Exhibit 99.1

MoneyGram International Files Shelf Registration Statement

DALLAS, Dec. 14, 2010 — MoneyGram International (NYSE: MGI) today announced that the Company has filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The registration statement is required by the terms of the Company’s registration rights agreement with its majority shareholders, and the registration statement would permit these shareholders to offer and sell common stock representing the shares into which their current preferred stock interests are convertible. The registration statement would also permit MoneyGram to offer and sell up to $500 million of its common stock, preferred stock, debt securities or any combination of these, from time to time, subject to market conditions and the Company’s capital needs.

The shelf registration statement does not contemplate a particular transaction, and any offering may be made only by means of the prospectus included in the registration statement, as supplemented by one or more related prospectus supplements with respect to the offering. Proceeds from an offering could be used for a number of general corporate purposes as determined at the time of an offering.

The registration statement is subject to review by the SEC and has not yet been declared effective by the SEC. Accordingly, the securities covered by the registration statement may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time that registration statement becomes effective. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state. Any offering may be made only by means of the prospectus included in the registration statement and one or more related prospectus supplements that may be used with respect to such offering.

MoneyGram International, a leading global money transfer company, enables consumers who are not fully served by traditional financial institutions to meet their financial needs. MoneyGram offers money transfer services worldwide and bill payment services in the United States through a global network of more than 207,000 agent locations—including retailers, international post offices and financial institutions—in more than 190 countries and territories around the world. To learn more about money transfer or bill payment at an agent location or online, please visit www.moneygram.com or connect with us on Facebook.

The statements contained in this press release regarding MoneyGram International, Inc. that are not historical and factual information contained herein, particularly those statements pertaining to MoneyGram’s expectations, guidance or future operating results, are forward-looking statements and are made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are only as of the date they are made, and unless legally required, MoneyGram undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statement. Words such as “estimates,” “expects,” “projects,” “plans” and other similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “should,” “could,” and “would” are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to the following: (a) our substantial dividend and debt service obligations and our covenant requirements which could impact our ability to obtain additional financing and to operate and grow our business; (b) sustained illiquidity of global financial markets which may adversely affect our liquidity and our agents’ liquidity, our access to credit and capital and our agents’ access to credit and capital and our earnings on our investment portfolio; (c) weak economic conditions generally and in geographic areas or industries that are important to our business which may cause a decline in our money transfer growth rate and transaction volume

and/or revenue; (d) a material slow down or complete disruption of international migration patterns which could adversely affect our money transfer volume and growth rate; (e) a loss of material retail agent relationships or a reduction in transaction volume from them; (f) our ability to develop and implement successful pricing strategies for our services; (g) stockholder lawsuits and other litigation or government investigations of the Company or its agents which could result in material costs, settlements, fines or penalties; (h) our ability to maintain sufficient banking relationships; (i) our ability to attract and retain key employees; (j) our ability to maintain capital sufficient to pursue our growth strategy, fund key strategic initiatives and meet evolving regulatory requirements; (k) our ability to successfully and timely implement new or enhanced technology and infrastructure, delivery methods and product and service offerings and to invest in products, services and infrastructure; (l) our ability to adequately protect our brand and our other intellectual property rights and to avoid infringing on third-party intellectual property rights; (m) competition from large competitors, niche competitors or new competitors that may enter the markets in which we operate; (n) the impact of laws and regulatory requirements including the recently enacted Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the regulations required to be developed thereunder, and other industry practices in the U.S. and abroad, including changes in laws, regulations or other industry practices and standards that may increase our costs of doing business, reduce the market for or value of our services or change our relationships with our customers, investors and other stakeholders; (o) our offering of money transfer services through agents in regions that are politically volatile or, in a limited number of cases, are subject to certain Office of Foreign Assets Control restrictions which could result in contravention of U.S. law or regulations by us or our agents which could subject us to fines and penalties and cause us reputational harm; (p) a breakdown, catastrophic event, security breach, privacy breach, improper operation or other event impacting our systems or processes or our vendors’, agents’ or financial institution customers’ systems or processes, which could result in financial loss, loss of customers, regulatory sanctions and damage to our brand and reputation; (q) our ability to scale our technology to match our business and transactional growth; (r) our ability to manage our credit exposure to retail agents and financial institution customers; (s) our ability to mitigate fraud risks from consumers, agents and other third parties; (t) our ability to successfully manage risks associated with running Company-owned retail locations and acquiring new businesses; (u) our ability to successfully manage risks associated with our international sales and operations including the potential for political, economic or other instability in countries that are important to our business; (v) our compliance with the internal control provisions of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002; (w) the outcome of positions we take with respect to federal, state, local and international taxation; (x) additional risk factors described in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.

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Investor Contact:		Media Contact:
Alex Holmes 720-568-8703 aholmes@moneygram.com		Lynda Michielutti 952-591-3846 lmichielutti@moneygram.com