Best card for large purchase

[SouthJamaica]

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@ptatohed wrote:

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@ptatohed wrote:

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@Rogue46 wrote:

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@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/

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@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?

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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.

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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.    

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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.

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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.          

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Well I knew I was a kinder soul than you when I discovered how you take advantage of Citibank the way you do with your Shop Your Way card Who ever heard of someone outsmarting a major money center bank before?

[SouthJamaica]

But seriously @ptatohed I know the caregivers are the ones who suggest our getting involved with Care Credit, but I think they're probably hard put to come up with some idea for folks who don't have the wherewithal to pay for a big procedure.  It's probably an especially tough situation for veterinarians. People don't usually ask to put down their relatives because of a medical or dental expense, but I can remember when my dog had a major accident, and a friend of mine suggested that I should put her down rather than get her the needed medical treatment.

[Hoben02]

You might trying to use the lookup tool on awardwallet app. The reason I say that is I hear a lot of people use Costco for hearing aids and there are certain cards that have better rewards

[Gollum]

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@Rogue46 wrote:

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@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/

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@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?

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Here's the way Care Credit works:

Your care provider (veterinarian, dentist, whatever) contracts with Care Credit, and your care provider chooses how many months of 0% interest Care Credit offers.

https://www.carecredit.com/faqs/#promotionalfinancing

If you don't pay the entire amount before the end of the 0% interest period, an interest rate of 17.9% to 29.99% is applied to the entire amount financed, even if you have made payments on the balance.

https://www.carecredit.com/faqs/#interestrates

Care Credit can be a way to avoid interest payments on a purchase, but IMO it should only be used if you are certain that you will pay off the balance during the 0% period because of the risk of 29.99% interest being applied to the entire amount if it is not paid off by the end of the 0% interest period.

[Gollum]

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@ptatohed wrote:

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@ptatohed wrote:

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@Rogue46 wrote:

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@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/

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@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.

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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.    

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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.          

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I am fortunate: My veterinarian is awesome, she graduated at the top of her class in a respected veterinary school, and she is still working at her first job: a local veterinarian practice.

If you like your current veterinarian, then I suggest that you don't burn any bridges with him or her. I would talk to your current veterinarian about my your concerns. Your current veterinarian might share your concerns.

[RealEstateGuy89]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@ptatohed wrote:

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@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.

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Oh man, I had no idea that this card did this before tonight.  I had thought about getting this for emergencies or things that came up quickly but will not consider it now. That's terrible to pass that unknown expense onto the caregiver! 😮 Leave it to Synchrony...  SMH. 

[Anonymous]

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@RealEstateGuy89 wrote:

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Oh man, I had no idea that this card did this before tonight.  I had thought about getting this for emergencies or things that came up quickly but will not consider it now. That's terrible to pass that unknown expense onto the caregiver! 😮 Leave it to Synchrony...  SMH. 

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I really don't get this level of concern!   You do know that every time you use a credit card anywhere, the poor merchant loses a % of the fee on every purchase, and they may be struggling to make ends meet.

I would also caution about generalizing from a casual remark by one vet.   I would not be so sure that the entire interest charge that a customer would be responsible for is passed on to the vet.  They are not the ones borrowing the money in the same sense.

[Namaste7]

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@Rogue46 wrote:

Any thoughts on which option is better and which cards would provide the best bang for the buck?

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@Rogue46 I think you have a few options, but it depends on what path you want to take. In my personal experience, I have not had issues making large purchases with BofA, Discover, Penfed or AMEX; in some cases the amounts were paid quickly, in other instances, the balances were carried over longer period. 

Option 1 | Existing accounts

Have you checked your existing cards for eligible CLIs and offers for reduced or 0% APR promotional offers on purchases and BTs. If you didn't want to open a new account, I suspect you could probably find a good deal by purchasing on the card that provides the best rewards and subsequently BT'ing to a card that will offer the lowest APR over the longest period. Alternatively, you could use your AMEX BCP and use the Plan It; you may have a promotional offer that reduces your Plan It cost. 

Option 2 | New accounts

If you're willing to open a new account, you could seek out the card with a 0% purchase APR or BT promo rate over the longest term. 

• Apply for a new card with a 12+ month 0% purchase APR. After the purchase period expires, you could BT to an existing card (like the PenFed Visa) to extending the 0% financing for another 12 months if needed. Of course, you have to consider the BT fee cost to determine if it makes sense. Options: 
  • BofA Unlimited Cash or Customized Cash | 18 months
  • US Bank Platinum Card | 18 months
• Apply for a new card with a 12+ month 0% BT and purchase the hearing aids on your existing card(s) that offer the best rewards. Options: 
  • The WF offer you mentioned 
  • BofA BankAmericard | 21 months
  • Citi Diamond Preferred | 21 months
  • Citi Double Cash | 18 months

[alocksley]

brings up an interesting question: with all the cash back percentage and points categories is there a credit card  (besides care credit, that is one of the majors) that pays x% or x times points for medical expenses? If not, any ideas as to why? 

[ptatohed]

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@alocksley wrote:

brings up an interesting question: with all the cash back percentage and points categories is there a credit card  (besides care credit, that is one of the majors) that pays x% or x times points for medical expenses? If not, any ideas as to why? 

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Does anyone know more about the KrowdFit MC?  It claims to give 4% CB on health, wellness, and medical.  Including Walmart and Target!  Seems too good to be true.  Again, I don't know much about it, it's a recent discovery for me but I'd sure like to learn more.    

https://www.krowdfit.com/credit-card/