I've finally decided to go thru with body contouring and have an extended abdominoplasty, thighplasty, and brachioplasty (scheduled for Dec 18th woohoo!). I'm considering CareCredit and one of their "no interest" plans. I've done some research via Google and was amazed at the numerous complaints about this company. If even half of the complaints were valid this company has some horrible business practices.

I was wondering if anyone here had used CareCredit and would share their experience dealing with them?

thanx
Mark

I got that via my Vet and I have had no problems with it or the company.

I have no complaints here. I had Care Credit through my vet originally ... and that has since been paid in full. I now have it through my oral surgeon for some dental work ... and have had no problems. Just make sure that you can make the payments and there isn't a problem. I think a lot of the problems people have with the company is once they miss a payment.

I actually got turned down for CareCredit, not because of my credit situation but because I had another health care credit account through a different company so CC declined me. My PS uses them pretty exclusively for financing and they speak highly of them, so must not have had any trouble with them paying the bills. I do know of several people on the BA website I'm on who have had some trouble with them, some in credit approval, some in crediting of their payments to their accounts, some in payment of bills to doctor's offices. I know someone personally who uses it through their dentist and they have never had a problem.

I've had no trouble at all. I got CareCredit for dental work, used it twice, paid it off and now it's just in my wallet for emergency situations for us or the dogs...

Thanks for the input everyone. The CareCredit option is tempting. I wouldn't have to take out all the pennies that I've been saving up for this procedure for the last several years. Just a few pennies at a time.

Since I can pay for the procedure out of my fund, should I even brother with CareCredit?

Opinions welcome!
Mark

It comes down to what would you do with the money otherwise I guess. Would you pay the entire balance off at the end of the no-interest period? Would you use it to pay off other debt that was at a higher interest rate? Would you invest it and let it earn for you while you used the CareCredit and gradually pay it down? I paid for my BA out of a bonus rather than get credit for it, I was actually in the same position as you. Had the money available, was applying for CareCredit to use so I could save the other money. When I got turned down for the CC, I decided to just self fund the procedure. In my case, I was glad I went ahead and paid for the procedure, it is one less debt I have to deal with now. Plus, I got a pretty nice discount for paying cash. CareCredit is likely to charge 28-32% interest after the intro period runs out, or at least that is what they were quoting a year ago.

This is just my opinion ... but if you can afford to pay for it in full without the credit, that is what I would do. You never know what the future holds financially these days ( or ever really ) so lets say you get the credit and for some reason something happens and you arent able to make the payments? Then again I suppose its a double edged sword because if you use all of your savings to pay off the procedure instead of using credit and something happens that you need cash fast ... then you'd be out of luck that way too. So I suppose if you can afford to pay cash without draining your savings completely, then I would go ahead and pay for it in full without the credit. Or possibly finance half or a quarter of it and pay cash up front for the rest. So you arent leaving yourself high n dry savings wise.

I agree with the other poster though as well ... when you pay cash up front in full with surgeons, more times than not they give you a GREAT deal.

CareCredit is through GE Money if I am not mistaken? I have it. Used it for dental work on one of the no interest things - paid in full by the due date and have had no problems whatsoever. I am glad to have it to fall back on!

Oh, this isn't my emergency fund or my even my regular savings. I have different investments for that. This money was strictly for surgery if I decided to have it done. It's in a high (well up until recently) interest saving account. If I went a CareCredit plan I'd make 18 or 24 equal payments drafted from that account each month.

Really the only advantage of not paying up front is the interest I'd gain by slowly taking it out via the loan payment. Thinking it over, I don't think it worth the risk of a payment being dropped or not correctly posting and then being retroactively hit with the 30% default rate.

thanx
Mark

I agree that it isn't worth the risk if you can just pay up front. The only other advantage to using Care Credit is another good credit line on your credit report?? Ha Ha. In all honesty though, Care Credit is a GREAT thing to have when you're in a bind but if you can pay cash ... definitely just pay cash.

Good luck, Dec 17, 2009 I had a TT, breast lift and implants. I'm very happy. I didn't use care credit but I am considering it for the rest of my surgery (lower body lift and arms). I used creative financing to pay for mine ... I got my PS to say it was a medical necessity and then since I was a full time student I got my school to let me take it as an additional student loan. However, since I graduated now I think I'm going to be stuck with something like that.

Thanks for the information and good luck with the rest of your procedures and with CareCredit if you go that route. My PS stated a few times that he's had patients successfully file the procedure as a tax deduction. I'll be consulting with a tax advisor to find out the best way to include it. I'm hoping for a nice tax break.

Mark