payments

[aging hooker]

Hi just a thought on payment methods we use in our business - have I missed anyting and do you gals think good idea to add to advice sections.

Most ladies work only in cash as this is the safest way of avoiding dodgy cheques as well as protecting our clients and our anomity (having names etc showing up on bank statements)but even with cash there is a risk of fake notes being passed to us. There are a couple of things we can do to deal with this - there is a check list here fake notes.  Once you find you have one unfortunately there is nothing you can do to recoup that loss. Because you accepted the forged money, there is no compensation available to you. So best to catch them straight away. The person giving it too may not actually be aware it is fake either - but it is coming out of your pocket so best to be careful.

Cheques - if you do choose to accept them never do so with out a cheque card, which gives some guarantee towards payment, however they do not always so be wary. Always write the card details on the cheque yourself. It is always advisable to ask for another form of id as well as a security measure when taking cheques. Don't forget to compare signatures on cheque with the one on the card.

Advance payments for deposits - difficult area this since Paypal with drew from adult market, they will freeze accounts they find being used or believe are being used for adult payments, then close them and will block you from getting another paypal account completely. Nochex is also slowly withdrawing from the adult market making it increasinly difficult to use their services for this business. Some laides take mobile phone credits as a form of deposits as these can be purchased in many places and then all you need the client to do is email you the code from the voucher. 

Credit Cards/Debit cards - to enable you to take these you will need a business or merchant bank account and the charges levied by the few banks that offer this to the adult industry will charge quite a high fee for the privalage also this facility is not automatically offered on business accounts. There is also the time it takes for the money to actually come through from credit card payments to consider as the banks want to ensure that there are no charge backs - meaning that the person using the credit card cancels the payment after the fact for one reason or another - also increased risk of fraud with credit cards again effecting your pocket.

Beth
xxx

[Sunni-Tara]

I think Beths points are well worth mentioning. I know of lots of [even fairly experienced] girls who have fallen for the dodgy/cancelled next day check trick.

Maplins electronics stores and Web site sell a forgery detector for notes for just ?10 pounds [one of those UV light thingies for those technical amoung you lol] which are well worth having. Small enough to slip into a vanity case so even on outcalls you could slip to the loo and check your payment is kosher. Doesn't work on ?50's, but these are easy to check by rubbing the orangey red triangle part of the note on a bit of paper, genuine ?50 notes are printed using ink that never dries completely, so there should be some ink left on the paper which means it's ok

Also this might be a good place to mention the recent fad for con men who request a long booking paying in advance by cheque, or direct deposit into a bank account. Almost always exceeding the girls usual rate and requesting a 'cash back' arrangement.  Not only is it very very stupid to make bank details available [the account usually gets cleared out as well as fraudulently used to obtain credit [ie Identity fraud]. Which is bad enough to have to deal with. But allowing an account to be used to clear funds is legally money laundering, which is a very serious crime and carries a lengthy sentence.

[SJ]

Thanks ladies.

Brandy is currently writing an article on ettiquette regarding money for the main site but its more centered around what happens in the booking itself but we will see if we can incorporate this info on the article or maybe write a seperate one.

Thanks again. 

[brandy@saafe]

Cheques - if you do choose to accept them never do so with out a cheque card, which gives some guarantee towards payment, however they do not always so be wary. Always write the card details on the cheque yourself. It is always advisable to ask for another form of id as well as a security measure when taking cheques. Don't forget to compare signatures on cheque with the one on the card.

I'd have to disagree with you on this one Beth. I personally wouldn't even accept cheques with a cheque guarantee card. There would be nothing to stop the client then going to the bank and stopping the cheque, thus putting you out of pocket and him having a service he paid for the price of the bank charge to halt the cheque.
I accept nothing but cold cash every time.

I'll have the article finished this weekend, even if I have to get up early in the morning before the rest of the household. Bleurgh!

[aging hooker]

I agree entirely thats why I worded it choose and some guarantee.............I very rarely took cheques and never do now - had one that cleared but turned out to be stolen - he had the cheque card with it.........................but that stolen cheque book that he used over alot of parlours in the area in a couple days led to him been finally arrested and charged for a series of rapes a few years earlier as well as stealing etc..............another cheque from a regular turned into rubber and led to a small claims court .claim ...idiots.

But some will still take them against better judgement.

On the subject of payments I have often wondered how easy it would be to set up a system for us all to take cc's and debit cards - though with credit cards similar probs arise,.

Beth
xxx

[brandy@saafe]

..............another cheque from a regular turned into rubber and led to a small claims court .claim ...idiots.

Beth
xxx

Beth, would you mind expanding on that? I know you've mentioned it elsewhere, but I think your tale would serve as a good example to ladies who don't think they have any recourse if indeed they took cheques from clients that bounced.

[aging hooker]

Rubber Cheque

After being an indie for about a yr I had several reg clients, this one whom I had seen about 1/2 doz time before always on outcall asked if I would take a cheque - naturally I declined but he pleaded as reg client saying money defo in bank, against my better judgement I said ok - but he said wife had the cheque card - but as he was reg I trusted him on that - I banked the cheque next day only to have it returned to refer to drawer - tried again - but same thing and I had incurred ?30 charges on a ?60 cheque so not to happy I tried calling but no answer so put polite note addressed to him asking him to call re payment - no joy so thought sod it he is taking the proverbial - sent a letter giving him 7 days notice to pay including bank charges or I will take him to small claims court, again no response..........so issued small claims court papers which had to be in joint names as joint account - about 1 month later I got full payment including the court costs incurred - don't know if wife found out or if he sorted it out as payment was in cash so he did not actually end up in court.

My feelings were that he had used my services and there for i should have been paid as you would do any other business and that he was taking the proverbial in not doing so let alone abusing my trust.

Beth
xx

[xw5]

Maplins electronics stores and Web site sell a forgery detector for notes for just ?10 pounds [one of those UV light thingies for those technical amoung you lol] which are well worth having.

It's probably worth mentioning that these, and the 'marker pens', only work with some types of forged notes. Just because it passes that test doesn't mean it's genuine.

Also this might be a good place to mention the recent fad for con men who request a long booking paying in advance by cheque ... Almost always exceeding the girls usual rate and requesting a 'cash back' arrangement.

The actual scam here is that the cheque will bounce. Typically, it will be from overseas so it will take a while for the bank to find out it was no good.. and take back all the money. By this point, the scammer expects you to have paid hir the 'difference' = you lose the money.

[xw5]

a good example to ladies who don't think they have any recourse if indeed they took cheques from clients that bounced.

A number of male escorts have had similar problems, so she's not the only one to have done this.

Expanded from something I posted somewhere recently with another hat on:

Two comments about cheques.

A) Don?t accept them, this is a cash up front game.

B) They?re much better than nothing. If you don't use a guarantee card properly and it bounces or is stopped, you have three options:

1) Sue the $%^& in the Small Claims Court. You?ll win as the courts do not like people stopping or bouncing cheques (who don't care what the cheque's for, by giving it to you, they acknowledged they owed you the money). But getting the money can be a problem: do you know their address? Do they have assets worth sending in baliffs for?

2) Go to the police. Obtaining services by deception is a crime, and this counts. It helps to get action if there?s more than one victim.

3) Sell the cheque to a ?factor?, a company that makes its money buying bad debts cheaply, then chasing them. You?ll get something regardless of the eventual outcome, and you can bet that the factor will not let the $%^& off easily.

These presume that it was hir chequebook - if they were stolen, it's off to the police, but tracing them may be a problem. Beth's advice about getting another form of ID is spot on.

[brandy@saafe]

I forget about the perspective of the male escort, so it's nice to get a balanced view on this.
Great advice SW5, thank you. It's wonderful to see you here.

[SJ]

Thanks for the extra bits of advice, much appreciated.

I've added a link to this thread on the Money Etiquette page which has been written by Brandy:

http://www.saafe.info/Moneyetiquette.htm

[aging hooker]

Heres the gen on fake notes

http://hetro.proboards31.com/index.cgi?board=advice&action=display&thread=1168353899

[aging hooker]

info on electronic payments now added to psl

http://hetro.proboards31.com/index.cgi?board=recommendations&action=display&thread=1169550658

[Fun Times]

For advance payments such as deposits, I can recommend www.splashplastic.com I've used it for a while for sending money to someone. I buy the voucher and send her the code number off it, she logs on to the site and loads the number which adds the funds to her card in real time.

The vouchers work exactly the same as a PAYG mobile voucher. There are charges involved, but they're small. ?5 Registration fee, Around ?5 Anual fee (Taken when you first lod the card, then every year), ATM withdrawals, etc. Full charge list can be found at : www.splashplastic.com/help03.html

[xw5]

For advance payments such as deposits, I can recommend www.splashplastic.com

Apart from the costs, which are around the level of other payment services, and the ?100 limit on how much you can top-up someone's card in that way, my one big concern is that they are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme - if they go bust, you'll lose all your money on the card.

They reckon this is "unlikely", but in the immortal words of Mandy Rice Davies, they would say that, wouldn't they?

Their default privacy policy is a bit ishy too: they "may supply strategic partners with certain information from your account set-up form, (such as your name, address, telephone number, date of birth, e-mail address and gender) to enable them to directly market to you" unless you email them to actively opt out.