WASHINGTON, DC — The holidays are a time for families to share and celebrate together, regardless of the miles that separate them.

But when the distance is simply too great, this also is the time of year when many families send money back to their home countries outside the United States.

The U.S. Postal Service offers Dinero Seguro (usps.com/money/suremoney) and Postal Money Orders for those customers, providing them with a safe, affordable, convenient method of transferring money internationally and domestically.

Dinero Seguro enables customers to send up to $2,000 per transaction per day and is available at 2,800 participating Post Offices across the United States. Identification is required for transfers exceeding $1,000.

The system uses secure, electronic wire transfers between the Postal Service and thousands of participating bank branch offices in destinating countries. The recipient’s funds are available within 15 minutes, guaranteed, and without hidden, or additional fees.

Personal identification also is required for the recipients of funds in the participating countries. Recipients do not need bank accounts and pay no additional fees in their countries.

“Dinero Seguro provides a secure, electronic way to send money internationally that also reduces the time it takes to receive the funds from days to minutes,” said Paul Vogel, senior vice president and managing director of Global Business.

Dinero Seguro is provided in partnership with Bancomer Transfer Services Inc. of Houston. Participating locations are:

• Argentina – BBVA Banco Frances
• Colombia – Banco Davivienda, BBVA Colombia, Banco Granahorrar
• Dominican Republic – Banco del Progresso
• Ecuador – Banco de Guayaquil, Banco del Austro, Banco Internacional
• El Salvador – Banco Salvadoreno, Banco Uno, Agricola
• Guatemala – Banco Industrial, Banco Uno, Banco de Desarrollo Rural
• Honduras – Banco Uno, Banco Mercantil
• Mexico – BBVA Bancomer
• Nicaragua – Banco Uno, Banpro
• Peru – Interbank, BBVA Banco Continental

For more information on Dinero Seguro and to find a participating Post Office, customers are asked to call toll free 888-368-4669.

Customers wishing to send money gifts within the United States can purchase Postal Money Orders, a safe, convenient and economical alternative to sending cash through the mail. Money orders can be purchased from any Post Office in the United States as well as from rural letter carriers in denominations up to $1,000. A current government- or state-issued identification is required for multiple money order purchases totaling $3,000 in a single day.

Unlike private business checks or other money orders, Postal Money Orders are regarded as one of the more difficult financial documents to counterfeit because of their watermarks, security threads and a rainbow of inked patterns and tones.

Postal Money Orders can be purchased with cash, debit card or traveler’s checks and are valid for an unlimited period of time. There is a $1.05 processing fee for money orders up to $500 and a $1.50 fee for money orders above $500.

Additional information on Postal Money Orders can be found online at www.usps.com/money/.

Visit the Holiday Press Room at usps.com

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A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

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