Care Credit Help

[RozBuds]

I am ready to apply with Care Credit. I would like to finance 5K of a 10K procedure. My credit scores are in the low to mid 700 range maybe a bit higher. I have 49K credit at 8% utilization. I have one 30 day late from 2004. Two tax liens from 2003 & 2004 both released. (one nothing owed but had to pay the lien fee of $10.) Three inquires due to hit one year this month. Dated May 15, 21 and 26. Two from the same place. All for the refi of my house. Will apply for 7K hoping they will approve at least 5K. If I am approved for either amount am I obligated to use the full amount? I'm hoping to be approved but it won't be the end of the world if not. Any thoughts from the experts if I have any chance at all? 

Thank you.

[MarineVietVet]

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@RozBuds wrote:

I am ready to apply with Care Credit. I would like to finance 5K of a 10K procedure. My credit scores are in the low to mid 700 range maybe a bit higher. I have 49K credit at 8% utilization. I have one 30 day late from 2004. Two tax liens from 2003 & 2004 both released. (one nothing owed but had to pay the lien fee of $10.) Three inquires due to hit one year this month. Dated May 15, 21 and 26. Two from the same place. All for the refi of my house. So far I seem to have no problem getting credit but that means nothing in today's world so I am a bit scared to apply. My thoughts are to apply for 7K hoping they will approve at least 5K. If I am approved for either amount am I obligated to use the full amount? If I am not approved I have enough available credit to put it on my crdit cards or I can pay in full with savings. I'm hoping to be approved but it won't be the end of the world if not. Any much appreciated thoughts from the experts if I have any chance at all? Thank you.

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I can't answer whether or not you might get approved for Care Credit because it's been too many years since I applied but I can tell you that it's just like any other CC. You can use it as much or as little (or not at all) as you see fit.

I've gotten alot of use from mine over the years and so far have not paid a penny in interest.

From a BK years ago to:

9/09 EX pulled by lender 802
3/10 EQ- 800
4/10 TU -772

You can do the same thing with hard work

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[BungalowMo]

Just to add a bit to marinevietvet's answer.....while I have not personally had to do this with my acct, I have read that if you are at an office that takes this card, and your procedure is more than your limit, you can call them & ask for the entire amount & according to several members here on the forums, they all got an immediate approval.

Just a little FYI.  I've had my card for years & I've never paid any interest either.  They give you a nice stretch of time to pay off whatever is charged.  I believe I got 6 mos to pay off a $200 vet bill.  Totally doable, even on the tightest of budgets.

[Anonymous]

DH app'd online rather than at the provider's office.

To avoid high utilization on this card, we asked for more than we needed.  If I was going to carry a $5,000 balance, I'd app for $10,000.  

They also upp'd his CL, if I remember correctly, when he called in and requested a recon for a higher amount without an additional hard pull.  His current CL is $11,500.  I think the highest balance ever was $3100, and that was paid down to 2500 immediately and paid off in a few months.

I'm not a fan of this card.  If we need to carry a balance for a medical procedure, I'm far more inclined to do it on a standard card with a high CL and low interest rate.  The risk with these guys is if something happens and you have a large balance and cannot pay it off as you had originally planned (it happens), the resulting interest rate goes from a lovely 0% to a horrendous um, I think DH is at 23%, retroactive to the beginning for that procedure.  Believe me, that adds up very quickly and puts the card holder at greater financial risk.  There are lots of horror stories online from those who've had a financial emergency put them in deep doo-doo with these guys. 

But, that's just me.  And DH.  We put a few dollars on every few months to keep it open for the utilization, but I look forward to closing it.