topic Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account" in Credit Cards

carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:35:30 GMT

I am editing this to say that this account has a $0 balance and has not been charged on in over a year.

Recieved this email about 30 minutes ago. It has some talk about basically what seems to be raising the interest rate about 5% approx for the "no interest if paid within promotion period" part of the card.

At the bottom of the email was this bit of information-

"If your account remains inactive (no new purchases) over the next 90 days, it may be closed. To keep the purchasing power of your account and the benefit of any promotional terms, it is important to keep your account active and in good standing."

Guess i'll have to go injure myself and use the card to generate some charges so they don't cancell the card

Message Edited by ts140 on 02-08-2010 11:35 AM

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

MarineVietVet — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:34:15 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Recieved this email about 30 minutes ago. It has some talk about basically what seems to be raising the interest rate about 5% approx for the "no interest if paid within promotion period" part of the card.

At the bottom of the email was this bit of information-
"If your account remains inactive (no new purchases) over the next 90 days, it may be closed. To keep the purchasing power of your account and the benefit of any promotional terms, it is important to keep your account active and in good standing."

Guess i'll have to go injure myself and use the card to generate some charges so they don't cancell the card

Welcome to the forums.

It doesn't have to be anything big to keep it active. You can buy a box of contact lenses from your doctor or pay for your pets's shot at the vet. I have used it at the dentist for a charge I would have paid for in cash anyway and then PIF. There are ways to use your CareCredit card to keep it open without injuring yourself.

From a BK years ago to:
7/09 TU-742 EQ- 779
8/09 TU-765 EQ- 783
9/09 EX pulled by lender 802

You can do the same thing with hard work.

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:13:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Recieved this email about 30 minutes ago. It has some talk about basically what seems to be raising the interest rate about 5% approx for the "no interest if paid within promotion period" part of the card.

At the bottom of the email was this bit of information-
"If your account remains inactive (no new purchases) over the next 90 days, it may be closed. To keep the purchasing power of your account and the benefit of any promotional terms, it is important to keep your account active and in good standing."

Guess i'll have to go injure myself and use the card to generate some charges so they don't cancell the card

I'll save you the pain. I've got a nice stack of dental bills that needs attention.

What's your address? LOL

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

xchap — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:25:00 GMT

I can't afford to close this account : i guess ill buy that specially made organic poly moly with cavaity fighting germ destroying, mint tasting, hydra absorbing tooth paste please........

Message Edited by xchap on 02-03-2010 06:25 AM

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

BungalowMo — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:44:48 GMT

My cat Sweetie Pie has allergies & gets a $12 allergy shot every month. Keeps mine open!

Get a kitty with allergies!

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

laz98 — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:07:11 GMT

i got the same notification from my ultra card. luckily my gf's birthday AND valentine's day are knocking on my door

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

MattH — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:08:30 GMT

@BungalowMo wrote:
My cat Sweetie Pie has allergies & gets a $12 allergy shot every month. Keeps mine open!

Get a kitty with allergies!

If we had to give our cat a shot every month then one or both of us would run up some small medical bills

When we brought her to the vet for a regular checkup recently, it took three people trim her claws: one to use the clippers and two holding her down.

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:44:07 GMT

You can use your CareCredit, for activity, for your:

Annual dental visit/exam/cleaning.

Annual vet visit/vaccinations

Annual vision

Vision products such as glasses/contacts, etc.

You can PIF just like any CC.

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:40:37 GMT

Thanks OP. This is an account we are really keeping our eyes on (until we close it, which cannot be soon enough for us).

The question really becomes “Do you want to keep these guys open?” If you do, then it’s clear that you want to charge something within their guidelines.

However, I am becoming more and more deeply disenchanted with these guys. Our first warning came from our dentist, who said they were fine to start off with, but it became tricky as you added additional charges to your account.

We added two new charges, one for DH at same dentist, and one for DH at another place. When we looked to see where our payments were going, they paid off the earliest charges first, leaving the oldest charge to be paid off last.

In addition, if there is any financial emergency, and you are not able to pay off your charge during the promotional period, they will hit that charge with (is it 24.99%??) rate from day 1. If you pull out an interest calculator, it is amazing to see what you will actually be hit with at that point. You really have to watch your account carefully, including any additional charges, and determine where each payment is credited.

Of course, I was even less fond of them when DH’s mortgage pull (and CCT as well) listed them as a “Consumer Finance Company.” CFC’s are FICO dings – not at all in the same family as a credit card, or even a lovely store card.

Had I known that, I would never have opened this card. We do have a chunk of dental coming. Crimmy. But we won’t be parking it on this – or any other Consumer Finance Company account.

And although their 0% for 12 months (or whichever plan you’re offered) sounds attractive, that love gaze quickly sours if you don’t meet the 12 month schedule. They don’t bill you at the 12 month payoff rate, of course. If you are even one day late, you’re hit. And big. If I can’t afford to pay cash for this now, how am I possibly going to come up with enough to pay for the service plus the exorbitant fees if there’s a financial emergency? Any financial emergency. And, of course, unfortunately, they do happen ;(

I think people are drawn in by the fact that it’s ‘medical’, but it acts much much differently than a well-behaved credit card. Or a well-behaved loan.

I understand that there are some who like the fairly healthy CL’s that Care Credit offers, and who don’t carry a balance. Y’all are in a different boat (a nicer, shinier boat) than those who carry balances with these guys, and don’t want to close the account because of the balance (and fees) that would be due.

I am off to check if we have a charge in the last 90 days. We paid down from 19% to 9% this month, and have it scheduled to PIF next month. Unless, of course, we don’t have any new charges in the last 90 days……..

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:45:37 GMT

I don't believe this is legal because if they offer you a promo, they cannot change there mind, and jack your rates up if you currently have a balance, and have the promo statement, I just charged $300, I got the 90 days no activity thing but not the rate jack, I will sue them if they try to go back on there offer..

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

fishbjc — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:53:59 GMT

Not everyone accepts Care Credit, my eye doctor doesn't and our dentist doesn't. Thank goodness for the pets then...I'm sure I'll be making use of it sometime soon...grrr

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:04:01 GMT

It is not a rate jack. And it is not an interest free period. per se. It is interest deferred, and not charged if paid during the deferred period. I can understand the hardship someone feels if they have an emergency, but I am curious what individuals think GEMB should do when the consumer fails to pay as agreed? If the agreement is pay within X months deferred interest, or pay after 12 months at a disclosed APR....what is there really to complain about. This is not like CC's who randomly and without warning rate jack an existing balance to a new rate without warning. In the GEMB case, there was a 3 month to 24 month warning (the deferred period). This is the reason it is so important that people understand that you really cannot afford the credit if you are relying on cash flow to pay and do not have the reserves and savings to pay for emergencies, rather than adjusting use of cash flow.

I hope I am not interpreted as argumentative...what I hope to describe to those who are considering these type of accounts, that it is very much like homeownership....it is more than the down payment and payments. There are the other costs of ownership maintenance, upkeep, possible value variances and the responsibility to pay even when circumstances change. I have learned that often those who think they "need" credit, don't really need credit, they need a new budget, possibly relocation, a different/better job or possibly another job....because credit doesn't solve financial problems, they deepen them.

I am very happy with CareCredit, the terms and promos. I fully realize that if I fail, for whatever reason, to pay off in during the deferred period that I will be responsible for that interest.

Also, CareCredit applies the minimum payment as required....but any amounts paid beyond or above minimum payment is applied to the HIGHEST APR balance....not the lowest, and if you call in or make the appropriate arrangements, you can pick the balance you want to pay, such as a promo balance.

IMO IME

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

laz98 — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:15:59 GMT

my carecredit reported as a credit card just fine.

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:36:35 GMT

I welcome all the comments and remarks but I don’t want this thread to get to far away from the information I was relaying in my original post. The information I wanted to get out there is that CareCredit has put in writing a mechanism for them to essentially close your account if you don’t use it within an arbitrary 90-day period. This mechanism isn’t shocking with the current financial situation, as many other credit cards have used this excuse to close accounts in the past 2 years, though I don't think any other company has put it in such clear writing. At least in this case I was paying attention and saw this potential issue that could result in account closure. My post was to let people who have this account and want to stop it from getting closed to act on this information, so at least CareCredit couldn’t use account inactivity as an excuse to close their account.

I should also say i went back and edited my original post to show i have no balance on the account and haven't had in over a year.

Message Edited by ts140 on 02-08-2010 11:36 AM

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

laz98 — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:38:21 GMT

gemb seems to be doing this with all of their cards.

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:10:01 GMT

90 days isn't true, they are just scaring you, I have there actual guidelines in righting, they review non-usage accounts after one year, but do not close non-usage for at least one year and six months. so don't be tricked into there lies. I didn't use my card for 8 months of non-usage, got the warning but never closed, I just used it recently no problems.

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

laz98 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:22:42 GMT

i'm not going to take any chances. better safe than sorry.

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

score_building — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:27:45 GMT

they can close an account for non use when they see fit, that hasn't changed.

ts140 wrote:

I welcome all the comments and remarks but I don’t want this thread to get to far away from the information I was relaying in my original post. The information I wanted to get out there is that CareCredit has put in writing a mechanism for them to essentially close your account if you don’t use it within an arbitrary 90-day period. This mechanism isn’t shocking with the current financial situation, as many other credit cards have used this excuse to close accounts in the past 2 years, though I don't think any other company has put it in such clear writing. At least in this case I was paying attention and saw this potential issue that could result in account closure. My post was to let people who have this account and want to stop it from getting closed to act on this information, so at least CareCredit couldn’t use account inactivity as an excuse to close their account.

I should also say i went back and edited my original post to show i have no balance on the account and haven't had in over a year.

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

haulingthescoreup — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:17:05 GMT

ryan1918 wrote:
90 days isn't true, they are just scaring you, I have there actual guidelines in righting, they review non-usage accounts after one year, but do not close non-usage for at least one year and six months. so don't be tricked into there lies. I didn't use my card for 8 months of non-usage, got the warning but never closed, I just used it recently no problems.

Just a general observation: just because something hasn't (or has) happened to one person in the past, that doesn't mean that it won't (or will) happen to others in the future.

The credit world is right up there with the investment market: past history is no guarantee of future performance. And if I received a letter from a lender saying, Here are the new rules, I think I'd tend to believe them, barring more compelling evidence.

By now we should have all learned that "guidelines" are written in sand.

eta: cna't splel

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 02-08-2010 06:17 PM

Re: carecredit's email sent today 2/2/10- "Changes to your CARECREDIT account"

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:26:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I am editing this to say that this account has a $0 balance and has not been charged on in over a year.

Recieved this email about 30 minutes ago. It has some talk about basically what seems to be raising the interest rate about 5% approx for the "no interest if paid within promotion period" part of the card.

At the bottom of the email was this bit of information-
"If your account remains inactive (no new purchases) over the next 90 days, it may be closed. To keep the purchasing power of your account and the benefit of any promotional terms, it is important to keep your account active and in good standing."

Guess i'll have to go injure myself and use the card to generate some charges so they don't cancell the card

Message Edited by ts140 on 02-08-2010 11:35 AM

I got the same letter from my GEMB backed account on about the same day. I'm going to drive across town to a store I've never been to this weekend to pay inflated price for one black ink printer cartridge.