topic Re: Dental Surgery Costs in Credit Cards

Dental Surgery Costs

2011beginnings — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 21:06:51 GMT

Friends,

I have been undergoing dental treatment since last Octoberish and in the coming months, I will get braces. The cost is $5000 and my health insurance does not cover it but has covered a majority of the procedures I've already had.

In terms of financing, should I apply for Care Credit or another type of medical financial or should I apply for a card with an introductory 0% APR to pay for the costs?

My credit profile is below:
TU: 700 (credit karma)
EX: 733 (credit sesame)
EQ: 722 (myfico)

I currently have a BofA PP Cash Rewards ($5000), AMEX Gold (NPSL), a Chase Sapphire ($5000) and a Chase Sapphire Preferred ($5000). My utilization is well below 10% since I just paid off most of my cards.

Just looking for some advice.

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

scenery_guy — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 21:12:18 GMT

I looked into care credit when I had some implant surgery. It was kind of a pain and in the end I decided to put it on a 0% card and pay it off over time. Can you cover the payments on a new 0% card so that it's paid off before you get charged interest?

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

FinStar — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 21:23:53 GMT

@2011beginnings wrote:
Friends,

I have been undergoing dental treatment since last Octoberish and in the coming months, I will get braces. The cost is $5000 and my health insurance does not cover it but has covered a majority of the procedures I've already had.

In terms of financing, should I apply for Care Credit or another type of medical financial or should I apply for a card with an introductory 0% APR to pay for the costs?

My credit profile is below:
TU: 700 (credit karma)
EX: 733 (credit sesame)
EQ: 722 (myfico)

I currently have a BofA PP Cash Rewards ($5000), AMEX Gold (NPSL), a Chase Sapphire ($5000) and a Chase Sapphire Preferred ($5000). My utilization is well below 10% since I just paid off most of my cards.

Just looking for some advice.

This would really depend on how much you are looing to finance long term/short term (i.e. 6 months, 12 months) and whether you have any back up funding sources (i.e. savings, etc) to cover some of the amount.

Care Credit offers some long term financing options, provided you qualify and they approve a high limit. Your scores and low utiliziation would be plus.

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 21:36:00 GMT

Care Credit is a good card for such things, as it's not an intro APR; you can have it for years to come and still receive 0% financing on additional procedures. For procedures that fall within the costs you describe, you'd likely be given two years to pay it off. If you don't pay the charges in full within that time, however, you'll be hit with the full interest for the entire charge. With your scores, you should be able to get a large enough CL to cover the cost of your braces. It's not a bad option.

As for myself, I'm undergoing implant surgery, and it's a three stage procedure. I've been using my Citi Diamond Preferred card because it has an intro rate of 0% for the first 18 months and I was given a CL large enough to cover the charges without bumping up against my limit. I paid off the charges for stage one a couple of months ago and have just incurred the charges for stage two. I have another year of 0% financing available on it; I should be able to get through this entire series of procedures and pay everything off before the intro period ends. So, this is also a card that could work for you; given your scores and CLs on other cards they may very well give you a limit large enough to cover your braces.

Good luck with whatever your decide.

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

gpfirestone — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 21:34:04 GMT

Citi Diamond Preferred 18 month 0%

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

LS2982 — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:18:44 GMT

I think CareCredit is a good option for you.

Also, if your CL is not what you want it to be you can have the Dr. recon it while your in office if you apply for it there.

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

starry1 — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:20:50 GMT

I just bought braces for my son and the orthodontist's office gave me a payment plan. Most of them will. Zero interest is better than possibly ending up with Care Credit's rates if you don't get it paid in time.

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

2011beginnings — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:36:30 GMT

Okay. I see that I was on the right track. I'd probably want at least two years to pay it off.

Is it better apply in person or online? Should I apply in advance or right before the procedure? How much does Care Credit usually offer for my scores.

I'm just trying to prepare myself. If I have two years, I'm sure I could pay off a lump sum next tax season and I have about $2000 saved right now but I rather not dip into that yet.

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

2011beginnings — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:45:13 GMT

I only have one hard inquiry on my credit report from my most recent BofA CLI and I got my chase cards in February. I'm not sure why it's only one hard but that's what credit karma states.

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

OnTheRebound — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 01:37:23 GMT

Care Credit is a great option. As long as you are certain you can PIF in time, as the interest rates are sky high and retroactive.

As for credit limits. A couple of years ago, my wife needed a $2600 dental procedure. Well, she could have just had the tooth jerked and be done with it but, she has beautiful teeth and wanted to save it.. She applied and was instantly approved for $2.5K. I immediately called and explained the situation and they upped the CL to $5K.

Her Transunion score ( which they pulled) was about 750.

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

2011beginnings — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 01:55:02 GMT

Wow. That's incredible. Did you have two years to pay it off?

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

Epcot — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 02:10:51 GMT

Care Credit is a good option. I have read that it is best to apply in person, at the place where you intend to use it. But I'm not positive.

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

chally — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 03:44:30 GMT

I was approved for Care Credit at my vet's office. They had me fill out an application which they called in themselves, approved quickly. Having the office call in also means you're likely to get a CL that covers the procedure(s) at hand. They've also been good at CLI as needed.

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

thom02099 — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 04:22:01 GMT

@starry1 wrote:
I just bought braces for my son and the orthodontist's office gave me a payment plan. Most of them will. Zero interest is better than possibly ending up with Care Credit's rates if you don't get it paid in time.

Did TWO kids with braces here, when my kiddos were younger and did the same thing. The Orthodontist offered zero interest payment plan, just had a make a goodly down payment which I paid in cash, and then monthly payments for the balance. Did the kids one at a time (different ages), so when one finished up, the other was good to go. Fortunately, the Doctor gave me a discount as well for having 2 kids as patients for him!

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

OnTheRebound — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 05:56:27 GMT

@2011beginnings wrote:
Wow. That's incredible. Did you have two years to pay it off?

No. They gave me 12 months. I paid $150/month for 10 months and paid the balance in full on the 11th month. I figured if I had not paid in full by the expiration date I would have been hit with about $700 in interest. Scary.

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

Cageym — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 13:28:50 GMT

I had some needed work done in Thailand while I was there. I got a Citi Simplicity just for this purpose in case I couldn't PIF when it was done, 18 months at 0%.

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

2011beginnings — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 14:26:10 GMT

Based on what I've read, it's been Care Credit, Chase Health and Citi Simplicity. I'd just much rather have two years to pay it off as I have other expenses and do not want to drain my banking account. I'm just curious as to who I should app for first. I'm thinking Care Credit.

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

2011beginnings — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 14:26:58 GMT

Or saw what options my dentist has.

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

Cageym — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 14:41:14 GMT

You really should talk to your Dentist's office before you app for anything. My Citi card didn't quite cover what I had done but I paid the rest on a nother card the PIF. But I'm in a different kind of situation. My house in the states, as well as my current vehicle, are paid for and since I work overseas a trip to Thailand wasn't really as expensive for me.

Re: Dental Surgery Costs

2011beginnings — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 14:48:44 GMT

Yeah I'll talk to my dentist and see what he suggests and go from there.