Also known as: money orders · postal order · bank money order
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A payment instrument that the Uniform Home Foreclosure Procedures Act recognizes as valid tender to cure a monetary default when delivered after foreclosure notice and no later than two days before a scheduled sale.
A payment instrument that the Uniform Home Foreclosure Procedures Act recognizes as valid tender to cure a monetary default when delivered after foreclosure notice and no later than two days before a scheduled sale.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
An instrument that the UCC treats as a check even though it is labeled a money order on its face.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
An instrument that the UCC treats as a check even though it is labeled a money order on its face.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Lena fell behind on her mortgage payments to Harbor Finance. After receiving foreclosure notice, she purchased a money order for the full amount of arrears, late fees, and foreclosure costs two days before the scheduled sale. Harbor refused the instrument as too risky and proceeded with the sale. The court set aside the foreclosure because the timely money order satisfied the statutory cure requirements.
Yes. The statute expressly lists money orders among the approved forms of payment that an obligor may tender after receiving foreclosure notice and no later than two days before the scheduled sale. The tender must cover all amounts that would have been due absent acceleration plus specified foreclosure expenses and permitted late fees. When these conditions are met, the cure restores the obligor to the pre-default position and halts the foreclosure.
Supporting sources
No. The statute enumerates money orders as a valid tender method. A lender's internal assessment of risk does not override the statutory list of acceptable forms. Once the borrower delivers a money order in the correct amount within the statutory window, the default is cured regardless of the lender's preference for other instruments.
Supporting sources
Matrix Technologies issued an instrument labeled money order to pay a supplier. When the supplier deposited the instrument, the bank treated it as a check under the rules for negotiable instruments. The supplier was able to enforce the instrument against the bank in the same manner as any other demand draft drawn on a bank.
Yes. The UCC provides that an instrument may be a check even though it is described on its face by another term such as money order. The instrument therefore remains subject to the rules governing demand drafts drawn on a bank and may be enforced accordingly.
Supporting sources