Sunday, November 10, 2013

A GOOD review of Care Credit

I have a Care Credit card. That seems like something you'd admit at some sort of recovering addicts meeting, but it shouldn't be that way. Before I used my Care Credit card for the first time, I googled it, like you do, and basically saw ONLY negative reviews. I thought... geez. Do I really want to get mixed up in all this? But the common theme in all the reviews was that people didn't pay off the card before the interest hit. I knew I was going to be able to do that, so I used the card with ease. Here, let me start from the beginning...

I had a toothache. I was recently married (though I hadn't yet changed my name) and preparing to move 2000 miles away from home in a month, so I figured I should get it taken care of ASAP. I went to my regular dentist and he said, "I think it's cracked." (Not "It's cracked." Just, "I think it's cracked.") They said I'd need some kind of procedure that would cost over $500, and I told them I didn't that kind of money (my regular credit card, with an embarrassingly low credit limit, was maxed out from the wedding - soon to be paid off!, but still maxed out). My dentist directed me to the Care Credit card. He didn't call it that - he just told me I could apply for a healthcare line of credit.

So I did.

And shockingly, I was approved, for $3500 (this is more than 3x the limit on my regular credit card, by the way). I thought that was pretty cool. So, card in hand, I went back to my dentist to get my possibly-cracked tooth taken care of.

Except... when they did the "cracked tooth test" to confirm, it didn't hurt any more. Turns out, I just had an overly sensitive tooth that day. So, no procedure.

So, oh well. Now I had fine teeth and a $3500 healthcare credit card (aka Care Credit, I now knew).

Fast forward 10 months... my husband and I moved 2000 miles to NYC and lived life. We were both insured through the military, since he's in the National Guard, and didn't have too much to worry about, healthcare-wise. We have a regular doctor, I have an optometrist (and the worst eyes ever), and we have a dentist out in Brooklyn. She told my husband he needed his wisdom teeth out, ASAP. This made sense because A. he's 29 and still has them and B. he's a musician and has never had a 'good time' to take them out. Now seemed like the perfect time since he was working a non-music job and his Juilliard audition was still 8 months away. PLENTY of time to recover. So, we went to an oral surgeon in Midtown to schedule his surgery.

Even with insurance, it was going to cost $650.

Ugh.

We did not have that much extra cash lying around, and again, that's nearly the entire limit on my regular credit card, and we didn't want to max it out. What were we to do?

Enter: Care Credit

The surgeon mentioned that they take Care Credit. We were making enough at the time to pay about $200/month. So, as boring as it sounds, we paid for the procedure with my Care Credit card. Then, we paid it off in 3 months, though we had 6 months to do so before the ridiculous headache of interest would hit the account. Is that really all it takes to warrant a good review of this credit card? I think so.

I should add - I spent about 15 minutes on the phone with their customer service two days before my husband's surgery.

THEY WERE GREAT.

In those 15 minutes, I confirmed I was able to use my card (since I hadn't ever used it, I was worried), I added my husband as an authorized user, I ordered my husband his own card for the same account, I ordered a new card for myself with my married name (since I still had my maiden name when I applied for the first one), and I updated my mailing address (I hadn't bothered to do so when we moved since I hadn't used the account). The person on the phone was incredibly helpful with this laundry list of tasks and took care of everything. The card usage was uneventful and the new cards arrived shortly thereafter.

So - Care Credit? Have no fear. Find out how much time you have before the interest will hit the account (usually 6, 12, or 18 months, depending on the cost of your medical procedure) and then pay off the account before that time hits. It's really that simple. Don't be stupid with credit cards, and don't give them bad reviews just because you didn't follow the rules. You should have known the rules before you started playing the game.

1 comment:

  1. Hi there! I was wondering why did you stop posting , I love your blog!!!Please don't quit!
    Maghy

    ReplyDelete