I live in NY and need to pay somebody biweekly in St. Petersburg,
Russia. They do not have a bank account.

At first, I was going to mail an ATM card and let them withdraw money
from the ATM, but I fear that they will have too much personal
information and can harm me in the end (I have no reason to suspect it
– but would you do it?).

Sending cash in the mail is not secure enough.

What other options do I have?

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Clarification of Question by jroff-ga on 19 Jul 2003 18:51 PDT

Thanks to everybody for the great comments.

I have decided to go with American Express Traveler's checks which
charge only 2.5% on the other end. (I make up that ammount to the
person).

Another great answer was Western Union - although much faster, much
more expensive.

I would love PayPal as somebody suggested - but not only can you not
get it without a bank account, you can't get it in Russia period.

Thanks again.

If you're willing to pay the extra fee (although it can be up to 20%
of the amount transferred), you could use Western Union to transfer
money.

I would think you'd be able to set up a separate bank account here and
provide him with an ATM card for it. Then deposit cash to it just
before he is due to take the money each week.

If you are worried about him having access to any personal
information, attach the bank account to a PO box and not your home
address and do not supply a phone number.

-K~

Don't send a plastic card. Far too risky. Western Union is the accepted way.

There's also Cash2Russia at http://www.cash2russia.com, although I
haven't checked out the company to see if it's reputable.

Send American Express traveller's checks.

I would use Pay Pal.   Email him his money.   www.paypal.com

Gary

Hi, Garyjs

Can you get a PayPal account without a bank account?

Bryan

I feel the way you are doing it is not the way to go.

Rather, I would be checking out Webmoney at http://www.wmtransfer.com

It is a Russian online payment system, much like Paypal, and allows
you to send money in USD and they can receive money in Russian
Roubles.

It is a popular system in Russia, and from what I am told by people
over in the CIS, it is very easy to use, for both sender and receiver.