Using a credit card for VIP

Back in 2014 HomeDepot experienced a hack and 56 million cards numbers were taken. Mine was one of them. It got used 4 times for small purchases. My bank made good on my losses and issued me a new card.

No way

I have read a few stories about illegal RFID chip readers being installed on strip club ATMs. A number of years ago they discovered one at the Foxy Lady around here. A quick Google search found this:

news3lv.com

losspreventionmedia.com

mirror.co.uk

I mostly don't bring my cards into the club as a firewall against bad choices while horny, but identity theft is also an issue for me. I'm a "better safe than sorry" guy. It's also why I don't go to clubs where they scan IDs. I don't know; it's not that much of a hassle to visit an ATM as compared to what happens if I get fraudulent charges. Perhaps another option is getting a rechargeable Vanilla Visa card.

One of the reasons why strip clubs are ripe for these types of scams is that the scammers believe (usually correctly) that a lot of guys won't make a huge stink about the money they lose (unless it's massive) because they don't want to advertise their time in a club.

Everyone has their own comfort level. There's probably a fair number of guys out there who have used their cards regularly at strip clubs for years without an issue.

I use credit cards routinely for food and drinks at my regular clubs, as well as at the bigger, more reputable clubs I visit while traveling. Probably wouldn’t do it at a small dive I’ve never been to before. There is a possibility of your credit card getting cloned anywhere you use it, not just at clubs. I use my credit card so I can save my cash for dances and VIPs. It would never use a credit card for a VIP, but not for fear of leaving the paper trail or the info being stolen. Most clubs will add a significant surcharge onto the VIP cost for using a credit card, 10-20% or more. They will often also take a surcharge out of the girl’s share, as well, so they usually prefer cash as well.

They can overcharge your card. You can dispute it, it will get taken off your bill, but your card will get canceled and you'll get issued a new card. That may not be a problem, but I have several accounts that charge my credit card every month, so I'd have to call them and get it changed. Personally I'd never, never use a card in a strip club. I'd also never give my car keys to the valet troll or let my id get scanned. I never have issues. Yes I'm paranoid. It's better to be too paranoid than not paranoid enough.

I have used a credit card countless times for drinks and food. I only had a problem one time--The Flight Club charged me for a dancer drink I did not authorized and they reversed the charge when I complained.

It's like using a card in a bar or club. Do so ar your own risk

Reasons I can think of to not use a credit card in a club

• Paper trail. Even if you're single, you might not want a paper trail. If something happens at that club, LEO will use every resource available to find those who were present, whether as suspects or witnesses.
• Stupid fees that far exceed what any bank will charge you.
• You don't know who operates that ATM. It isn't necessarily the club; it could be anyone, and you know nothing about them, or what they're doing with the information you give them by making a withdrawal.
• Clubs and dancers are notorious for adding charges to a card, whether for drinks not actually purchased, or extra dances, or "tips" or whatever.
• If you are a drinker, and tend to excess, you never know who will decide you're a mark (well, you are a mark, drunk or not) and decide to scam you.

Drugs, alcohol and sex are cash businesses.

Georg some of your comments are only applicable to debit cards not credit cards. Some clubs do charge a fee for using credit cards to buy items but banks dont usually charge those fees unles its an international transaction fee. Atms are only for debit cards i think

Pussylicker why wouldnt you let your id get scanned?

^ Just so we're all clear, "Moneyman1234" is BTE with a changed profile name. So, consider this before going down the rabbit hole of his intentionally dumb questions.

The maim problem for me is self-control. If I have $500 cash in my wallet, then I am limiting the damages for that evening. If I take out my credit card, the limit on the damages is the limit on that card. And my cards have very high limits. So if the two gorgeous girls offer to take me to VIP and have a 3-some, I can say "sorry, I don't have enough cash". But if I take out that card, then I don't say No, thank you. I say hell yeah, lets go. I'll have a great time, but then regret it the next day.

The biggest issue is overcharges. In many cases, drunk you won't even notice. Sometimes, customers find extra charges on their card, and in most cases, they challenge the charge and the bank backs them. But I've read a zillion cases of the strip clubs re-challenging and winning on this. There's zero downside to bringing enough cash to the club, it makes no sense to take on unneeded risk and heartburn, even if you eventually win

I've heard too many stories from strippers about hassles getting the money when a PL pays with plastic, and often not getting the full amount. When I eat at restaurants, I pay the bill with plastic, but I tip in cash.

What Subraman said. After a night of drinking and maybe buying a few dancer drinks, it's easy to start losing track. In my even dumber early days, NYC was my stomping ground and after getting burned a couple of times for drinks that I never ordered, I learned my lesson. Also, as doctor indicated, most clubs charge a hefty premium if you use a cc for a VIP purchase, in large part to protect themselves from chargebacks after they've already paid the girls their share.

Though I really don't understand why getting enough cash should be such a hassle. If your ATM withdrawal limit is too low just have your bank raise it.

If your real reason for asking this question is that you'd like to party on credit when you're low on available cash, I'd think again if I were you. Virtually every guy I've ever seen crash and burn by spending too much on strippers did it by blowing past their cash limits and financing their visits on credit cards. Sticking to cash only is your last defense against digging yourself deep into a hole. Not only does it keep you from overspending when you really can't afford it, but it forces you to think a lot more about just how much you're spending when you're getting that VIP.

Most clubs I know of, as already mentioned, will cost more to the customer to use the card for the same vip versus cash. Most places I know of, it’s 20% more. The only exception I know of is King of Diamonds around the St Paul MN area, where it’s the same cost to the customer of cash vs card. I’d probably just ask a dancer or waitress the next time you come in. I doubt scamming would be much of an issue in a club like that, if there isn’t a history of other bs things a customer might run into. (Waitress padding their own tip when giving change back, inconsistently ran depending on who is the staff member that day, etc) Your gut feeling based on what you already know about the club is more useful than anything anyone can speculate in this thread.

Local clubs charge ATM fees anywhere from $40.00 to $50.00. If one uses the ATM more than oonce per visit it can cut into at least my fun budget. Take cash and your own 1's.

Strip clubs, casino/poker rooms = places I never using my ATM card or a credit card. I bring the money I am willing to spend or lose and that's it. The best way to avoid making a bad decision is take away the possibility of making it in the first place.

This was settled long ago, what is the Supreme PL community looking to reverse years of settled recommendations

A strip club I used to go routinely overcharged customers on their tabs. It was just a known thing. I always paid cash so it was never an issue for me.

Some clubs will taken pics of your id or card when using it to pay. If theure doing that, it becomes harder to dispute. Im not sure a bank would reverse a charge if you actually paid it but were drunk when you paid. Some dancers will take advantage of you if you’re drunk.

You can get around the atm charges if your bank waives them soem banks will waive them.

I used my credit card in a large, more reputable than most, club. A sexy Latina waitress handled the cc transaction. The charge for VIP was the same as cash. But then the next day, I got a call from my bank: “Are you traveling in Honduras?” The international charge was declined and my card was replaced.

Chances are on avg one will not have issues; but the risks are def there and def much-higher than w/ the avg business.

As has been posted, often the more-common drawback is clubs often charging an extra-fee in the order of 20%.

If it’s a club one knows well, then likely you won’t have issues – but it’s not just the club itself; but also unscrupulous -employees doing shady-shit unbeknownst to the club/management.

Also harder to keep track of one’s expenditures especially if one likes to get a buzz in the club (then trying to recollect/remember the next day if you really made those charges).

I’d say if one has a go-to club they feel comfortable with; probably won’t have issues except possible extra-charges imposed by the club – but I personally wouldn’t make I a habit of handing over my cc everytime I hit a club b/c it feels as if it’s not if but when one will have an issue.

At the end of the day; as I’ve posted in the past; strip-clubs attract their fair-share of shady-people from owners/managers to regular-staff to certain-dancers to certain-custies; so some due-PL-diligence is often in order IMO.

Thanks for the comments everyone.

The main reason I want to use a card is that the club ATM and all the ATMs I know of between it and my house me have $200 limits. I just really hate standing there making 3 or 4 withdrawls, it's the only time I feel like a truly pathetic loser, not sure why and I'm not claiming it makes any sense, but it really bugs me.

I take one edible before going in to the club, but don't have more than one alcoholic drink while there, usually just have water so I am not worried about spending what I can not afford.

I don't think they charge extra for credit, they've always told me the price and then asked how I wanted to pay. And this is very much a club of regulars, I feel (maybe incorrectly) that the regulars would not keep coming back if they were being scammed, plus the bartender and door girl seem honest for whatever that is worth.

I like C.M.I's suggestion of a rechargeable Vanilla Visa card, thanks for what sounds like a good solution.

@BigMoneyThirdManEye1234: "Georg some of your comments are only applicable to debit cards not credit cards. Some clubs do charge a fee for using credit cards to buy items but banks dont usually charge those fees unles its an international transaction fee. Atms are only for debit cards i think"

It depends on how your bank is told to process the transaction. If the club runs it as a cash advance instead of a credit charge (which I've seen some do), many, if not most, banks will charge a fee for that, along with no grace period for interest charges, like a normal credit charge. And many credit cards will allow a cash advance from an ATM machine.

===> "The main reason I want to use a card is that the club ATM and all the ATMs I know of between it and my house me have $200 limits."

That doesn't really make much sense. Are you walking? Even if there isn't one right on your route, I can't imagine it would be more than a 5 minute side trip. I've clubbed all over the Milwaukee area and I've never had a problem finding real bank ATMs to hit on my way to a club.

^ I take it you don't ever spend more than $200 per visit to a club. What a broke simp

"The main reason I want to use a card is that the club ATM and all the ATMs I know of between it and my house me have $200 limits." Check with you bank to see if they are the ones putting that $200 limit on your withdrawals because that is unusually low. The only places I have seen that low of a limit on an ATM is at a strip club, casino or dive bar where they charge a ridiculously high fee per withdrawal. Any actual bank controlled ATM, even if is not your bank, should let you take out at least $500 at a time.

As for using card at the club, I generally don't do it. I'm not concerned about a paper trail at all since I am single and while I wouldn't want certain people to find out about clubbing habit it wouldn't be a major issue if it happened. I'm also not overly concerned about ID theft or most types of fraud since it isn't really that much more of a risk to use it at a club compared to some other places that I use a debit or credit card.

I have two reasons, both of which have been discussed, for not using a card at the club. The first is that I have personally known people that have been charged more than expected. Sometimes it is because of a fee that posted but not really talked about when running the card like one of the now closed Covington KY clubs that had a small sign at the register that said all credit Transactions are subject to a 20% fee. Other times it has been a waitress or dancer inflating the tip without the customer noticing. I knew a guy that tipped a girl $200 in cash for extras when using a card for vip and when he went to sign the credit card slip it had $200cash on the tip line and he thought that was just to account for the cash tip he gave her but it ended up being added to his card as a $200 cash back tip.

The other is my own lack of self control at times in the club. While I make enough to be able to afford to have fun at the club when I want to. I am by no means wealthy. I don't get drunk at the clubs and usually only have one or maybe two drinks since I am driving so I am not concerned that I will over spend because of alcohol, I don't have the same self control when I find the right woman. I have often found myself so intoxicated by a beautiful dancer and blown through every bit of cash I had with me. On a few of those occasions I have wanted to go back to my home or hotel to get my card and either hit an ATM again or use it at the club. Luckily I sober up from my state of being drunk on pussy to not go back once I have left to go get my card. If I started taking my cards to the vlub I would have a much smaller bank account.

"The only places I have seen that low of a limit on an ATM is at a strip club, casino or dive bar where they charge a ridiculously high fee per withdrawal."

There's also gas stations, where I've been known to cash up myself between clubs.

#1 risk I would say is overcharging, as others have mentioned.

#2 I'd consider identity theft. Strip clubs face lots of chargebacks, so they do stupid shit to avoid it. Like take a copy of your ID & CC. For me, that's a deal breaker. I don't like ID scanners on entry, but there is zero fucking chance I'm letting a strip club photocopy or otherwise get a copy of my card and ID. It's completely against the industry regulations, and merchants and services can face significant fines if there are complaints, but they still do it. And I just assume based on the stupid shit I've seen them do that security is severely lacking.

Georg is that really true? So you didn’t make a mistake and describe debit cards instead of credit cards? Sounded like you were describing debit cards!

Dolfan if a strip club is scanning ids they basically are photocopying them, if their id scanner actually saves the info from the scanned id. Those scanners could be saving your id info on a computer system its not always just to detect if the id is real. What is against industry regulations, takinh a pic of the card and id? I had a smaller online retailer once ask me to send a pic of my id and card.

Whodey what do you blow your cash on with the dancer? Just dances or extras with the dancer?

looks at title

Oh hell no

Sorry, but this story really fell apart for me once the $200 ATM limit was floated as an excuse. There are PNC, US Bank and various community bank branches all over the place in the Milwaukee metro area and they all dispense far more than $200. I know because I've hit them many times on my way to the clubs in that area.

Maybe he's just trying to keep the topic alive or maybe he's lying because he doesn't want to admit that he's broke and wants to finance his strip club fun. Idk, but it's the latter and he just doesn't want to admit it, he'd be better off waiting until his bank account is reloaded.

My bank Bank of America, allows you to specify the withdrawal limits you want to be available up to, I believe it's $2500. Any limit below $250. is usually imposed by the ATM operator, and in the case of high fee ATMs the limits are artificially low to increase the profitability.

^ 25, agreed on all fronts. But the OP has real bank ATMs with low fees and higher limits near pretty much any club he could visit in the Milwaukee metro area, so this notion that he has to use some gas station or convenience store ATM to load up for a club just doesn't fly.

@BigMoneyThirdManEye1234: "Georg is that really true?"

Yes, that's really true.

As you'll find out when you get old enough to have your own bank account.

Gmd ive got 100k in the bank already!

Rick i think BOA bases the maximum daily withdrawal based on how much you have stored? To have a $2500 daily withdrawal limit dont you need to have 250k in there? I remember my maximum daily amount being limited to $1500 previously...

If other banks are following the 1% withdrawal limit rule it could be possible the $200 limit is standard, unless you have more in the bank

@BigMoneyThirdManEye1234: "Gmd ive got 100k in the bank already!"

Monopoly money doesn't count.

===> "Rick i think BOA bases the maximum daily withdrawal based on how much you have stored? To have a $2500 daily withdrawal limit dont you need to have 250k in there?"

I don't know of any bank that bases its ATM withdrawal limits as a % of the account balance. Part of the reason for that is that almost nobody maintains significant balances in their bank accounts for any significant length of time - it's dead money that loses purchasing power every day that it sits there earning far less than inflation. They generally move it to their brokerage accounts and put it to work, even if that just involves purchasing money market funds because they'll need the cash in the next few months or don't like where the market is at the moment.

BTE do you even have a bank account? If not, how do you get your disability payments?

The "I can't physically get my hands on cash" excuse is bullshit. If you can't get actual cash, its because you don't have it, are a fucking moron, can't figure out to hide the fact from the person you're sharing the accounts with, or some other such nonsense. Absolute worst case, plan a head and walk into your bank and withdraw some cash & put in your nightstand or something. Replenish as needed. If you can't have the amount you're gonna spend in the club just sitting around the house waiting to spent, then you really need t think hard about if you're able to afford spending it in the first place.

I'm not saying its don't use a credit card if that's what you wanna do. It's got risks, but they're generally manageable and in some personal situations it may be worth the risk. But be honest with yourself that you're doing it for a reason other than "it's too hard to get cash from an ATM." Or at a minimum don't use us to try to justify it to yourself with that sort of shitty excuse.

I have never once ever used a credit card in a strip club. Overcharging, ID theft... those are the least of my worries. Not everyone who works in a strip club is shady, but every strip club has shady people working in it.

Has anyone, just for fun, ever looked at one of those background check sites? I have. You can pretty much find anyone with as little as a first and last name, or even just a telephone number. The information available is astounding. Your current address. Names of your family members and/or known associates. Current and former places of employment. Arrest records. Every phone number ever associated with you. It's unbelievable that those sites are even legal.

Now if your name is something like John Smith, maybe you don't have much to worry about. But if your name is even a little bit more unique, someone could read it off your card, or perhaps even extract it from the transaction records in the cash register, and then very easily they know your home address, who you're married to, where you work... you see what I'm saying? Wouldn't be too hard to extort someone, especially if you've got a family that you wouldn't want to know about your clubbing activities, or worse, have some high on crack motherfucker show up at your home or place of work looking for you.

Nah, I'll pass on the credit card thing.

Rick, did you read where I said the secured visa was a good solution? That means I could only charge on that card the money I have already loaded, and nothing on credit. Tell me how you get I'm broke and going into debt.

I said the club is outside Milwaukee, and that there are no banks between my house in the country and the club. Why is that so hard to believe? Yes, there is a bank 3 1/2 miles beyond the club, but that's a 7 mile detour. What the f**k is wrong with you people?

Public Service Announcement (PSA)

Moneyman1234 is just another cacaplop user’s name trying to swamp these forums with repetitive, stupid questions, either via his own threads or crashing other threads.

But, as always, take a look at his posting history and judge for yourself.

If engaging with his inane posts is fun for you, then go for it.

Otherwise, don't think you're answering sincere questions.

~ Call.Me.Ishmael ~ April 29, 2022

“In this world, shipmates, sin that pays its way can travel freely, and without a passport; whereas Virtue, if a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers."

~Father Mapple via Herman Melville's "Moby Dick".

Eh. The number of times different people here have posted in varying threads "I know the OP is an obvious troll, but I'm going to respond to this troll post anyway because ...[whatever]." makes it a bit of head scratcher as to why Bagger gets pilloried here. Looking at his posting history, I'm not seeing a guy who seeks to sow discord.

The original question was "Is it really a bad idea to use your credit cards in a club?", which is not a bad question to ask. A variety of opinions and reasons got posted. Beyond that, I don't care about the OP's finances.

And, perhaps he's not disclosing all the reasons why he wants to use a CC and not visit local ATMs [shrug]. So what? "People who don't disclose everything they do" aren't exactly rare birds on TUSCL.

^^ well said

There are no small clubs "just outside of Milwaukee." Silk and OTB are both large. If you mean Heartbreakers, there are banks a block away. If you mean Golddiggers (which is technically in Milwaukee), there is a Wells Fargo 3 blocks away. If you go further out from Milwaukee you need to go all the way to Lake Geneva for the next closest clubs.

Tell you what, you you seem incapable of finding banks that are practically next door to your favorite club, tell me which one it is and I'll give you the nearest bank ATM - which will inevitably be less than 3 miles away. 😉

Rick, it's none of your business what club I go to, I'm certainly not posting it here.

You are someone who brags about having the perfect family, and then brags about how he lies and cheats on them. I was raised to believe that a man is only as good as his word, and I am really curious if you agree or disagree?

Groan. I've met BaggerRider IRL when he still lived in Denver and as far as I can tell, he's a generally even-keeled, habitual individual who has a general spending range and habits of how much alcohol to buy, dances to get, etc and sticks to it at the club. But for whatever reason, this type of topic is sensitive for TUSCLers. The dancer equivalent for us I guess is when dancers yell at each other to always get the money up front for dances, always. And if somebody deviates from that mantra, then it's not merely an issue of personal foolishness, but a personal affront to stripperhood everywhere.

BTW, there are people from this site that I've seen use credit cards in the club, very frequently, for club transactions that don't incur a large surcharge. I generally assume they wouldn't do that if they were getting ripped off. I'm certainly not going to out who they are though.

Anyways...happy holidays guys!

Rick i dont know what you mean by disability payments... coming from the guy who wants prostitution to remain illegal and is okay with people dying all because hes worried his kids could be solicited at a chic fil A drive thru

All i know is BOA factors in the amount of money in the account into the withdrawal limit. The maximum daily withdrawal limit was a very specific number, that was exactly 1% of the total balance. Im sorry you arent aware of how this works.

So nicespice has a point about tis the season and all, but if people would just post simple questions without their bio and recent life history then the rick's would have nothing to feed on after midnight. And less to get all pissy about lol.

The funniest credit card fiasco I've seen was at an upscale club in North Carolina where one dancer was helping this drunk guy stand while the other was coaching him through signing his name on the slip. I think it was about $1500 they got him for, but I only heard them talking in passing. I don't mind hearing about all the times guys have used credit cards at the club and nothing happened. That's a good thing, but I'm still paying cash.

Most of the main points on this issue have been covered. I’ll just add that risk v. convenience is a sliding scale. Yes, you’re adding risk when you use a cc in a club, but if it helps your experience more power to you. Minimize your risk. Sounds like you’re doing it by using it at a place where you’re a regular and less likely to get hit for extra charges.

Also, there is an identity issue. I club only with cash and have a stripper name. I want to be anonymous and don’t ever start shit in a club. There was one time when I was in a club where I was a regular for more than 5 years. The club owner happened to be there and saw me on camera doing a consensual act that he did not approve of. He broke it up and was screaming at me that ‘he knew who I was and would out me.’ While I was sitting there absorbing his crap, I was mostly afraid he’d ban me or take it out on the dancer but even in the stress of the moment I recall thinking there was no way he’d break through the firewall into my real life. Anonymity has its privileges.

The same reason I tip my legit restaurant server w/ cash. I want my dancer to beat Uncle Sam. He can’t tax her on cash unless she admits it. Why would she do that? I pick smart girls because I like to listen to them talk sensibly so I know they know better than to snitch on themselves. Cards give them no choice. So it’s a tip on a tip.

I'll chime in with respect to the use of those re-loadable cards. You can certainly try that, but be prepared for the possibility or maybe even probability that card won't be accepted at a strip club. On top of the additional security requirements for high-risk merchants, strip clubs will often do weird transactions instead of straight purchases. Things like try to pre-auth a large amount, which would fail if the balance is low. Or they'll do a verification immediately followed by a pre-auth, which can be viewed as scammy and will sometimes trigger fraud detection algos and require a call in to customer service to unlock the card. There's also the issue of fee's. Most of those cards are gonna have monthly fees, deposit fees, maybe even transaction fees. They also offer limited to no protection from fraudulent charges, so if you want the protection you'd have to keep your balance low.

And BOA does not factor balance into your daily withdraw limit, other than not allowing you to withdraw more than you have that's currently available ie, not pending or held or whatever. That's one of the dumbest fucking things I've ever heard.

@Nice: I wasn't questioning his existence, just his BS excuses for why he can't get cash. If everything about where he clubs is accurate then he's full of shit. Don't shoot the messenger - it's not my fault that he's full of shit. 😁

And right on cue, whenever a silly troll twat posting nonsense is caught with his dick in his hand, he starts the deflection game. What does my domestic situation have to do with the fact that he's spouting nonsense? Nothing of course. 😉

I've asked you two questions you have deflected:

1. What about my getting a secured card makes you think I am broke?
2. Do you agree with the statement "A man is only as good as his word"?

They are pretty simple questions, and I think relevant to the thread. Will you answer them, or just start attacking me again?

Thanks Dolfan. Discover and a couple others have no fee secured cards. I hadn't thought about pre-authorizations, I will ask the hostess what the amount of those is, she would have no reason to lie.

@BR I can't speak for anyone else but in response to your questions, #1 Most folks get a secured card because their credit is no good, generally because they're broke #2 I agree, but your word has nothing to do with your credit standing, in todays world.

Ricky how do you explain 25s maximum withdrawal limit being $2500 and mine being a very odd number like $1508? It looks like BOas default is $1000 daily and to increase it you can call them or sign in online

Looking at it online it looks like it depends on the type of account you have witj higher tier accounts allowing higher daily withdrawal limits. Still when they put a number like $1508 as a maximum it shows they have some sort of formula for determining maximum withdrawal amounts. Maybe you guys are too rich and always have 250k in the bank or more...

Rick, can we just wish each other Happy Holidays and let this die? I apologize for mentioning your family, I meant no disrespect but it was still a dick move on my part.

For what it's worth, this seems relevant...

tuscl.net

I mentioned a bit of a similar occurrence in a review a while back: tuscl.net. Mine's not first hand, it was just what I happened to see & over hear.