Receiving money without giving personal information out?

billwill

Basically there's a person who owes me money from a long time ago. He's across the country, and I guess he's trying to make things right, but I still don't have a good feeling about him. We have a bad history.

I don't want him to know my address or anything else, but I do want the money back. I need it.

So I'm looking to Paypal. I've never used it before... would that work? Can he send me the money without me giving him my credit card information/address/etc?

Killgrimage

Maybe a friend who has a PO box? Or just a friend's address? Or maybe have him deliver it to your job's location? Receiving money on paypal, they'll take a cut. I get it that you don't want to give out your address though. How about sending directly to your bank?

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

Western Union would work for you, assuming they have an office near you and you are willing to tell this person what city you live in. They charge a fee of course, but it's not exorbitant and the process is pretty easy.

Iceman.USAF

I think paypal would be the safest/fastest option, in my opinion. What do they take now, 1% or something?

Ages

Eat it You Nasty Pig. wrote:

Western Union would work for you, assuming they have an office near you and you are willing to tell this person what city you live in. They charge a fee of course, but it's not exorbitant and the process is pretty easy.

Depending on how much money you're looking at, the Western Union option could be very pricey (they can be pretty unforgiving when it comes to fees -- IIRC, sending a grand will cost over a hundred bucks). Though it would be the easiest way to get the money without any personal information being handed out. If you're in the States, the sender just has to know which state to send it to and you can pretty much pick it up at any Western Union in that state relatively easy.

Gdiguy

Maybe this is too old-fashioned, but... is there a reason why he can't just mail you a check? Or just cash (if you put it in an envelope that's dark enough it's not going to be stolen)?

It depends on the specifics, but everything electronic is going to take a significant cut, and unless he absolutely needs to pay you from his paypal account it makes it more complicated than anything else, AND require you give him information

corky842

With paypal it's free if it's sent as "personal, payment owed" AND if it's from a bank account or existing paypal balance. If not, it's $0.30 plus 2.9%. All he needs is your paypal email. If you're especially paranoid then make a new email account exclusively for paypal.

Also, Gdiguy, how would doing it through paypal require information while having it mailed to his actual physical address wouldn't?

Gdiguy

Hah, I read that like 3 times without really thinking about that... I'm an idiot

billwill

Thanks guys, I'm going to go with the Paypal thing and do it the way corky842 suggested.

Thanks again!