GREENSBORO, N.C. — Cheryl Bowser is pretty good at keeping up with the household finances and bills. When statements come in Bowser is quick to pay and thorough in her review. A couple months ago that review of her bank statement proved important we she noticed something, “I was checking my account online and saw a minus $50 and a minus $10 and I had no idea what it was,” said Bowser.
The deduction was connected to a money order Bowser had cashed a couple weeks earlier, “I never heard of a money order bouncing,” said Bowser. “I didn’t understand how that could happen.”
The money order was originally purchased by Bowser’s son at a Western Union inside a local Harris Teeter. As it turns out he didn’t need to use it, so he gave it to his mother, “He has a running bill with me, so it went to that,” said Bowser.
Confused about why the money was taken out of her account Bowser called Western Union and her bank. Truliant Federal Credit Union could only tell her the money order had already been chased but could not provide further information. Bowser was unable to reach anyone at Western Union, so she called our Call for Action volunteers, “I needed help,” said Bowser.
We called Western Union and talked to a spokesperson who told us it would investigate the issue. We were then told a customer advocacy team was working on the problem and in touch with the customer. A few days later Western Union was able to track the issue and send a digital printout of the receipt, “You (News 2) played a huge role in getting information from Western Union,” said Bowser.
Bowser sent the digital printout to Western Union which showed it was cashed at a Wells Fargo Bank prior to Bowser taking it to her bank, I couldn’t figure out how that was possible because my son or I don’t have an account with Wells Fargo,” said Bowser.
Bowser would later learn that Wells Fargo “backs” all Western Union money orders and was told it was most likely a clerical error of some kind, “They (Western Union) did not figure out exactly what happened but because of the information I had they (Truliant) made it right,” said Bowser.
The bank credited her account the $60 putting an end to this money order mishap, “I’m glad you guys were able to help, thanks to News 2,” said Bowser.