Tag Archives: dinner out

What’s Your Credit Limit?

What’s an expensive night out? I’m thinking $100 maybe $200 tops. Well, there are people with much higher budgets for a night on the town than you or me.

We talked in 2011 about the six Boston Bruin’s players who charged up $158,000 at the Foxboro Resort to celebrate their Stanley Cup win. But if you thought that was expensive – not really:

Could you charge $241,000 on your credit card? Apparently Robert McCormick managed to do it on his American Express. The CFO of Savvis Inc., a Missouri Internet hosting company expressed concern on the company web site that most people had never heard of his firm. That’s all changed now after some huge media coverage. You see, one night two years ago, his boss, Robert McCormick took some clients to a New York “gentlemen’s club” called Scores.

We don’t need to get into the details, but suffice it to say that Scores claimed he spent time with as many as 15 of their dancers for an all-night event. Even with drinks at $22 a pop, it takes a lot of effort to run up $241,000 in charges. But then the vast majority was apparently in tips for these ladies. The reason it came to the attention of the public? Well, it turns out his company is refusing to pay the American Express bill. They are disputing the amount and accusing Scores of “padding” the bill, something the New York Attorney General is investigating. At this time, Mr. McCormick is suspended and American Express has sued for payment. There is an ending to this in that Amex settled for an undisclosed amount and Scores is now out of business.

It’s another valuable lesson that a credit card should stay in someone’s wallet…and pants.

That must be some kind of limit. But then, maybe you’re more like Brittany Spears. According to The Insider on ABC, she couldn’t get her credit card approved at Barney’s in New York. And then it was: Ooppss I did it again – when her second card was also rejected. However, her bodyguard stepped up to cover the purchase on his card.

Best guess: It’s been reported that her husband Kevin loves to spend and apparently she cancelled a number of credit cards for just that reason.

According to In The Money, J Lo also had hers declined before Christmas at a fundraising gala when both her credit cards were maxed out.