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Care Credit worked for me. Would recommend people to stay away! (Reply to this comment)
by sc0tt209
They gave me the balance I requested but shortly after I became unemployed & for over a year I struggled to pay the balance, never missing a payment but then when it became so bad I began to closely look at my statement & wondered why I didnt make a dent in the balance, infact every month my balance was going UP.
So I called in & asked about something called "Account Security".
They informed me that they dont manage account security insurance & that because of my situated they would pay off my entire balance due no questions asked as long as I had been working full time when I lost my job.
So after contacting account security & having being interviewed over the phone as they insisted they came to the conclusion that I was able to have my balance whiped out & it would be done immeditaely I wouldnt have to worry about my next payment.------
GREAT!--- HOWEVER I never did receive confirmation letter in the mail like they said, my balance wasn't whiped out & I incurred late fees totalling $110 & because account security was still on my account & also incurred another $25 account security fee as well as another $26 interest Fee.
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Total Interest charged for 2011
on a balance of $1400 : $234.74
Total Fees charged in 2011 : $386.33
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I only missed 1 payment in 2011. Those charges to my account, which I found out, were account security which I never asked to have on my account.
This is just another case of stupid idiots not reading their statements.
I'm the kind of person that is preyed upon by big credit corporations.
- As you can see I'm Not afraid to admit where I've done wrong.
I'm working now & have a plan to pay this out of my life in the next 5 months. THANK GOD I only have a total debt of $2000 between this card & 1 other credit card.
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Nov 05 '11
3:18 pm PDT
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Re: Your the idiot (Reply to this comment)
by jbevent
It is not true that simply paying your monthly bill is sufficient. You must resist insistent agent advice to 'just pay the Minimum Payment Due, and you'll be fine' (balloon loan), and advice to buy the 1.5% 'health insurance' policy (adding ~20% of maximum balance), and many other practices generally recognized as money lending trickery. The final payment due in a payment plan as set by GEMB (soon known as "GE Capital") and never documented except in the 'Expiration Date' statement, is usually about 50% of the total original bill. Obviously inappropriate for most of the target clientele. The agents have repeatedly (insistently) provided mis-calculations and misstatements of the payment schedule and ending balance.
BTW: I also understand that GEMB gets another 5-10% fee from your health-care Provider.
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Sep 13 '11
2:33 pm PDT
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BEWARE of Care Credit/GEMB (Reply to this comment)
by shebalucky
After years of my Son's having Care Credit and using and paying off his balance; he allowed a relative to use it as they encouage you to do, and after her using for a couple of years, had a paymant posted one day late(Shocker there!). She incurred a late charge of $39.99 and her interest was jacked up to 29.90%.
Customer service was no help at all and could give a crap about the problem. Since I handle all finances in the household(By Request), I can assure you that when it is paid off this time, it WILL be cancelled and they can as they say, shove it where the sun don't shine!
I would strongly recommend you don't get involved with these blood suckers.
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Apr 12 '10
9:13 am PDT
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Choose Care Credit Wisely (Reply to this comment)
by trina81
I wanted a procedure done and so I applied for care credit and was approved for a nice amount but not enough to cover what I wanted to have done. So I had dental work done. Well obviously I did not read the fine print because care credit charges you deferred interest on each individual charge and if its not paid off by the promo period kiss your sanity goodbye. So I was unable to pay off the charges by the promo period and one month I was slammed with interest, it was scary. I then on my own without being informed that when I made a payment I could choose to have that payment applied to any of the charges, I felt like an
idiot for not knowing this sooner. So now that I have figured that out, I've been paying off an individual charge each month and slowly I'm seeing my balance go down. I want to scream in frustration because the interest rate is so dang high. I will say that every time that I have contacted customer service I always go someone who spoke fluent english on the line and they were nice. Other than that if you can at all avoid care credit like the plague!
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Aug 06 '09
7:20 am PDT
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care credit rip off (Reply to this comment)
by floridasunshin
I so agree with you. What sleazy, uncaring business practices this outfit has. First of all it's very hard to get ahold of a live person. When I finally got one and asked to speak to a supervisor I was on hold for, truthfully, 30 minutes. So I used my cell to call again, this time it took 5 minutes to reach a "manager".
When I asked where he was, he said the "call was routed to India".(That's a whole nuther complaint about our jobs going overseas!! grrrr!)
I went on line to make my ON TIME payment, which I THOUGHT would be my final payment of $81, only to find that my balance was now $246!
He said my "PROMOTIONAL no interest period" (??? what??) expired 5 days ago. I understood that the only requirement I had was to pay ON TIME EVERY MONTH, which I did and always paid more than the minimum amount.
He said since the promo period had expired there was nothing he could do about it. Rubbish!! I've known instances where the "late fees" charged by banks have been forgiven. All it takes is a phone call. ANYTHING can be done, if they want to. Well, my $5,000 worth of future dental work will be financed somewhere else, if they aren't going to work with customers to try to KEEP those customers. They just ran me off for good. And I intend to send letters to their home office, which BTW only has a PO Box number in El Paso Texas. Also will write to the BBB and the Attorney Gen in TX. And isn't it funny they only have ONE phone number to reach them.....if you can.
florida
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May 02 '09
2:51 pm PDT
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the biggest problem with care credit (Reply to this comment)
by annafreud
Any double-agents working for the company can go get a real job that doesn't involve burning folks who can't pay off a 5000 vet bill in the alloted 6 month (no interest) predatory offer that sucks everyone in. Seriously, this is an opinion page, not your chance to get company approval points. I have worked with care credit several times, I have paid every bill and remain in good shape with them. I was recently approved for 18k.
Providers do call it a finance plan, and they get paid immediately, and so, they generally have no concern for the fact that the patient, animal-parents, gullible plastic surgery recipient, etc. would not be able to make the 500 dollar payment a month to remain less then totally-REAMED by this credit card company (don't let the enchanting pictures on their marketing materials fool you into believing otherwise)
So the patient, sitting there with their medical provider is lulled into a world of fantasy where they don't feel like they can question, nevermind push back on the recommendation to engage with this finance option because they TRUST their vet, doctor, surgeon, whatever. It's difficult to reckon with the fact that everyone and everything in the consumer sector is a business, where the bottom line is a ledger line. It tends to feel personal when your dog or cat may die without emergency surgery, your teeth hurt, or something else needs fixing because it is actually QUITE personal. This is the dangerous intersection of where naive patients and hard business collide- and the patient deals with the wreckage.
Because I have had experience and know that this is anything but a finance plan, I had to say to my dentist, "I have worked out what my monthly payment would be and it would be impossible for me to meet it", and it isn't easy to push back like that because we can't fathom that health care providers don't actually care about us and that this option may not be economically practical for us.
In these times- everyone has got to start thinking for themselves and not allow care providers to manipulate us into services that we can't afford. (Unless of course, if your pet is dying at the incredibly expensive animal hospital and getting a third job is a possibility- that is where this credit card can help.) Unless this is a dire emergency and the only option, or you actually can afford the payment terms and consequences; I would recommend most people to be cautious and do the math, and health care providers to protect their credibility by not pushing this as a payment option.
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Feb 14 '09
6:18 am PST
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Re: Facts? Please? (Reply to this comment)
by scmrak
gave facts. That the facts of your experience differ from mine is a ... FACT of life.
Did I say I never got a copy of the agreement? No - I said that CareCredit sent mail to me whose return address did not have the company name in it. I said that CareCredit was unable to "find" me to send me notification that my bill was past due, even though I had a listed telephone number and had filed change of address forms with USPS, but seemed remarkably efficient at locating my work telephone number to harrass me.
I can understand that you are pleased with their service. I am not - allow me the right to disagree with you. You are certainly not the only exception; on the other hand, neither am I the only party who has found their service to be unsatisfactory.
Grow up: people who disagree with you are neither stupid, venal, nor liars - they simply have different experiences on which to base their opinions.
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Feb 11 '09
5:50 am PST
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Facts? Please? (Reply to this comment)
by rickajho
There is no such thing as usury. Usury laws were struck down waaaaay back in the Carter administration. Look it up.
It never ceases to amaze me that people who:
say they never got a oopy of the terms for their account seem to know they are supposed to have a copy, yet never ask for it.
are shocked, shocked, when they actually do know the terms of their account, "golly gee!" and sign up anyway, and then somehow it's the credit provider's problem when YOU fail to abide with the agreement.
You are you. Wether you are "up" or "down" it's your choice to use credit wisely - or not. Bail on the terms, bail on the payment, and then 'diss the company? I've heard that sour grapes song way too many times, And gee, why is it always the credit company's fault. I just don't get it.
Signed
Someone who has used Care Credit for large vetrinary bills for many years. And never had a problem. And never paid any interest either. I must be the singular exception.
Or not. Just why is that...?
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Feb 10 '09
7:56 pm PST
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Re: Your the idiot (Reply to this comment)
by scmrak
No, I frown up their not having sent me account information or bills that are recognizable as such: it's quite difficult to pay a bill if you do not know the account number of, for that matter, where payments may be made whether it's online or by mail. Not all of us are blessed with your perceptification.
I frown upon their practice of turning people over to collection services without notifying them that they are in arrears. I frown upon their predatory lending practices. I frown upon their "offshoring" of jobs. I frown upon their inability to find an address for sending a bill when they can find a telephone number to make dunning telephone calls. I frown upon being harassed on the telephone - at my place of employment - by people whose command of English is almost as bad as yours.
It's fine to make money - I happen to like doing it. But I try to maintain some common decency and integrity in the process.
Any other questions?
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Aug 15 '08
5:49 am PDT
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Your the idiot (Reply to this comment)
by ralphy18
Just pay you bills and you won't have these problems. If you pay your bill on time every month you wont have fees or interest. You can pay the bill online at geonlineservice.com with a checking acct. Carecredit is a business. Do you frown upon them making money?
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Aug 14 '08
11:25 am PDT
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Re: So... (Reply to this comment)
by bagheera70
They outsource so they cut expenses off, so GE gets all the profits. The more, the merrier, they say...
BTW, GE has outsourcing in Mexico. They pay these guys less than if paying to American employees... get it?
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Jun 06 '08
2:25 pm PDT
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Scam Credit! (Reply to this comment)
by bagheera70
I totally agree with you and other victims of these blue collar scammers. I naively signed for an account with them through American Laser (I've been there because I 'won' a discount in a beauty treatment that wasn't covered by my healthcare provider). I felt a little doubtful about having a credit with them, and asked if that would affect my credit history, and they said 'no worries about'. So I signed the contract and other paperworks.
When I got the bill, they assigned the 13th as due date, and I'm paid bi-monthly. The bad thing is that I had other bills to pay in the first half of month, so paying Care Credit was too much. I called them and asked them to please change my due date; I was really willing to pay but after the 15th. They refused. So since then, I'm paying late and other hidden fees, and that damaged my credit so much.
Also they offer you prizes for signing to their 'online billing', so you 'go green'. I signed to online billing once, twice, three, four, ten, many times, but I still receive paper statements and also, they RESET my statement preferences, so I forcefully receive paper statements, and they can get extra money.
Yeah, I had the same problems as many of you when they call and harass you saying that they didn't receive your payment, and that you MUST pay or you will be reported to the credit bureaus. They are really rude, they don't have any manners. To add insult to injury, one Mexican (they're all frijoleros, trust me) operator rudely 'advised' me not to be so wasteful with my money. That really made me angry and I told her to get a life and then I hung her up.
Now I just blocked their 800 numbers, but they still call me from NO ID numbers. I guess that's unlawful. I still try to pay on time, but fees are too much and they don't understand.
Beware of Care Credit/GE Money scammers! They will do their best to ruin your credit. If you check both sites, they offer you 'flexibility' in your payment plans and due dates
They say in their website www.carecredit.com:
"CareCredit, a GE Money Company, gives you convenient payment options so you can get the procedure you want, when you want it."
that's all bull! They never changed my due date as I asked, they say they never received my payments (my bank statements says 'yes, you did!'), and they're charging me abusive fees.
I filed a complaint with BBB. I haven't received any answer yet. You guys should do the same, so these scammers will get it. Although they have a good rating from BBB, they still have lots of complaints in their records.
I guess my only way out is getting a loan so I can payoff and get rid of them forever, but I know that's not fair for any of us, right?
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Jun 06 '08
2:19 pm PDT
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Re: Not a Mastercard (Reply to this comment)
by scmrak
No, Talia, the card sent to me by the cretins at G.E. Capital was indeed a branded MasterCard, complete with overlapping gold and red circle logo. Perhaps there's a differentiation between card types based on the amount of the original revolving charge, or perhaps they've changed their methodology.
Make no mistake about it: regardless of the account type, no one should EVER consider doing business with these usurers. Since I wrote this review, they slapped me with a 115% finance charge. That's right, they claimed that I owed them about $80 in interest plus another $90 in fees. I telephoned "customer 'service'" and explained in a civil - but very strained - tone that I had paid their bill IN FULL more than a month ago and that under no circumstances was I ever going to send them another nickel. They cancelled the charges.
Now they owe me $2 for overpayment. Frankly, I hope their accounting software chokes on it and the resulting computer crash results in a fire that burns the entire office complex to the ground - at midnight on Saturday, of course, when no humans are around (only the cockroaches who came up with this idea).
R
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Jun 22 '04
5:45 am PDT
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Not a Mastercard (Reply to this comment)
by naphtalia
Sorry about your bad experiences. One comment, however, needs clarification. The CareCredit card is not a MasterCard. It cannot be used to buy shoes. It can be used only in the offices of doctors (both human and animal type) who have chosen to sign up to offer it to their patients.
You are correct in saying it's not a loan. It's more like an in-store credit card than anything else. I tend to think it's more like a Sears of JcPennys card. It's one I can use in store, but not out.
Talia
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Jun 16 '04
6:38 am PDT
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Re: I wish you'd read my epinion (Reply to this comment)
by scmrak
Well, the website has some info about the interest-free periods - the length is based on the amount financed, so we didn't qualify for a year (only three months, since the amount is less than $1500). That's not my complaint, though - my complaint is that there was no way for me to make any payments because the company never mailed me a statement! and then they were - in my mind - pretty abusive in the attempt to collect: lots of hangup phonecalls, etc. At one point I told them that the next phonecall from their collection service would earn a complaint to the Secretary of State. This was after I'd made two good faith attempts to get payment information and the customer [dis]service rep would neither give me an account number nor send me a statement until my "normal billing date." Needless to say, we got four hangup phone calls the next day and one completed call from collections.
Yeah, sure wish I'd seen your review, but they had me 'tween a rock and a hard place at the time...
Anyhow, Stay Away From These People, Everyone!
R
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Mar 19 '04
5:58 am PST
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I wish you'd read my epinion (Reply to this comment)
by frazzledspice,  in Personal Finance
before you used Care Credit. We didn't have any problems because our orthodontist's office made us very aware of what the terms were. We selected the no interest option, and when we saw we still had a balance of about $1000 when we were nearing the 1 year deadline, we used a low-interest balance transfer to a bank card account. Otherwise we would have had a retroactive interest payment of $250.
It's important for service providers to fully discuss the terms with their patients before their patients sign up for this account.
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Mar 18 '04
6:42 am PST
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About a month ago (Reply to this comment)
by bops_mom
we went to apply online as my husband needs to get a great deal of dental work done. We were horrified enough at the interest rate that we didn't bother with it. After reading this I'm especially glad we passed on this route.
Melissa
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Mar 16 '04
1:16 pm PST
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So... (Reply to this comment)
by Mom2TyZick
this CareCredit company works for humans and for animals? Crazy...
So much is going overseas these days, I suppose we shouldn't be surprised, but still seems ridiculous.
Nice report.
Suzanne
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Mar 16 '04
12:53 pm PST
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Thanks for the heads up! (Reply to this comment)
by ivplay
This was a very well written and informative review, in my opinion. I am glad that I have never had the opportunity to deal with these folks, as it sounds as though they false advertise to get you, and then they stick it to you.
Jason
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Mar 16 '04
7:57 am PST
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Wow (Reply to this comment)
by Bruguru
It's amazing. I work for a competitor to GE Medical. It never ceases to amaze me that although the company I work for is foreign-based, they have logistics and call-center operations in the USA. Meanwhile, GE Medical, an American based company, has outsourced those functions for US operations to India.
And they've done the same for their credit card business too. Which is a shame, because every time that Barb has to call in about her credit card, the sound quality on the line is horrible and she can barely understand the person on the other line.
Really great points here. I enjoyed this review.
Regards,
John
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Mar 16 '04
5:28 am PST
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