Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with payment

Which student loans to pay off first: Stafford or private?

Muffpub — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:03:02 -0800

Student loans in the United States: I have larger fixed-interest Stafford loans, and smaller private loans tied to LIBOR. Which should I pay back first? Thanks to anyone in advance for being patient enough to read this.

I'm just entering the beginning of my payback period for my student loans in the U.S. and I'm wondering which I should prioritize fiscally and pay off first, seeing as I'm going to have to lower my monthly payments on at least one set of loans.

So I have two sets of student loans:
- A set of three private loans with quite low interest rates (~3.29% right now - around LIBOR + 3%) but which may rise in the future;
- A set of four Stafford loans, three fixed at 6.8% and one mysteriously at 2.48%. (I have not yet consolidated, but plan on exploring that ASAP.) Together the Staffords add up to about 1.5 times the size of my private loans.

A part of what complicates the situation is my ignorance about consolidation, which is something that I have to explore further with Sallie Mae (who services my Staffords.) One of my loans is now a Department of Education loan (but not the 2.48 percent one...) and I have no idea if I can even consolidate those altogether.

The larger question I'm facing is this: I can focus on paying off the private loans, but get hit by the Staffords' higher interest rates compounding on an already significantly greater sum. And I'm assuming the interest rates, even fixed, will be even higher consolidated / pushed out.
Or,
I can focus on paying off my Staffords, but risk the LIBOR going up past six percent, as it has done in the past, which could really hurt down the line. If these were relatively small amounts I can see it not making much of a difference, but with sums as big as these (over $10,000 each) I don't want to take a decision lightly.

I feel more comfortable owing the government than owing a private lender, but apparently while I was in college the world decided that I could no longer make financial decisions based on fuzzy feelings. So I'm making them based on the hive mind's judgement instead. Thank you all.

Where can I get tested for ADD?

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:20:53 -0800

[Chicago Filter] Where can I find a place that tests for adult ADHD/ADD, and accepts insurance up front? Most places I've tried want me to pay up front and then send the bill to my insurance company, which would be fine except the price ranges from $600-$2000. I don't have much time to save up the money because it's urgent (poor performance in college, not really looked into earlier because of at-home issues, in case anyone is wondering.)

I can pay up front/bill the insurance later if the price is ~$300, so if you know any places like that that would be great also. Thanks in advance!

How do i pay a small hospital bill from France?

doiheartwentyone — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:50:04 -0800

How do i pay a small hospital bill from France? GF and I (UK residents) had a holiday in France earlier this year during which she broke her head a bit. We went to the hospital to check it wasn't serious (it wasn't), and filled in the EHIC form and thought no more of it. The hospital didn't ask for money and didn't look like it was really set up for the handling of money either.

Three months later, we receive a bill for 17 EUR, which seems to be 30% of the actual fee. I guess the EHIC has covered the other 70%. It's attached to one of those normal bill payment tear off things, with a note saying something like "For ways to pay, please see over". Unfortunately, the bill seems to be a photocopy or something because there's nothing on the other side.

So, firstly, what are those ways to pay, that a French hospital would normally accept? And secondly, are any of those feasible from abroad? I see the "Eurocheque" doesn't exist anymore, and I would rather not have to pay Western Union or similar 100% of the bill amount to get this done.

If it's at all useful, I will be in Berlin for a weekend next month, so perhaps there is some kind of euro-denomination cheque I could get hold of there ?

Lemme aloooone!

Tequila Mockingbird — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:51:06 -0800

My apartment management has started to drive me nuts. For a month now they've been claiming that my August check has bounced - except it very clearly hasn't, with bank statements shown to them to back it up. Yesterday, I was told that I'm still on their late list for payments. Argh! How the bloody hell do I make this go away? It's ridiculous! I send every check using certified mail, so I know exactly when the company receives it. First week of August, they got the check and my bank processed it and withdrew the rent amount from my checking account. It was all standard, I kept track as I always do, and thought nothing of it.

Then on the 11th of September, a whole month later, I get a letter stating that this particular (numbered) check bounced. Impossible, right? It was already processed a month ago. I print statements, that very check as scanned by the bank, etc. and bring it to my manager, who lives within the building. She looks it over, agrees it makes no sense and promises to talk to the company on my behalf.

And then we go in circles that have not yet broken. They say the check was returned, I say the evidence to the contrary is conclusive, they tell me otherwise, on and on and on. I really can't deal with this anymore, because it is so senseless. I have never had bounced check fees on my account, I have never put a stop payment on a check, and I just don't know what else to do.

What would be the best next step, to make them understand what I'm telling them? I'm flying out of the country on Saturday, for a week, and the fact that this hasn't gone away yet is maddening.

(From southern California.)

Campaign stiffs campaign workers, won't respond. Solutions?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:39:54 -0800

Local political campaign reports a large surplus four days after stiffing its workers (I and dozens of other campaign workers are owed back pay, several of us in the $300+ range). Solutions? This was an unsuccessful bid for a NY City Council seat. (I'm not directly naming the candidate or any individuals in this post, just as a courtesy -- trying not to saturate people's google results with this because A) I don't know yet what happened and B) the candidate has done great things for the community and I still really believe in his achievements. But there's an article at nypost.com and several of the campaign workers are blogging about it, so it's not exactly a secret).

The campaign hired all its workers at $15/hr. On Election Day (the 15th of September), we were told to come pick up our checks on the 18th of Sep., with no indication that anything would be wrong with them (and throughout the entire campaign they were still actively asking us to bring new people, friends and relatives, to come work at $15/hr).

At 9pm on the 17th, we got a group email saying the campaign would only pay us $10/hr and we should not come in on the 18th; instead, the $10/hr checks were mailed. According to the article linked above, the campaign reported a significant surplus four days after sending out our partial-payment checks on the 18th.

The sole public statement from the campaign, given at the reporter's request for that article, was "Everyone has been paid or their check has been sent to them in the mail." That is, needless to say, an extremely disingenuous (and bad-faith) non-response.

Several campaign workers got together and wrote a formal group email to the campaign's email address asking for a resolution (there was no answer, and now that address is apparently no longer accepting emails), and started a blog with the basic facts, then filed a formal complaint with the Campaign Finance Board after it was clear that the campaign wouldn't respond (that complaint is now pending). Many workers have attempted to contact the campaign managers (using known-good phone numbers and email addresses), receiving no responses whatsoever. Only the Field Coordinator has been responsive, but she has no relation to the campaign's finances.

One thing I have not done is cash the partial-payment check they mailed me on the 18th, on the suspicion that cashing it could be seen as implicitly accepting it as correct payment. (Please share opinions re. whether that's a wrong suspicion, because I seriously need that money.) For me, and for at least a dozen other people who also started towards the beginning of the campaign, these partial checks sent on the 18th were the second or third of the weekly checks we received. Our earlier first checks were all correct, $15/hr, agreeing with our timesheets. I did cash my correct earlier check, as I think all of us did.

My own financial position means the money I'm still owed (several hundred dollars) is clearly worth time and effort in material terms, not just on principle. Are there steps to be taken while we wait for the Campaign Finance Board to review the complaint? And more importantly: would even the best-case result of that review produce money for us, or would it just produce something like censure or fees for the campaign?

How to verify that I'm not getting ripped off by gas station technician quote

ilovehistory — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:45:46 -0800

I drive away with the gas nozzle still in my car. Dumb, I know. But, now the attendent says I owe him $692 to have it put back in by a technician. How can I validate this amount? It's a sketchy bodega, so I don't just trust a receipt. Don't want to get police involved as the attendant was nice enough to agree not to contact my insurance. However, I want to make sure that I pay the correct and fair amount.

Is there somewhere online I can verify this? What kind of technician would i call for quotes.

Please help as I have to pay by noon tomorrow and he will say he already hired the technician by then.

h8 renting.

tmcw — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:35:11 -0800

All signs point to illegal activity on the part of my landlord, and paying the rent in cash certainly isn't helping the situation. What are our options (in DC?) So, we finally found an apartment in a less-crimeridden (but still pretty crimeridden) part of town, and the rent ($2750 / 3 a month) has been requested in cash this month.

Also, a business card from a government investigator, with a note to our landlord to call him, arrived at the door. Along with several child support checks. And various other documents addressed to various people with the same last name but different first names as our landlord (he doesn't live in the area). He's tough to contact, but we're trying to forward these to him.

And he insists that we either pay the rent in cash or wire it to him - no checks, etc. The overwhelming conclusion is that he doesn't want to report his income via rent so that he doesn't have to pay a portion as child support, and this is certainly digging a deeper hole with his existing legal troubles.

This month's rent has been a fiasco, but it'll be sorted out by tonight. For future reference, though:

Do we have any right to request to pay rent in check, etc? It makes everyone nervous to carry the $900+ back to the apartment every month in cash.

If this jerk gets completely destroyed in the courts and can't keep the apartment, do we have renters rights in DC, or are we kicked out?

Thanks!

Do I ask about a late payment or let it go?

wexford_arts — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:27:43 -0800

My client said the cheque was in the mail two weeks ago. The cheque has not yet shown up in my mailbox. Should I ask him about it? A new client, trusted and recommended by a colleague, contacted me several months ago about a small job that never came to fruition, but he offered to pay a small fee covering my time, about $125. Fourteen days ago he said he was putting a cheque in the mail that week, but there's been nothing.

It could have been sent the following week, it may not have been sent yet at all, or it could have been sent and stolen out of my mailbox. The last possibility isn't as paranoid as you might think, as the cops have been around the neighbourhood to warn us about documented cases of mail theft in the area. My other clients all pay by direct deposit, so I've never had to worry about this issue before.

If the cheque was stolen and cashed, I'd hate to put this new client -- who really wants to work with me in the future -- in the position of paying me again. I can eat this loss. In fact, I never expected a kill fee at all: it was a pleasant surprise that he offered. On the other hand, I don't think there's anything wrong with a quick question about the payment if it turns out they were just late getting it out.

It's the small but real possibility of the client feeling obliged to pay again given the small but real chance of theft that has me hesitating. What do you recommend?

Small change embarrassment

bad grammar — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:12:32 -0800

Small change embarrassment: After buying an eBay item I had $4.20 in my Paypal account. Unluckily my eBay seller fees were charged at the same time for $4.35. I now presumably have a negative balance of -$0.15 in my account. I have added $10 from my bank account (which has money in it sufficient to cover all this) to Paypal, but it will not clear for a few days. What will happen to my Paypal account.

Paypalfilter please help me!

spacefire — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:16:22 -0800

How do I send someone a Paypal subscription invoice? I need to send someone a link via email where they can set up a recurring payment to my paypal account. I can't figure out how to do this! Please help....

Help Me Keep the Guys in the Green Visors From Chopping Down My Door.

foxy_hedgehog — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:34:06 -0800

I can't pay my taxes right now, but according to the IRS's information form on payment plans, if I can pay within 120 days I don't need a installment plan -- which would charge interest. The form requests that I call the IRS to notify them and get more information. However, I haven't been able to get through on their phone line for the last week, and now it's the 15th. What should I do? I can pay what I owe within 120 days, just not right now, and I would love to avoid the interest charges that come with a payment plan. The only official form that seems to let you request a late payment is the installment plan request -- what form should you submit, if any, to tell the IRS that payment is coming within 120 days?

I don't want you to think I'm using AskMe as a substitute for doing the footwork myself -- when I say I can't get through to the IRS on their phone line, I don't mean that I've been put on hold for long periods of time. I mean the system has disconnected me after telling me it's swamped with calls from fellow taxpayers.

I've tried emailing my accountant, who, one would assume, would both know the answer to this question and take care of it for me, but either because he too is swamped or is being unprofessional I haven't heard back from him. Yes, I'll keep this in mind when selecting a tax preparation professional for next year.

I'm sure their is a simple answer to this. I just want to make sure that I take the proper steps to avoid being in any kind of arrears with the IRS.

Thanks, and good luck to everyone getting their paperwork out!

No, I'm NOT $300 over my shopping budget!

emelenjr — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 09:14:53 -0800

I'd like to get more out of Mint.com, but can't figure out how to do what I'd like to do. The crux of the problem is that Mint.com mistakenly identifies some of my recurring monthly expenses as being payments to Marshall's (the store). Payments that Mint.com assumes are to Marshall's are actually to more than one payee, and the Rules feature doesn't seem to be customizable enough to handle that. My first name happens to be Marshall, and I wonder if that might have something to do with it. If not, it's a weird coincidence. Mint's tech support and forums haven't been helpful (yet) so I'm turning to the hive mind.

Since this happens with more than one payee, I can't simply create a rule that renames transactions supposedly involving Marshall's to a different name, because that will rename multiple transactions to the same new name when they should each be identified by different names.

Is there a way to create a rule based on the amount of the transaction, not just by the name of the payee? That would make the Rules feature even more useful, and it would solve this problem. "If it's X amount and it's going to Y payee, don't assume this is a shopping expense to Marshall's." That's what I would like to see, but I can't figure out how to make that work. Any ideas?

How can we accept credit cards at our temporary call center?

stuboo — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:46:44 -0800

A company I do a bit of consulting for wants to test an infomercial for their hummingbird feeders. The infomercial directs viewers to a phone number that connects to our call center where they can place an order. How should we process that order? We've considered using PayPal, but there has to be a better way. I'm also concerned that submitting multiple credit card transactions to PayPal from a single ip address and to a single company will raise red flags and result in a suspended account - that can't happen while we're trying to take orders.

Because we all need another reason to hate banks at the moment

sararah — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:50:29 -0800

My sister is having issues with her student loans through Wells Fargo. She has two student loans which appear on the same statement each month -- but Wells Fargo only applies her payment to one loan, and the other loan becomes delinquent. She's been on the phone with them every month for the past 4-5 months regarding this, but it keeps happening. Who has enough muscle to fix this? Since the two loans are on the same statement, my sister pays $(X+Y) each month in one payment (either electronically or by check, not sure), but X loan will get all the money and Y loan will become delinquent. Then she will get a nasty call from Wells Fargo regarding the "delinquent" loan. She and my parents have repeatedly called to complain about this, yet Wells Fargo cannot get their act together. This has happened every month since her loan repayment started in October. I'm worried it could eventually hurt her credit score, plus it is a big pain in the butt.

My dad says to call (or threaten to call) the state Attorney General. Is there anyone else to contact? Should we just climb up the chain of Wells Fargo customer service until we get someone who cares? She is in South Dakota if it matters.

$USD or local currency for international sales

bystander — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:55:24 -0800

Currency for international transactions. Should I offer a pay-for-download in $US only or lots of currencies? I am thinking about selling an item for electronic delivery. Ideally, I would sell it for $USD10 but I suspect that I would get more sales if it is listed as EURO10, 6GBP, 1000YEN, 14AUD etc. so potential customers can see what the price is in the currency they are most familiar. This leads to either daily updating or/and arbitrage as rates change. The third option is the ebay way, where an approximate value in local currency is displayed next to the $USD: $US10 ($AUD14.00).
Non-US mefites, and USians who have an opinion, what would be best.

Dine and Punishment

fucker — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:34:28 -0800

What happens if you eat at a restaurant and then can't pay the bill? I'm looking for experienced answers from people that know better, not conjectures. Let's say you're at a restaurant, and eat a big meal, but when the time comes you realize you forgot your wallet. In what ways will the restaurant respond to this? Will they call the police? Will they trust you to leave and "bring the money back", with zero real assurances you will return? Will they make you wash dishes?

This seems like it would be a common occurrence, but some friends and I were stumped about what would happen. The restaurant seems to be at the mercy of the patron.

Having the police come and escort away a patron seems like it would really have a negative effect on the image of the restaurant to other diners, especially in higher end restaurants that would incur enough of a loss from the meal cost to warrant such measures. On the other hand it seems strange to me to think that they would just let someone leave on the honor system for $50-$150. And what if the patron says that they just can't afford to pay?

MeFites with restaurant experience please share with me how you dealt with these situations, or were supposed to deal with them. In what circumstances did you ever rely on the police? (e.g. only when people intentionally try and exit the door without paying, or even if they tell you they are unable to pay)

Patrons are encouraged to share their stories too. How did they deal with you when the bill came, and you couldn't cut it?

Data And Money Exchange

kaizen — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:38:40 -0800

I need my customers to send me confidential data with a payment. I work for a regulatory agency that currently collects applications in paper based form with a physical signature including a check for payment. We would like to implement a industrial strength 'e-filing' solution. Where do I start? My Google-Fu and Delicious-Fu are failing me. I need to find information on 2009 best practices for capturing data ( e-forms, rest, edi ), identity management, security ( digital certs, etc ), and payment gateways ( direct debit, credit cards ). I also need to know what vendors are leading in these spaces. I am not really looking for a 'e-commerce' solution. I am looking for a 'secure electronic forms submission with payments and non-repudiation' solution. My company would need to host this in our data center. I would like to offer my customers multiple ways to submit and pay.

there's got to be a way to save me money somewhere

kidsleepy — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:14:40 -0800

What's the best way to buy a Mac? I want to purchase a $1,500 refurbished MacBook Pro. I have $450 in Apple gift cards, and a credit card with a 9.99% APR. Other options for payment are using the Bill Me Later system, or getting a Juniper Visa Card. I could pay off the remaining $1,000 over about three months - which way of paying is going to be the best deal? Any promotions or penalties I need to be aware of?

Labor law help needed for socal govt contract employee

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 08:38:47 -0800

I believe my company, a government contractor, is using alot of grey areas in their employee time cards to get away with paying as little as possible. For example, I am listed with them as "salary", which by my understanding would mean I get x amount of payment per pay period. However, they still have everyone fill out a time card, and pay us per the hours we have worked. However with widely varying schedules each week due to employees being sick, or managers (who do not get paid by hour but really are salaried) taking our shifts, it means our paychecks can vary by several hundred dollars either direction.

Now this means on the upshot, I have some weeks I get to pull in more hours, and to be honest this happens more often than not. However, since they list our positions as "salary", any overtime is treated as a normal hour. We do not get 1.5x for hours over 40 per week, and do not get 2.0x for holidays, etc. We just get the same rate for every hour we work no matter when it is.

At this time let me point out that everyone's shift here is, by virtue of the fact we have 12 hour shifts for 24/7 positions and the number of people we do, a minimum of 84 hours per 2 weeks. Thats broken into a 60 hour week, and then a 24 hour week. I can provide more details on how that breaks down if it seems relevant to the issue.

Even though I'm not totally comfortable with the setup as is, I can deal with it for the most part. Concern grows however, when in the past several weeks, a sub-contractor to our company, who supplies some of the employees I share shifts with, determined our jobs to be "hourly" and has granted their people 1.5x OT and 2.0x Holidays. Our company will not grant that to us, and has now infact, cut that sub-contractor's employee's hours down to 40 per week max to avoid having to pay higher rate hours. They are now "reviewing" our entire job description in an internal investigation to find out if we are salary or hourly.

My first issue is that the people doing the review are all pro-company managers, who are NOT accountants, lawyers, or have any qualifications that I can see to carry this out. My second issue is that pending the outcome of this "investigation" we have now be subject to many rule changes.

Sick time, even though our normal shift is 12 hours, can not be used more than 8 hours at a time (per day out sick), and can not take you over 40 hours in a week. This means a day I was sick last week and took off, which I rarely do, I have lost half of my pay for, despite having 100+ sick hours saved up. If I had come in, I would have been paid 12 hours. I was too sick, so I only get 6, because the other 6 would have put me over 40 hours that week. We have in the past ALWAYS been able to use up to our "expected scheduled shift" worth of sick time per day we call out. After the fact, and after I challenged this with my manager/pay-approver, an email was sent out explaining this new rule.

So, how can you help? Thanks for asking.

I need to know, specific to Southern California, or Government contracts, as much as I can...

A) How can I get a *real* investigation into they payment practices started, by a labor board or such?

B) Is there any recourse you know of, or could see, for me to get my 4 hours sick time. I admit its more of a principle issue than the 4 hours of pay, but I'm really really pissed over it.

C) If our jobs some how are declared truely hourly, is there any precident for possibly getting the past 2 years of my life here reviewed, for a chance at pack pay for all of those 1.5x and 2.0x days I've put in?

I know no one here is a labor lawyer, or my specific lawyer, and I am fully aware I am not one either... but help if you can. Also, note, we are NOT unionized here.

If someone would like more information or to discuss this directly, you can email me at anonymous_2350@randomshit.com. Thanks.

Micropayment service?

msalt — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:25:33 -0800

I'm looking for a super-simple, low-cost system for micropayments for a website. My 8-year old daughter wants to set up a service where she asks users for a small payment, $1 or $0.50, money-back guarantee. This is a lark, so we don't want to invest a lot of money, and the money-back guarantee is crucial to the concept, and many users will probably test it. I'm old school -- is PayPal still a reasonable possibility? From my experience with credit cards 10 years ago, I'm guessing that their fees would make them impractical here. But I am very open to suggestion. My ISP is Network Solutions, basic cheap hosting account. Thanks!

How to get my £70 back?

altolinguistic — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 06:45:56 -0800

How can I go about disputing a Visa payment when it's more than 6 months since the payment was made (without my knowledge)? This is in the UK. On my bank statement (Nationwide FlexAccount) from April I have a mysterious debit of about £70 which seems to come from a collections agency in Northamptonshire, UK (identifier is DIRECT LEGAL & C BRACKLEY). I can think of no reason why a collections agency would be coming after me. I found their website and called them and they say there's no record of my name in their database, under my current or previous addresses, and that I should contact Nationwide to dispute the payment.

I did nothing for several months because I had surgery and was recovering. I wrote to Nationwide's Visa Disputes Chargeback Team in August, explaining the situation, and a few weeks later got a letter back saying that I was too late to dispute this.

Any idea what I should do next? I would like my £70 back, or a satisfactory explanation as to why it was taken from me. Should I explain about my surgery and hope Nationwide are sympathetic? Or should I be going after the collections agency?

I wantz to bez a nurze. But I can has $$ from Prezident Catz?

sully75 — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:22:43 -0800

I have some student loan questions Basic situation: After 11 years out of school, I've decided to go back to school for nursing. Before this process, I had $0.00 in debt, and close to $0.00 in assets. I decided at the last minute to get the ball rolling, so paid for 2 prereq classes on my credit card. My parents, who are supportive of this, loaned me the $1000 for the classes so I could pay off my credit card. I told them I'd get a loan to pay them back, but have yet to start that process.

I already have a bachelor's degree in music. No grad school (or classes) whatsoever. I'm doing really well in my classes so far, and committed to this path.

1) I have at least one more semester of prereqs to complete, and if I'm able to do them all in one semester (microbiology, chemistry, A+P II and maybe nutrition) I think it will be really tough for me to work, and I don't think enough to support myself. I do some photography work which pays really well when it's available but it isn't consistent. I'll be taking the prereqs in Boston (I'm moving there in December). Will I be able to take out student loans to support myself and pay for classes for the semester? I don't think I'll be enrolled in a program, just taking the classes at a community college there.

2)Is the credit crunch likely to affect student loans in general in the next 2 years? I know that's a big question but is there anything I can do to prepare for this situation?

3) Does my previous degree prevent me from getting federal student loans? I'm pretty sure it's totally unmeaningful but I never took out loans during my undergrad.

4) I'm 1/2 way through the semester on the classes that I'm taking now. And have to pay my parents back for the classes. Can I apply for a student loan still for this semester?

5) I keep hearing people say "college debt is the best kind of debt there is". Why is that? I always think debt is debt, and it all sucks. The only reason I'm comfortable doing it here is because there seems to be a well paying job at the other end of the tunnel.

6) Do you just take whatever loan is available or offered? Do you have rights of choosing who provides the loans or is that usually regulated by the school?

I'm sure I could find these questions answered somewhere on the web but the whole thing is incredibly confusing to me so if you can help me out I'd really appreciated it.

WTB Wheels, Not Enough $$$ On Hand

BeerFilter — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:06:11 -0800

Are individuals selling used cars frequently willing to work with a purchaser with regard to a payment plan or are they really expecting the full asking price all at once? I need to buy a used car soon. I have a job but I don't have a lot of money saved up.

For instance, there's a nice-looking used car for sale on my ride home from work. The writing on the window says $2700. I don't have $2700 right now. I could put $1000 in the seller's hand right now, but it'd probably take me 6 weeks to earn up the rest. I could pay the rest out over say, a couple months.

FWIW, this is the 3rd used car for sale I've seen sitting in front of this house in the last couple months, suggesting this person liquidating his personal fleet. I bring this up because maybe this could be an indicator of someone eager to make a deal? Someone who just wants to get rid of it as quickly as possible?

Of course everyone's different, and some sellers would be willing to work with me and some would not. I'm just wondering what the general expectation is when people sell their cars to other people, and whether I shouldn't bother looking for cars until I have more money saved up.

Receiving money, without the buyers knowing my real name?

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:16:28 -0800

I would like to receive money from people, but I don't want them to have my real name or contact information. Can I do this through Paypal, or what are my other options? I'm selling some old clothes online. This isn't a business or anything ongoing, I just have a few things to get rid of. I said so on my blog, and people from a few states away are interested in buying some things. I think they're normal people, but since it's the internet, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I plan on mailing my packages from a big city post office, so I'm not worried about being traced that way. But I don't know how people can pay me without knowing my real contact information. Since this is a one-time thing, I don't want to pay for a P.O. Box (they're quite expensive here). Can they even send a money order without knowing my real name or bank account number?

I was looking at Paypal, but I can't seem to figure it out. If I get the kind of free account that only lets you do e-mail (I don't need a button or anything), when they click on the invoice to pay, will they see my real name or address? Or will Paypal give that information up if the buyer asks? Also, how would Paypal give me my money?

Are there other similar services that would work better? I don't know very much about banking, so I'm not sure about the possibilities. I just don't want to have to pay to set up an account, or have to have certain minimums, or anything like that . . . since this is a one-time thing, it wouldn't be worthwhile. If it matters, individual items are all under $50 and it will probably only add up to maybe a few hundred, at most. Is this the kind of thing you need to pay taxes on? Is there anything else I'm not thinking of?

Anyway, the bottom line is that I don't care if buyers see my username or e-mail address. I just don't want anyone to have my real name or street address connected to my blog by anyone who buys something. Thanks!

Help a UK company pay me!

bitter-girl.com — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:15:54 -0800

Freelance-to-perm work for a UK company -- how can I get paid for the least amount of fees and hassle? More background: I have been offered a guest editorship at a UK-based magazine, which will likely turn into a FT position. I am in the US. The company is very small, so no HR people to handle questions like these.

I know my bank charges at least $20 for incoming wire transfers (which I imagine would be the only way to do a direct deposit from there, assuming no additional expense of changing currency along the way). Using PayPal -- which the company does for other transactions -- would probably take at least three times that out of each month's salary in fees. Are there other options?

Might it be in my favor to open an account with a UK-based bank or US bank/financial institution with a presence in the UK and just use the credit/debit card associated with the account instead of putting it straight into my US bank account? (I would count brokerage firm accounts here -- I used to have an account with Smith Barney that had checkwriting and debit card privileges, and their parent company Citigroup has a presence abroad)

Any other ideas? Thank you!