

aravindb4u wrote:Also I want to make this thread a postal order guidance for everyone in future

I can safely say that hardly anyone is going to need this guidance

the BD lobby will blow POs out of the water

Manka10, Your reply have not served any purpose.
But thanks for taking time for your useless reply...
Try to help others...if not just stay away...

aravindb4u wrote:Manka10, Your reply have not served any purpose.

so does this thread, a lil search on this forum would have answered your question

aravindb4u wrote:But thanks for taking time for your useless reply...

you are welcome...for nothing

aravindb4u wrote:Try to help others

thats exactly what i did if you read my first post carefully & had not taken it personally

Manka10.... ok...leave it..i don want to grow this issue..
But I have searched the forum before posting and cant find answers to all my questions...if you know plz answer...thats all...thanks

aravindb4u wrote:Manka10.... ok...leave it..i don want to grow this issue..
But I have searched the forum before posting and cant find answers to all my questions...if you know plz answer...thats all...thanks

nothing personal mate but looks like you have some misconceptions regarding bank drafts

banks dont issue a draft unless they take the money out of your account, no more info is required, bank draft is an assured way of payment & are already crossed A/C Payee

this is FYI only, not tryin to suggest any other mode of payment since you dont mind paying more for the same thing & juggling 10 POs at the same time

aravindb4u wrote:
1) Can I post both applications in same envelope?

Yes

2) In which case these postal orders (6+3), where should I attach? Together inside the envelope? Or is it ok to staple it against each application? ie, 6 on mine and 3 on my wife's application. Are we allowed to staple it?

You can staple it to each application on the payment page.

3) Payable to 'Home Office' and cross it as "A/C Payee only" . Will Post office guys do it? or can I do it myself? Is it just drawing two lines at top left hand corner of Postal Order and writing inside the line as A/c Payee only isnt it?

Post office will cross it for you. Just tell them that they are a/c payee to home office.

4) And I need to write my name and DOB at the back of 6 postal orders and Wife's name and DOB at the back of 3 postal orders.

It is wise to write your name and date of birth behind each postal order as they are like cash payble to UKBA. If lost in UKBA office, no one will know who it is from. If you check the application form, you will know that there is no details asked for Postal orders so if lost the only way they can relate to your application is if you have mentioned your details at the back.

5) Do we need to sign it anywhere? I know we need to sign if we sending by cheque. Is it not needed for postal order to sign anywhere?

No signature required for postal order. If you go to post office, the lady at the counter will ask you to pay for it by card or cash and she does the rest. Make sure you mention who its payable to else, they can be sold as blank.

6) Should the date I'm taking postal orders match with application date or it can be any date?

Think them like cash. Do cash have dates. No.

The guidance says, "Please make sure that the date and the
amount (words and figures) are correct and that the cheque is signed properly"

Signature is for Cheques.

Just few things I would like to mention here. Postal orders and Banker's Draft are both good way to pay as they are confirmed payments and cannot be rejected since the money goes out of your pocket first. However, there are few drawbacks to it.

1) This is the obvious one with Postal Order. They are expensive. But since it doesn't matter to you, lets just forget this one.

2) Its not easy to check if your postal orders have been cashed by UKBA. You need to fill p58 form at post office and then they will send it to some team to investigate it for you. So its not a straight away process where you just find out whether your payment has been made. So if your acknoledgement letter doesn't arrive on time then get ready to go through all the above. If you would have paid by debit or credit card, you can just check your bank statement and straight away you will know whether the payment has been made.

3) Postal order are all good, but what if UKBA looses them? This one is just to scare you. Don't worry, chances of this happening is very slim.

Look, all I am saying is use it if you want. But Debit card payments are also safe and so are cheques and banker's drafts. All you got to do is, make sure you alert your bank in advance. Anyway, Good luck with your application mate, with what ever payment option you choose.

Thanks longshift for the detailed reply.

After considering Manka10's and your advice I find

1) Postal orders as you said are huge in number in my case 9 POs, and who knows UKBA might miss some, and might lead to lot of stress... and expensive too

2) As Manka10 pointed out, both BD and PO are functionally the same and both are guaranteed mode of payment.

3) BD is less stressful as its just one paper and UKBA cant miss it.... and less expensive too. And I can pay for both mine and my dependant at same time in one payment and is guaranteed..Easy for UKBA too...

Considering all these, as per all your suggestion I would go for BD...easy for everyone in all aspects...

Just was panicked and stressed earlier after hearing all woeful stories
But at the end I feel more confident now with BD after following this thread,

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... kers+draft

I would suggest everyone to go for single BD.

Just one single question,

1) Do I need to SIGN anywhere in BD?.... I guess only thing we need to do is just say Payable to 'Home Office' and amount and bank will do the rest...we dont need to sign any where right?

And in our form we just need to fill Bank's a/c num, sort code and draft num. And finally write all applicant's name and DOB at the back.

Thanks Manka10 and longshift for your help.

only need to write the names, DOB & nationality of all applicants at the back of draft