Iworks, a scam company, (read the complaints on this website under "Iworks" which is another story) called my husband so he could okay what we thought was a charge on our card for $6800.00.
We were told by Iworks that we could charge the amount on the credit card. They would call the credit card company, get them to raise our credit limit & to defer any interest charges for 4 to 6 months.
Iworks called the credit card company (Bank Of America), then patched my husband through to them by phone so he could okay the charge.
We decided that charging this amount on our credit card would protect us from losing the money in case this Iworks thing wasn't what was told to us, then we could cancel the charge.
We are always hearing on the news or reading it in the newspapers that it is best to charge anything you buy, especially over the internet or phone because you have a real good chance of getting your money back.
Before we received the credit card bill, we figured out that this Iworks grant thing was a scam & we wanted our money back. We informed Iworks (they are another problem) we wanted to cancel the deal, that it wasn't what my husband was told.
When we received our credit card bill, the charge was not a charge, but a "Balance Transfer". We called the credit card company & told them we wanted to cancel the charge by Iworks.
To our shock, we were told that this was a "Balance Transfer" & that they do not give credit back on a card for a Balance Transfer. We told them this was not suppose to be a Balance Transfer, but a charge.
They said it was not a charge. That my husband authorized it to be a Balance Transfer. A balance transfer is made when you pay or make a payment using one card to pay another card (or someone), using one of the checks that comes with your credit card statement or is sent separately.
The checks are also marketed to be used to take a vacation, Christmas shopping, school, whatever the cardholder wants to use them for.
We did not realize that there was difference between a balance transfer & a credit card charge. We didn't realize that my husband was okaying a balance transfer.
We thought when a cardholder did a balance transfer, the cardholder had to use one of the "credit card checks".
The check is then used against your credit card that sent the checks.
The cardholder is offered deferred interest charges for a few months, &/or a low interest rate after that.
We have called Bank Of America several times. Each time I get someone different, or get cut off & have to go through the whole menu process again, or a different story. One person tells me that they will credit my card, then another person says they can't.
Even after I have told them we didn't realize that a balance transfer is different then charging and that my husband didn't know he was authorizing a balance transfer.
SO BEWARE! Make sure that when you are using your credit cards that the other party isn't putting charges on the card as a balance transfer.
We will continue to try to get our card credited.
It is bad enough that Iworks scammed us, but to have Bank Of America make us think it was a charge, & not explain, or to make sure that we understood.
We really thought that a "check" had to be used.
I will try to keep this updated, hopefully with good news.
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