topic Re: Best card for large purchase in Credit Cards

Best card for large purchase

Rogue46 — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 17:21:57 GMT

I wanted to get some feedback on what is the best card for purchasing a new set of hearing aids. My insurance will only cover up to $3000 but I would have to pay out of pocket initially for the entire purchase price. I haven't decided on which hearing aids I'm buying but prices range from $5400 - $7900.

My initial thoughts were to find a zero interest card because it's not something I'm able to pay in a short amount of time, Then I started thinking about finding a card with a nice SUB and going that route. Any thoughts on which option is better and which cards would provide the best bang for the buck?

Re: Best card for large purchase

GZG — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 17:24:31 GMT

@Rogue46 wrote:
I wanted to get some feedback on what is the best card for purchasing a new set of hearing aids. My insurance will only cover up to $3000 but I would have to pay out of pocket initially for the entire purchase price. I haven't decided on which hearing aids I'm buying but prices range from $5400 - $7900.

My initial thoughts were to find a zero interest card because it's not something I'm able to pay in a short amount of time, Then I started thinking about finding a card with a nice SUB and going that route. Any thoughts on which option is better and which cards would provide the best bang for the buck?

amex platinum with a 125k points offer if you're not adverse to POT with Amex?

Re: Best card for large purchase

Rogue46 — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 17:29:27 GMT

@GZG wrote:
@Rogue46 wrote:
I wanted to get some feedback on what is the best card for purchasing a new set of hearing aids. My insurance will only cover up to $3000 but I would have to pay out of pocket initially for the entire purchase price. I haven't decided on which hearing aids I'm buying but prices range from $5400 - $7900.

My initial thoughts were to find a zero interest card because it's not something I'm able to pay in a short amount of time, Then I started thinking about finding a card with a nice SUB and going that route. Any thoughts on which option is better and which cards would provide the best bang for the buck?
amex platinum with a 125k points offer if you're not adverse to POT with Amex?

I'm not adverse to paying AF but I'd rather not go that high

Re: Best card for large purchase

wasCB14 — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 17:38:21 GMT

Discover sometimes gives 0% promos on existing accounts. Other current lenders could also be worth a call.

Will you have the option of splitting the purchase across multiple transactions?

Re: Best card for large purchase

CreditCuriosity — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 17:57:15 GMT

Getting up their in hearing aid cost to my understanding they have been dropping over the last 10 years in price think my dad paid around 4500-5k for really nice ones about 4-5 years ago and looking at replacing and believe they went down in price you going for complete "guicci" type? Anyways several cards offer big subs such as Citi premier (if qualify), BofA Premium rewards 95 AF after first year, but offset by travel credit and the likes that don't have promo periods while a few other cards have 0% on purchase for 12 months etc, but usually bonus is less around 200ish..

Re: Best card for large purchase

SouthJamaica — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 18:55:50 GMT

@Rogue46 wrote:
I wanted to get some feedback on what is the best card for purchasing a new set of hearing aids. My insurance will only cover up to $3000 but I would have to pay out of pocket initially for the entire purchase price. I haven't decided on which hearing aids I'm buying but prices range from $5400 - $7900.

My initial thoughts were to find a zero interest card because it's not something I'm able to pay in a short amount of time, Then I started thinking about finding a card with a nice SUB and going that route. Any thoughts on which option is better and which cards would provide the best bang for the buck?

What kind of rewards would you value? Cash back, or some kind of travel?

Re: Best card for large purchase

SouthJamaica — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 19:13:12 GMT

@Rogue46 wrote:
I wanted to get some feedback on what is the best card for purchasing a new set of hearing aids. My insurance will only cover up to $3000 but I would have to pay out of pocket initially for the entire purchase price. I haven't decided on which hearing aids I'm buying but prices range from $5400 - $7900.

My initial thoughts were to find a zero interest card because it's not something I'm able to pay in a short amount of time, Then I started thinking about finding a card with a nice SUB and going that route. Any thoughts on which option is better and which cards would provide the best bang for the buck?

Since you have a big personal purchase coming up, this might be a good time to pick up either a Citi Premier or Chase Sapphire Preferred. Both have good SUB's on $4k spend, and both deliver good "bang for the buck". If you don't travel much, the Premier might be a bit better fit.

Re: Best card for large purchase

Rogue46 — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 19:29:42 GMT

The Citi Premier is one option but I'm leaning more towards the Chase Sapphire since I already have a good amount of points with them. The other option I'm exploring is Wells Fargo Reflect for the 21 month 0% apr. I just hate to leave points on the table when I can easily hit the SUB... Decisions, desicions...

And yes the last pair of hearing aids I purchased cost $2200 for the pair. That was around 10 years ago. You can go cheaper then $5000 but those would be the kind that go over your ear. I prefer the ones that go in the ear so they tend to be more expensive.

Re: Best card for large purchase

Rogue46 — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 19:36:36 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
Discover sometimes gives 0% promos on existing accounts. Other current lenders could also be worth a call.

Will you have the option of splitting the purchase across multiple transactions?

I could probably get Discover to hand out a 0% deal but they are one of my lowest limit cards at $9000 so my utilization would jump quite a bit.

I don't believe they would split the payment but that's definitely not something to look into.

Re: Best card for large purchase

GZG — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 19:57:38 GMT

@Rogue46 wrote:
@GZG wrote:
@Rogue46 wrote:
I wanted to get some feedback on what is the best card for purchasing a new set of hearing aids. My insurance will only cover up to $3000 but I would have to pay out of pocket initially for the entire purchase price. I haven't decided on which hearing aids I'm buying but prices range from $5400 - $7900.

My initial thoughts were to find a zero interest card because it's not something I'm able to pay in a short amount of time, Then I started thinking about finding a card with a nice SUB and going that route. Any thoughts on which option is better and which cards would provide the best bang for the buck?
amex platinum with a 125k points offer if you're not adverse to POT with Amex?
I'm not adverse to paying AF but I'd rather not go that high

125k points (not counting the points from the purchase itself) at .8 cents per point redeemed through a business checking (not sure if you can also do it at .8 cents per point from a personal amex checking) is $1k, even if you value the other benefits at $0, it's still a top level SUB if you can scrape the AF at the front end

on top of the current amex business checking offer of 30k points as well

you could possibly wait for 150k points + $200 statement credit again, but no promises that's coming back any time soon

even with no travel: $240 on hulu, $200 on uber, $99 for walmart, $100 saks credit, and surely some amex offer bound to happen throughout the year that's good, there's some normal people stuff that can limit the effective annual fee to be less than $695

it's a lot of work and it limits getting the 150k + $200 in the future, so Citi Premier and CSP seem like much safer, easier options

Re: Best card for large purchase

ptatohed — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 06:21:36 GMT

How about CareCredit?

https://www.carecredit.com/hearing/

upgrade Triple Cash Rewards gives 3% on health including hearing aids. $200 intro bonus right now. Negative would be a potentially steep APR.

https://www.upgrade.com/upgrade-card/triple-cash/

Re: Best card for large purchase

Rogue46 — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 16:47:14 GMT

@ptatohed wrote:
How about CareCredit?

https://www.carecredit.com/hearing/

upgrade Triple Cash Rewards gives 3% on health including hearing aids. $200 intro bonus right now. Negative would be a potentially steep APR.

https://www.upgrade.com/upgrade-card/triple-cash/

@ptatohed

Care Credit sounds interesting. From reading their website it looks like you can push a %0 payment out for a set number of months. Now how does that work? Do you make the charge then go to your account and choose how many months you want to do?

Re: Best card for large purchase

Aim_High — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 18:03:57 GMT

Regardless of which new-card SUB you prefer, @Rogue46, I would suggest seeing if you have that low/0% BT-offer on your existing cards. So since you wouldn't be paying-in-full, you would:

Step One: Open new card and claim the SUB with the high spend.
Step Two: Immediately process a BT to your existing cards at preferred rates so you avoid paying the high interest rates.

If you have no BT-offers on your cards, I would forget about any SUB. The high interest rates on credit cards will quickly wipe out the value of ANY SUB (and then some) if you will have to pay-over-time. If you open a new card for the purchase, I would focus on finding the best 0% offer on new purchases.

Re: Best card for large purchase

Rogue46 — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 18:24:24 GMT

@Aim_High wrote:
Regardless of which new-card SUB you prefer, @Rogue46, I would suggest seeing if you have that low/0% BT-offer on your existing cards. So since you wouldn't be paying-in-full, you would:

Step One: Open new card and claim the SUB with the high spend.
Step Two: Immediately process a BT to your existing cards at preferred rates so you avoid paying the high interest rates.
If you have no BT-offers on your cards, I would forget about any SUB. The high interest rates on credit cards will quickly wipe out the value of ANY SUB (and then some) if you will have to pay-over-time. If you open a new card for the purchase, I would focus on finding the best 0% offer on new purchases.

@Aim_High

The only viable option for a BT is to my Discover card but the limit is so low it would kill my utilization. I did have some checks from Penfed but I believe they expired the end of June.

I think at this point the two options I'm leaning towards is either opening a Care Credit (0% for x months) or WF Reflect (0% for 21 months)

Re: Best card for large purchase

Aim_High — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 18:37:09 GMT

@Rogue46 wrote:
@Aim_High wrote:
Regardless of which new-card SUB you prefer, @Rogue46, I would suggest seeing if you have that low/0% BT-offer on your existing cards. So since you wouldn't be paying-in-full, you would:

Step One: Open new card and claim the SUB with the high spend.
Step Two: Immediately process a BT to your existing cards at preferred rates so you avoid paying the high interest rates.
If you have no BT-offers on your cards, I would forget about any SUB. The high interest rates on credit cards will quickly wipe out the value of ANY SUB (and then some) if you will have to pay-over-time. If you open a new card for the purchase, I would focus on finding the best 0% offer on new purchases.
@Aim_High
The only viable option for a BT is to my Discover card but the limit is so low it would kill my utilization. I did have some checks from Penfed but I believe they expired the end of June.

I think at this point the two options I'm leaning towards is either opening a Care Credit (0% for x months) or WF Reflect (0% for 21 months)

Sounds good, @Rogue46.

Offers vary but I noticed a couple of options. I've often had BTs available on my Capital One cards and you have both Savor and Venture, although you'd probably have to pay a BT fee. Nothing there? Second, you have Chase Freedom Unlimited and Amazon. I have something on my Chase cards called My Chase Loan or My Chase Plan. While those aren't 0% offers, they're often much better than standard credit card rates and might be available to you if you don't want to open a new card or are declined. Just another backup plan.

Re: Best card for large purchase

ptatohed — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 18:18:33 GMT

@Rogue46 , it may not be the lowest of APRs, but if you wanted to work with your existing cards, you might look into the Flex Loan offered on your citi Rewards+. I just checked my CC, DC, R+ and, while they were much lower APRs just a few months ago, I am seeing 14.99% right now. Not great but better than some APRs out there. Maybe your rate will be lower? You can choose a 24 or 36 month plan. I don't know if there is any origination fee but I don't see one. I don't know if there is an early payoff penalty but I would hope not. $49.19/mo per $1,000 for 24 months @ 14.99%, and $35.18/mo/$1,000 for 36 months. Obviously, 0% will be much better but just throwing options out there.

Re: Best card for large purchase

SouthJamaica — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 18:43:46 GMT

@Rogue46 wrote:
@ptatohed wrote:
How about CareCredit?

https://www.carecredit.com/hearing/

upgrade Triple Cash Rewards gives 3% on health including hearing aids. $200 intro bonus right now. Negative would be a potentially steep APR.

https://www.upgrade.com/upgrade-card/triple-cash/

@ptatohed
Care Credit sounds interesting. From reading their website it looks like you can push a %0 payment out for a set number of months. Now how does that work? Do you make the charge then go to your account and choose how many months you want to do?

I've used Care Credit, but for various reasons closed it:

1. During the promo period when you're not paying interest, the caregiver is paying an ungodly amount of interest.

2. The card is really usable only in exceptional cases, such as a medical emergency, or one-time purchase, etc. But the card is often closed out by them if not used pretty quickly. The whole point of the card is to have it in reserve, but it is not dependable when the big time need is there.

3. In order to make the card more usable they added the ability to use it for small purchases at Rite Aid, but every time you would use it at Rite Aid you'd be missing out on whatever kind of rewards you could be earning from cash back and travel rewards cards.

4. If you should ever fail to pay it back before the expiration of the promo period, you would be paying the same ungodly interest the caregiver has been paying.

So when I added all that up, I figured it was a card to close, and to close promptly.

Another reason to close it, btw, is that it's a Synchrony card, so you never know when they'll report a balance, and you never know when they'll close your account for their own financial reasons.

Re: Best card for large purchase

ptatohed — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 19:54:39 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Rogue46 wrote:
@ptatohed wrote:
How about CareCredit?

https://www.carecredit.com/hearing/

upgrade Triple Cash Rewards gives 3% on health including hearing aids. $200 intro bonus right now. Negative would be a potentially steep APR.

https://www.upgrade.com/upgrade-card/triple-cash/

@ptatohed
Care Credit sounds interesting. From reading their website it looks like you can push a %0 payment out for a set number of months. Now how does that work? Do you make the charge then go to your account and choose how many months you want to do?
I've used Care Credit, but for various reasons closed it:

1. During the promo period when you're not paying interest, the caregiver is paying an ungodly amount of interest.

2. The card is really usable only in exceptional cases, such as a medical emergency, or one-time purchase, etc. But the card is often closed out by them if not used pretty quickly. The whole point of the card is to have it in reserve, but it is not dependable when the big time need is there.

3. In order to make the card more usable they added the ability to use it for small purchases at Rite Aid, but every time you would use it at Rite Aid you'd be missing out on whatever kind of rewards you could be earning from cash back and travel rewards cards.

4. If you should ever fail to pay it back before the expiration of the promo period, you would be paying the same ungodly interest the caregiver has been paying.

So when I added all that up, I figured it was a card to close, and to close promptly.

Another reason to close it, btw, is that it's a Synchrony card, so you never know when they'll report a balance, and you never know when they'll close your account for their own financial reasons.

Also, keep in mind, you can't apply directly for the Credit Care MC (I think it's an MC). You apply for their Credit Card that can only be used at medical and vet centers that accept it https://www.carecredit.com/apply/ and, if you are lucky, they'll send you a MC on their own. I used it for vet bills to get 0% interest when our puppy had parvo (yes, she lived), later received the MC, used the MC during a pretty generous intro offer (5% on a category I didn't have covered for that quarter) and have not used it since.

Re: Best card for large purchase

SouthJamaica — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 20:03:42 GMT

@ptatohed wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Rogue46 wrote:
@ptatohed wrote:
How about CareCredit?

https://www.carecredit.com/hearing/

upgrade Triple Cash Rewards gives 3% on health including hearing aids. $200 intro bonus right now. Negative would be a potentially steep APR.

https://www.upgrade.com/upgrade-card/triple-cash/

@ptatohed
Care Credit sounds interesting. From reading their website it looks like you can push a %0 payment out for a set number of months. Now how does that work? Do you make the charge then go to your account and choose how many months you want to do?
I've used Care Credit, but for various reasons closed it:

1. During the promo period when you're not paying interest, the caregiver is paying an ungodly amount of interest.

2. The card is really usable only in exceptional cases, such as a medical emergency, or one-time purchase, etc. But the card is often closed out by them if not used pretty quickly. The whole point of the card is to have it in reserve, but it is not dependable when the big time need is there.

3. In order to make the card more usable they added the ability to use it for small purchases at Rite Aid, but every time you would use it at Rite Aid you'd be missing out on whatever kind of rewards you could be earning from cash back and travel rewards cards.

4. If you should ever fail to pay it back before the expiration of the promo period, you would be paying the same ungodly interest the caregiver has been paying.

So when I added all that up, I figured it was a card to close, and to close promptly.

Another reason to close it, btw, is that it's a Synchrony card, so you never know when they'll report a balance, and you never know when they'll close your account for their own financial reasons.

Also, keep in mind, you can't apply directly for the Credit Care MC (I think it's an MC). You apply for their Credit Card that can only be used at medical and vet centers that accept it https://www.carecredit.com/apply/ and, if you are lucky, they'll send you a MC on their own. I used it for vet bills to get 0% interest when our puppy had parvo (yes, she lived), later received the MC, used the MC during a pretty generous intro offer (5% on a category I didn't have covered for that quarter) and have not used it since.

I too had used it for a veterinary bill. Then one day the vet told me that they charge her a very high rate of interest (while I'm skating by on 0%). That didn't seem right to me, to penalize the caregiver for my benefit.

Re: Best card for large purchase

ptatohed — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 20:21:31 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@ptatohed wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Rogue46 wrote:
@ptatohed wrote:
How about CareCredit?

https://www.carecredit.com/hearing/

upgrade Triple Cash Rewards gives 3% on health including hearing aids. $200 intro bonus right now. Negative would be a potentially steep APR.

https://www.upgrade.com/upgrade-card/triple-cash/

@ptatohed
Care Credit sounds interesting. From reading their website it looks like you can push a %0 payment out for a set number of months. Now how does that work? Do you make the charge then go to your account and choose how many months you want to do?
I've used Care Credit, but for various reasons closed it:

1. During the promo period when you're not paying interest, the caregiver is paying an ungodly amount of interest.

2. The card is really usable only in exceptional cases, such as a medical emergency, or one-time purchase, etc. But the card is often closed out by them if not used pretty quickly. The whole point of the card is to have it in reserve, but it is not dependable when the big time need is there.

3. In order to make the card more usable they added the ability to use it for small purchases at Rite Aid, but every time you would use it at Rite Aid you'd be missing out on whatever kind of rewards you could be earning from cash back and travel rewards cards.

4. If you should ever fail to pay it back before the expiration of the promo period, you would be paying the same ungodly interest the caregiver has been paying.

So when I added all that up, I figured it was a card to close, and to close promptly.

Another reason to close it, btw, is that it's a Synchrony card, so you never know when they'll report a balance, and you never know when they'll close your account for their own financial reasons.

Also, keep in mind, you can't apply directly for the Credit Care MC (I think it's an MC). You apply for their Credit Card that can only be used at medical and vet centers that accept it https://www.carecredit.com/apply/ and, if you are lucky, they'll send you a MC on their own. I used it for vet bills to get 0% interest when our puppy had parvo (yes, she lived), later received the MC, used the MC during a pretty generous intro offer (5% on a category I didn't have covered for that quarter) and have not used it since.
I too had used it for a veterinary bill. Then one day the vet told me that they charge her a very high rate of interest (while I'm skating by on 0%). That didn't seem right to me, to penalize the caregiver for my benefit.

You are a kinder soul than I SJ. When I had to pay $3500 to 'save' a Golden Retriever puppy I paid $1200 for just because there was no way the wife and kids would let me return her (even though the seller offered), I didn't care who was paying the interest, as long as it's not me - lol.

The vet chooses to accept Care Credit and applying for it was their suggestion. And I have to believe they make their money back in other ways. All I can say is Annie was miraculously cured and ready to go home the day after I paid the $3500 when I was told how bad her parvo was and how she'll be there for 5 more days and how she may not make it before I paid. Not saying they did anything shady or that their treatment did not save Annie, I just have to wonder about the speedy discharge after payment and was it really $3500 worth of work.