CareCredit for Laser Hair Treatment :: Be Alert!!

Mistas - You know that I signed up for the promotional CareCredit card through GEOnline when I got my laser hair removal package. It was the 0% APR for a year deal. If I paid the whole thing off within a year, I would not pay the APR fees. What I did NOT know, was that if I did NOT pay it in a year, the DEFERRED APR fees will be charged of me.

Yuck!

When it comes to savviness with credit cards, I am OK. I'm not super savvy, but I do make sure to make all payments on time, and I transfer my one large balance to new 0% APRs after the first year of the promotional date. However, I've never had the situation where I pay the deferred finance charge. When I got my cool glasses through a similar card through City Bank, who is the Devil, when I was paying a bill, I noticed the tiny fine print about a deferred finance charge. But the message was a little cryptic. Not trusting it, I transfered it right away to my big 0% APR card to get rid of any unexpected finance charge. This must have been what they were talking about.

Here's the message I've been getting on my CareCredit statements. Keep in mind, this is a "health" credit card, so they encourage you to use it for the vet, dentist maybe, healthy stuff. Luckily I kept it in my file of Unused Credit Cards Waiting to be Paid Off and never in my wallet.

"No Finance Charges will be incurred on the amount of a Deferred Interest promotional purchase if you pay the promotional purchase amount in full by the indicated Due Date and (as applicable) you pay at least any Minimum Payment Due on your Account each month when due. If a promotional purchase amount is not paid in full by the indicated Due Date, Finance Charges will (or if any Minimum Payment Due is not paid when due, may) be assessed on this amount from the transaction date (or, at creditors option, from the posting date)."

The total deferred finance charge is shown below this statement, but I always thought it was a way to show me what I saved. Duh. Wrong.

Don't know about you, but that's not exactly easy and clear for me to understand. CareCredit has since changed the design of their statement. It now says this, which has alerted me more clearly. It now says this:

"You will incur no Finance Charges on a Deferred Interest promotional purchase, provided the promotional purchase amount is paid in full by the indicated Due Date and you pay any applicable Minimum Payment Due on your Account by the Payment Due Date. If you do not pay the amount in full by the indicated Due Date, Finance Charges accrued from the date of purchase will (or if any Minimum Payment is not paid when due, may) be added to your account."

I'm still a little foggy on this, but even as I type it, I think I just understood a new meaning. Shoot. It says that not only will I have to pay the deferred finance charge if I don't pay it off by my year date, which so far for me is $309.47, if I missed any minimums, which I did once and maybe twice because I swear that their statements are sent on a longer than 30-day rotation period, I may also have to pay it. Ahh!

So Mistas - be super aware of these promotional deals. I of course paid way more than the minimum payment, and last month basically double paid my amount, which is 4x the minimum, so I'm finally under $1000 due. Yay. But this baby better get paid by me in two months, or you will be hearing a very unhappy FashionMista.

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