I am owed money, what do I do?

You can sue him in Small Claims Court for $500. There's a filing fee for Small Claims Court, plus $50 or so to get him served. You will have to show up in court for a pre-trial.  If he doesn't show up, then you can get a default judgment against him that MIGHT allow you to garnish his wages or levy upon his personal property -- but  it will cost you around $250 to garnish his wages, if you can figure out how to do it.  If he does not have a job, there's not much you can do.  If he has a lot of valuable stuff which exceeds certain state exemptions, you could levy on his personal property -- but that can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 with no promise that you will get it back from the sale of the stuff.  If he owns real estate other than his home, you can get a certified copy of the judgment and record it in the public records to create a judgment lien on the property, and then wait to see if he tries to sell the land in the next 10 years.He might show up at the pre-trial, and then you can try to get him to agree to a payment stipulation, where he will pay back the $500 plus the court costs over time.  If he fails to make the agreed payments, you get a judgment and then have the same problems mentioned above to try to collect.  If he refuses to sign a payment stipulation and denies that he owes the debt, the court will set a trial and you will have to prove that he owes you.  If the judge decides that he DOES owe the money, the judge will sign a judgment you have the same problems mentioned above to try to collect.  If the judge decides that you have failed to prove that he owes you the money, then you lose and get nothing.Truthfully, for $500, I'd suggest that you just consider it a mistake and go on.  It is probably not worth filing a Small Claims case over.  Send him a simple note about once a month asking him if he plans to pay you back, and then give up once you are convinced that he'll never pay it back.