Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with payment

Should I attempt legal action to get this invoice paid?

little cow make small moo — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:05:21 -0800

A collection agency in the UK is trying to collect an unpaid invoice for me. Their initial efforts have failed; should I authorize them to go ahead with legal action? (Details and earlier question inside.) This is (regrettably) a follow-up to my earlier question regarding debt collection: http://ask.metafilter.com/237633/Help-with-debt-collection

I followed some of the advice there (thank you!) and sent a registered letter of demand to the company, but did not hear back, unsurprisingly. Once the date I mentioned in the letter passed I got in touch with another translator who said he had gotten payment from the same company but only after using a debt collection agency in the UK. I sent my unpaid invoice to the agency, and they began collection activities. (I think this just means calling and sounding serious and official at them.) So far I haven't paid them anything -- the deal was 5% of amount recovered, which was fine by me.

I got an email from the debt collection agency today saying that their initial efforts had not been successful, that the company director claimed he was unable to pay and was attempting to sell the business (good luck?!), and do I want them to move to the next step: legal proceedings? (Apparently they are doing so on behalf of another client with the same company already.)

I haven't written back yet, since this seems like the point at which I should consider whether it's worth getting in deeper or not.

According to the contract I was sent, the amount of the debt (a little under $9K) is more than the Small Claims limit in the UK, but I think that might have changed at the beginning of this month? In which case maybe it would be worthwhile to pursue. I'm afraid of actually having to go to court and racking up fees and still not getting any of the payment, but I also don't want to just let this amount of money go without putting up a fight. As far as I can tell the company is still contracting with translators and occasionally -- but mostly not -- paying them. There are also different fees depending on whether it is defended or undefended -- I have no idea whether the translation company is likely to send someone to court to dispute this or what.

So, should I move forward with legal action or is this a waste of time and money? Right now I'm composing a response to the guy at the collection agency to ask how likely it is that they'll be able to get any payment through legal action if the business is in fact failing, what category my debt would fall into, and exactly what legal steps they would take. Are there other questions I should ask to help decide whether to do this or to give up?

Man, I'd really just like to get paid for this work I did almost a year ago. Ugh.

What are standard raises and procedures for live out nannies?

PetiePal — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 06:51:27 -0800

My girlfriend nannies for three girls and has concerns about tax season, raises, bonuses and general treatment. My girlfriend is 28 years old and has been with her current family for 3.5 years. (Sept '09) She gets paid $650 a week (about $16/hour) from the start with no raises each year. She receives a small bonus yearly, which basically is a paid week off of Christmas. (So an extra $650 a year, which is like a maybe 1.5-2% bonus)

-She's never received a raise in the time she's worked for the family, not even a Cost of Living raise
-During tax season they tend to wait until the very last minute, which causes her a lot of undue stress and she worries about being audited.
-She tends to work 50-54 hours a week, which falls under overtime for the Fair Labor Standards act. That states she should get time and a half for anything over 40 hours at the minimum wage rate. (It can be hourly or a lump payment of the 10 hours time and a half from what I've read, but in NJ you MUST get time and a half for OT past 40 hours)
-She gets paid half cash and half check, (which means they're trying to skirt tax law by only claiming half of the payment as traceable) And according to her in 2012 they only gave her one check...the rest was cash.

Questions:

1. Should she receive a yearly cost of living raise at the least? (We live in an expensive state, and the bonus she gets is a one time thing, and not a raise) COLA for 2013 is 1.8%, which would factor to about $548 a year. Bonuses are then at the discretion of the employer.
2. She often works much overtime without any extra compensation. The hours are erratic as they tell her they'll be home at a certain time etc, and then may keep her for 2-3 hours past that. It would probably be fine if she were compensated. It's state law in NJ for her to get time and a half past 40 hours even if it's based on minumum wage.
3. What's the procedure during tax season? They're basically paying her under the table, and they really need to be filling a W-2 For her. Seems like they're trying to claim less on their taxes.

Any advice or input would be really helpful.

Help with debt collection

little cow make small moo — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 07:10:21 -0800

About a year ago I did a contract translation project and have yet to get paid, despite many promises. Is there any way I can collect? About a year ago I signed a contract for a translation job (and I was so enthused at first: http://ask.metafilter.com/211076/Do-I-sign-this-contract), and have since finished the work and invoiced them but have not received payment.

I've been in touch with the company (both my original contact there and then later the founder/CEO, who is apparently the contact person for payment-related stuff) for months now, always receiving assurances that I will eventually get paid, but of course I have not. It actually sounds like the company is unable to pay its own debts and may be going bankrupt. (At the end of March?)

Is it worth trying to get a collection agency or lawyer involved? If so, any recommendations?

To complicate things, I am in the U.S. but the translation company is in the UK. If it were a few hundred bucks, I would let it go, but they owe me almost $9K and I would like to get at least some of it.

Why does PayPal and/or Photobucket want a credit card?

MinusCelsius — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:07:17 -0800

Why does PayPal/Photobucket seem to insist on adding a credit card now? What if I have no credit card? What if I want no credit card? Yesterday, Photobucket sent me a reminder that my Pro subscription is coming to an end. I tried to purchase another year via PayPal payment, as I have done in the past. Didn't work, reason "subscriptions need a credit card associated with the account". I tried to buy a one month Pro sub - again, no luck, same reason.

I have years worth of images on that account and need them to stay available at their current url, so moving to another hosting service is not an option.

I currently neither have nor want a credit card. I have PayPal for precisely that reason - to handle online purchases instead of a credit card.

What are my options to buy the 1 or 2 year subscription without getting a credit card? (The Pro runs out in less than a week, so I don't think I'd have the time to get one anyway.) Can I use some sort of prepaid card? If so, where (online) can I get one?

No, please, just take the money

forza — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 19:21:53 -0800

Help me figure out how to pay a babysitter who doesn't want to be paid. I have a 10-week-old son who is totally awesome, except that we still would love to have a bit of time to ourselves every so often. However, we live on a different continent than any family, which makes finding that time somewhat difficult. The saving grace, however, has been our babysitter, who has been taking our son once every two weeks or so for an afternoon. These afternoons have been godsends and I want them to continue.

The problem is that she completely refuses any payment, and I feel really bad about that. She is quite insistent in her refusal and I haven't been able to force her to accept any money. I would like to find some kind of non-monetary recompense that she will accept, but when I ask her, she just says she doesn't want anything. I think if I can make a suggestion myself, or simply do something that we can plausibly pass off as something I would want to do anyway or that is "no big deal" then she will accept it and I will feel a lot better. Problem is, I can't think of anything that I can give as an ongoing sort of thing: I don't bake (and I don't think she likes sweets), I don't have a lot of time (due to the aforementioned baby), etc. I'm hoping some of you will have some ideas.

A few additional details:

- She is a former honours student of mine and currently works about 15 hours a week as my lab manager (I am a professor). This is one of the major reasons I don't want there to be any sense of obligation on her part to do this. She has no intention of continuing on in my field, and is shortly starting a PhD in a quite different topic, so there are no conflicts of interest in that sense.

- She was the one that offered to babysit in the first place. She honestly loves babies and I think misses them a great deal (her children are 10, 13, and 16). After every time she babysits she is the one to ask when she can see my son next. She is also the one who suggested that we make this a regular fortnightly thing.

- She is older than me (early 40s, I am mid-30s) and we get along well. We aren't close friends, partially because of the supervisor/supervisee dynamic, although that dynamic is waning fast now that she is not my student. Plus, with her being an actual mature adult we probably equally often seek each others' advice about things: her asking me about career stuff, me asking her about kid/family stuff.

- I would love it if she stays a part of my son's life. Because we don't have a large extended network here, having another adult who cares about him would be a great thing.

So... thoughts about this? I am mainly looking for suggestions of things I can do for her on an ongoing basis, that she will accept, that will serve as some sort of repayment for the invaluable babysitting she is doing. But if you think I should continue letting her babysit for free (or, conversely, if you think I am taking advantage of her and shouldn't have her babysit at all) then please tell me so. The situation makes me slightly uneasy but we really have nobody else that we trust who so consistently and happily wants to babysit. I'm hoping that if I can come up with some sort of "pay" that she will also accept, then everyone will be happy.

PayPal as terminal

tomcochrane — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 05:51:09 -0800

Is there a way to use PayPal to set up your computer as a way to accept credit cards in person at a fundraising event? Tomorrow evening is the annual Christmas gala and silent auction for a local classical music festival. It's the biggest fundraiser of the year. In past years the only way for donors or auction winners to pay was with cash or cheque.

We'd like to be able to offer the option of using credit cards, and PayPal seems like a natural fit - we don't have the cash to pay for an actual credit card terminal. We use PayPal to accept online payments - is there a way we can use PayPal to accept payments in person, and have it set up by Saturday evening?

We're located in (somewhat) rural Canada, if that helps.

Note: We know about Square and PayPal Here. PayPal Here isn't available in Canada yet, and our Square card reader hasn't arrived yet.

Do you use Square for more than occasional transactions?

The Giant Squid — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 21:54:08 -0800

Do you have experience using the SquareUp register for a business that does a hundred or more transactions a day? Do you like it? Would you recommend any of the alternatives? Sail? Intuit? I've been running a restaurant for 3 years now, and I'm sick of my point-of-sale software (FocusPOS) and I'm really sick of my credit card processor (who've been steadily adding new fees to my transactions and weirdo monthly service and convenience charges) which is now swallowing up 5% of my gross.

I'm been toying with the idea of using the Square register as I wouldn't mind replacing my hardware, and would save 2.25% of my gross by switching to their flat 2.75% rate.

However, everybody I've interacted with is only doing the Square app on an iPhone, and doing 6-10 transactions a day.

I have about 100 transactions a day, and really, really, really want to talk to somebody who's doing a heavy amount of transactions (and ideally, somebody with a reasonably complex menu) and get their feel for it.

However, most online reviews I've read smell like press releases or professional written astroturf from PR firms.

I'm hesitant to take the plunge without hearing somebody who's been through hell (or heaven) with the product first.

Would you write a billion-dollar check?

turbogeezer — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 13:22:58 -0800

So Samsung has been ordered to pay Apple ONE BILLION DOLLARS. Let's assume this is final, and ignores appeal, etc. How would this actually happen? I can't see it being a big check delivered on stage. Bank transfer? Scheduled payments over the course of XX years? (Freightcars loaded with pennies delivered in spite?)

What's my loan payoff strategy?

your mom's a sock puppet — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:08:14 -0800

I need some help with student loans. I took loans out in 2008 and 2009. Two subsidized and two unsubsidized. Now I'm on half-time school deferment and I'd like to take advantage of this! The loans from 2008 are:

Subsidized:
Starting balance: $3,500.00
Current balance: $3,314.50
Fixed interest amount: 6%

Unsubsidized:
Starting balance: $6,000
Current balance: $6,535.43
Fixed interest rate: 6.8%

Loans from 2009:

Subsidized:
Starting balance: $4,500
Current balance: $4,259.70
Fixed interest rate: 5.6%

Unsubsidized:
Starting balance: $6,000
Current balance: $6,142.99
Fixed interest rate: 6.8%

I got the letter about half-time school deferment and promptly forgot about it, and then I didn't make payment in August. I emailed them asking them to take me off deferment, but they told me that they government will pay for the interest on the subsidized loans while I'm still in school. Nice! They told me I can still take off the deferment, but I figure why not take advantage of this?

I still want to make payments. I was paying based on income, and my payment was $119 per month. I can probably afford around that number, a little more if necessary. But I have no idea what my best strategy would be. Should I pay more on the subsidized and knock them out? Should I not pay them at all and just pay the unsubsidized loans? The interest on those is pretty killer. As you can see, the balances have only gotten higher, and the interest will keep accumulating. FWIW, I'll be in school until 2015. No more loans will be taken out in that time.

Can you help? Thanks!

Where to put the down..

drpynchon — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 15:37:21 -0800

Not asking for specific investment recommendations, but general "conventional wisdom" on how best to sock away money for a down-payment on a house. I'm currently in my 30's, have very little debt, contribute a decent percentage of my salary already to tax-deferred retirement plans, and want to save up from what's left over for the down on a house over a 5 year period. It seems like sticking this extra cash into a savings account is less than ideal given the current interest rates. Should I be looking at short term funds, or some other form of safe-ish investment, or is the mattress really the answer? Also, the party line on temporary reduction in retirement contributions for this purpose to speed things along or reduce the mortgage? I'll be seeing a professional for more specific advice but want to approach that conversation from a more educated position, and at least know what the "standard" advice would be here as I imagine this is a pretty common concern in financial planning.

Pennies from heaven?

fiercecupcake — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 13:40:30 -0800

I had a routine ladyparts exam a few months ago. It qualified as "preventive care" and I didn't have to pay a copay. (Yay! Thank you, ACA!) I got a rundown of what they charged my insurance a month or two ago -- one of those THIS IS NOT A BILL things -- and promptly lost/forgot about it, since I owed nothing. Today I got a check, made out to me, from the doctor's office for a couple hundred bucks. Do I get to keep it? I know that I can find this out on Monday morning, but there are bills to be paid and it would make me really happy to know now if this is a standard thing, what might have happened, if I'm going to have to pay back either the doctor's office or the insurance company, etc.

I don't know if it matters but this is my own private insurance plan, not through my work.

I Want my Clear Conscience Back

Fairchild — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 13:39:59 -0800

I owe a person money and want to pay her back. How should I go about it? Five or more years ago I saw a therapist who I no longer see. I paid cash. I never missed an appointment, she was professional, and we had a good patient-therapist relationship. I saw her less than a dozen times. Probably 6-10. One day I missed my scheduled appointment. In a moment of idiocy and immaturity I accepted a lunch invitation from a new friend and didn't have the guts to tell my friend I had prior plans. I didn't call the therapist to cancel. That was irresponsible of me and it bothers me I never paid the fee for the missed appointment. Ten minutes after my scheduled time to arrive, my therapist called to inquire my whereabouts and I pretended like I forgot about the appointment. She asked me to call and reschedule. I never called and I never went back.

It has bothered me many times over the last five years that I behaved in such a way. She lost out on her fee and she was inconvenienced by my irresponsible behavior. Nowadays it is really bothering me because I spot her at my gym, local restaurants, etc. This week we were in the same exercise class. I want to pay her for my missed appointment. I should have done it a long time ago. She never billed me. The fee is 80 dollars. I want to enclose a short note.

What should I say in my note when I send the check? I want her to be paid and I want to apologize but I don't want it to be weird. We don't speak when we come in contact at the gym. I am confident she knows who I am.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

Shopping carts to accept credit cards over the Internet without leaving the site

steinsaltz — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 16:50:37 -0800

Please help me understand how to accept credit card payments online for a fussy merchant, who wants to set up a shopping cart to sell luxury items, but fears using PayPal will make him look like he is "selling toys on eBay." Trying to build a low-cost shopping cart for a small businessman, using open-source software. He wants to be able to accept credit card numbers online, but I can't figure out the best way to do this.

I assumed, without thinking about it, that it would be cool to just set this up with a PayPal merchant account. But he thinks this will make him look amateurish if the purchaser has to jump over to PayPal and back. He wants to accept credit cards.

Is this something I could do with Authorize.net or a higher-end PayPal plan: to let the seller accept credit cards but make it look like we haven't left his website, instead of something where you jump to another service?

He seems so set on this that he would rather have credit card numbers sent through an HTML form rather than have buyers go to PayPal. I guess I understand where he is coming from, but I seem to have memories of websites with slick enough E-commerce third parties that you don't really notice. Maybe it's still an option, if there's some way to convince him.

If it helps, he normally enters credit card payments by hand, at his business, into something called BestMerchantRates.com.

Trying to avoid high-cost hosted E-commerce.

Getting paid for writing?

ranglin — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 18:03:19 -0800

Should I expect to get paid for the writing I do for newspapers and periodicals? Hi All.

I'm an academic that has recently submitted a couple of OpEd articles to publications in my area (technology and education). At first I was so excited to publish these that I was happy to just send them to the editor, but now I'm starting to branch out I'm wondering whether I should be asking to be paid? I found this article which gives some great tips on how to approach editors and get items published, but just wondering how the payment system works (this is good too, but more focused on a full-time career)? In the academic field, where I come from, you usually don't get paid for publications (and sometimes have to pay them!), so this is all new to me.

Appreciate any help you can give. Thanks MeFi!

Sign here please.

Stagger Lee — Tue, 29 May 2012 12:45:10 -0800

What constitutes token versus semi-professional payment in the North American short fiction market? What's reasonable to expect? What are reasonable contractual expectations when signing away a piece for first publishing? Any resources, information, and dire warnings would be appreciated. I want to make sure that I'm not making any mistakes I have to live with for the rest of my so called career.

Help me take payments from future customers by phone!

aqueousdan — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:55:12 -0800

I need suggestions on ways to be able to generate an invoice and then take payment details from a customer by phone. If the customer is uncomfortable with this I would like to offer the invoice with an online payment page for them to fill in themselves. I will be having a website where people will send me their item to my address. I will then determine whether their item needs repairing, what it needs doing and then deciding on the price. I will then call up the customer and let them know the options available to them and if everything is ok, take payment.

I need the following!

1. To be able to take payment details from a customer by phone and enter them into a system (hopefully a website of some kind) to recieve payment from them.

OR

2. If the customer doesnt want to give details over the phone I would like them to be able to make a payment themselves using a link to a payment page.

For both I would like to be able to input an invoice, which they would then recieve by email later.

I want to avoid paypal if possible (i think!) since I always found sites that used their login system to be confusing. I want to avoid using any kind of login system for my site. (this thing will be basic but perfect for what I want it for)

Does anyone know of any sites that can do these things for me in the cheapest way possible?

How much should I expect to get repaid?

Captain Chesapeake — Sat, 05 May 2012 11:57:45 -0800

How much should I expect to get repaid? Long story short, I lived in a house with several roommates for a couple of years. We pooled our expenses and I was in charge of managing the utility bills. Due to a billing error and some other awkward circumstances, one of our utilities went unpaid for a year and a half. We moved out not long ago, and when I went to close the account I realized the house collectively owed over $1000 to this particular utility. I have asked my roommates (past and present) to each pay their share of this $1000. I am getting significant push back from one of the prior tenants, who trusted me to manage everything. Do I have a leg to stand on insisting I get full payment from everybody?

Lottery strategy or madness?

lattiboy — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 22:13:24 -0800

The current Mega Millions is valued at $500,000,000. I have (I think) a logical idea for the best way to maximize the "payment" option of the payout. More inside..... You want a big pile of money, not 20 big-ish piles of money over 20 years.

I have a novel idea:

Instead of taking the 40% reduction for "lump sum", couldn't you get a very, very low interest (or flat-fee) loan from a large investment bank if you signed an agreement to have all payments made to them over the 20 year period?

As an example, I win the money, I take the payment option, I then sign a contract of some sort to have all payments diverted to the bank, and then the bank gives me $470,000,000. That's a six-percent return on a loan that is essentially guaranteed.

Also, wouldn't this be a better tax position than either the payment or lump sum?

My lady friend believes this is just silly and no bank in their right mind would take such a loan. Please settle this.....

Oh hai, where's my money?

never nice — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 08:15:37 -0800

I sold some items through a consignment shop that has now gone out of business. On the day I picked up my unsold items, they said they'd be distributing checks after the last day of operation. That was nearly three weeks ago. Would it really take this long, or did they just take my money and run? Admittedly the amount I'm owed is small, but as someone who's really hurting for money, I can't let this slide. I've left phone messages and sent emails - no response whatsoever. What should I do now?

what's it worth?

crazylegs — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 06:49:31 -0800

Can anyone tell me how much Dollars and Sense magazine pays its freelance writers? I'm looking into writing an article for Dollars and Sense magazine. It looks like a good publication, in line with my writing and thinking style. I would like to publish there, whatever they might pay, but I'm curious to know. I couldn't find any information about payment on their website. It seemed a bit tacky to write them and ask about payment as my first contact with them, so I thought I'd ask here.
More generally, is there a way to find out how much magazines pay their freelancers when that info isn't offered on the magazine's website?
Thanks!

Who Do I Write My COBRA Check To?

thereemix — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 19:35:04 -0800

COBRAfilter: Do I make the check for the plan payment out to the health insurance company, or to my former employer? The info packet former employer gave me is woefully shoddily written and leaves out key details like that. I've never enrolled in COBRA before, so not sure what to do. Check is due by Thursday. HR at former company notoriously difficult to actually track down via email or phone to get an answer.

Does the tax man keep your money if you overpay?

doomtop — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 06:41:09 -0800

If you pay estimated taxes and then end up not owing those taxes, do you get them back? I made quarterly estimated payments based on previous tax years, but then the situation changed and I will not owe taxes. Do I get the estimated payments back or do they stay on some sort of account with the tax department?

Importing a bulky, expensive thing to the US from Canada

tss — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:41:48 -0800

Seller is in Alberta, buyer (me) is in Pennsylvania. The item is $1,600 US and ships in a big crate... how do I do this correctly? I've never bought an expensive, bulky item internationally before. What's the best shipping method? How can I set it up so both parties are protected from shenanigans---is there some above-board escrow service that gives us both reasonable means of handling disputes? How do I find out what taxes or fees I have to pay?

Other details: the item is the clear plexiglas canopy for an airplane---a big piece of molded plastic, not hazardous or especially heavy, but fragile and packed with lots of padding. I mention the item specifically in case there is some special duty for plane parts. Seller and I have met through an online forum, i.e. not over eBay or some other retailer.

how to calc savings due to overpaying monthly mortgage???

anonymous_account — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:40:14 -0800

How to calculate how much money I am saving overall by paying extra money on my monthly mortgage? I've tried figuring this out using a mortgage calculator. It said that if I paid $3800 per month extra, I would save some tens of thousands of dollars over the length of the loan. but when I divided the saved total by the number of payments (in order to calculate the amount saved by each overpayment), the resulting amount was *less* than the overpayment (3800). This, to me, means that I am *not* saving money overall by overpaying. But my impression is the opposite.

Also, the calulator distringushed between "savings" and "real savings". Huh?

Before surgery, my insurance company said I wouldn't have to pay. After surgery, that's changed. What now?

Ash3000 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:08:49 -0800

Before having surgery, I was told by my insurance company that my deductible had been reached, and that there was nothing for me to pay. After surgery, they amended that, telling me that in fact my deductible had not been filled at all for the present period, and I *would* have to pay. Am I just screwed here? The short version of a long story:

I recently had surgery to deal with a staph infection in my sinuses. Prior to surgery, my ENT's office contacted my insurer, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield NJ, who told them that my deductible had been reached for 100% for the year - my ENT's office passed that information onto me, and I went ahead with surgery. (The deductible having been reached made sense to me, given that I have dealt with several medical issues this year, including diagnosing and treating sleep apnea.)

After surgery, my ENT's office contacted me, very apologetically, telling me that HBCBS was now giving very different information. I called their helpline yesterday, and after an extended series of representatives, finally got HBCBS' story:

* My ENT's office spoke with their Provider Services department - Provider Services "isn't allowed" to say exactly what my deductible is, and can only provide an estimate, which they, according to HBCBS, told my ENT's office was an estimate.

* The 'estimate' they gave my ENT on how much of my deductible had been applied? 100%. The actual amount that had been applied? 0%. (The person I spoke to said that his guess was they checked 2010 instead of 2011.)

* Given that Provider Services was just providing an 'estimate,' and my contract apparently specifies I need to research the deductible directly with the insurer (i.e. not through my doctor acting as an intermediary), nothing against-the-rules has taken place here.

I'm going to have to pay somewhere between $1250 and $2500, at a time when money is on the tight side. To be clear, this could be much worse (I'm incredibly grateful that I'm not on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars or more), but I can't believe that it's okay for them to give blatantly inaccurate information to my ENT's office and then change their tune.

Am I just screwed here, and need to pay up? Are there any options that don't entail going down a legal route I will almost certainly lose? Thanks for your help here.