bigmistake22 Posted March 28, 2022 Report Share Posted March 28, 2022 Good morning, I'm a bit confused and want to be sure I do this right. Can anyone offer guidance? I was recently approved for Care Credit card through Synchrony bank for $4900. I was shocked b/c my credit is terrible and I'm just starting the repair journey. We ended up only needing $800 on the card - to be paid back in installments over the next 6 months, interest free. I have the enough to pay the full $800 off right now but I'm not sure if this is the best or should I pay it off over time to show I can pay on time, etc. Right now, other than mortgage, I do not have any monthly payments - my credit card was charged off (I'm about to settle that). No car payment, no loans, etc. I thought maybe having a monthly payment for 6 months might help with my score - or should I just pay and get it over with - balance down to zero ASAP? Thanks in advance... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BackFromTheDebt Posted March 28, 2022 Report Share Posted March 28, 2022 32 minutes ago, bigmistake22 said: Good morning, I'm a bit confused and want to be sure I do this right. Can anyone offer guidance? I was recently approved for Care Credit card through Synchrony bank for $4900. I was shocked b/c my credit is terrible and I'm just starting the repair journey. We ended up only needing $800 on the card - to be paid back in installments over the next 6 months, interest free. I have the enough to pay the full $800 off right now but I'm not sure if this is the best or should I pay it off over time to show I can pay on time, etc. Right now, other than mortgage, I do not have any monthly payments - my credit card was charged off (I'm about to settle that). No car payment, no loans, etc. I thought maybe having a monthly payment for 6 months might help with my score - or should I just pay and get it over with - balance down to zero ASAP? Thanks in advance... It doesn’t matter that much. From what I can tell, the FICO scores depend partly on the utilization. In general the less you use of your credit the better the score. Also, paying on time is a factor. One way my son built up credit was having one of his bills automatically paid each month by his credit card, and also an automatic payment each month to pay off the credit card. That way he established a pattern of low utilization and 100% on time payments for his credit card. When he graduated college and bought a new car, he was able to get a fantastic interest rate. For your situation, it won’t hurt to pay the card off over 6 months. However, if you can set up a way to have a few small charges to the card every month and an automatic payment, that will help you re-establish your credit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clydesmom Posted March 28, 2022 Report Share Posted March 28, 2022 55 minutes ago, bigmistake22 said: Good morning, I'm a bit confused and want to be sure I do this right. Can anyone offer guidance? I was recently approved for Care Credit card through Synchrony bank for $4900. I was shocked b/c my credit is terrible and I'm just starting the repair journey. We ended up only needing $800 on the card - to be paid back in installments over the next 6 months, interest free. I have the enough to pay the full $800 off right now but I'm not sure if this is the best or should I pay it off over time to show I can pay on time, etc. Right now, other than mortgage, I do not have any monthly payments - my credit card was charged off (I'm about to settle that). No car payment, no loans, etc. I thought maybe having a monthly payment for 6 months might help with my score - or should I just pay and get it over with - balance down to zero ASAP? Thanks in advance... You are talking to someone who will buy almost anything on 0% financing. I just paid off the ginormous TV I bought last year with my new house. I do the math on purchase and pay it off 1 month earlier than the promotional rate expiring. That way I get the on time payment credit and don't lose the financing option of 0%. An $800 balance is about $160/month for five months. What ever you do, DO NOT make the minimum payment they put on the statement. That is designed for it NOT to be paid off prior to the low financing offer to expire and ALL the interest to be added on. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldoger Posted March 28, 2022 Report Share Posted March 28, 2022 CareCredit a a good card as IIRC it can only be used for medical and vets. I applied for it when my dog had heart failure I was 1500 short on the $4,000 vet bill. I did end up paying interest as I could not pay it off in 6 months. I did pay it off and they then quickly closed my account even though I was never late with it and my scores dropped 20 points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmistake22 Posted March 30, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2022 On 3/28/2022 at 2:27 PM, Clydesmom said: You are talking to someone who will buy almost anything on 0% financing. I just paid off the ginormous TV I bought last year with my new house. I do the math on purchase and pay it off 1 month earlier than the promotional rate expiring. That way I get the on time payment credit and don't lose the financing option of 0%. An $800 balance is about $160/month for five months. What ever you do, DO NOT make the minimum payment they put on the statement. That is designed for it NOT to be paid off prior to the low financing offer to expire and ALL the interest to be added on. Thank you for this! I love the idea of paying off one month early - that's a great idea. I've already set up an autopayment for this month - to pay 5 days early. If my bank will let me do it that far in advance, I'm going to set up additional autopayment options. Thanks for the reminder on the minimum payment. That is *exactly* how I found myself underwater with the last time I had a carecredit card. I'm still not sure why they allowed me to get this one but I'm going to use it to my advantage, I hope. Last time, we had a $7000 limit and a high utilization. I paid the minimuman then, as we drew neared to the end of the promotional period, I realized that wasn't helping me. I was so wrapped up in trying to work extra and care for this sick pup that we used care credit to save, that I didn't realize the minimum wasn't going to help me. We fell behind b/c I ended up paying interest and it was so high I couldn't keep up. I'm determined not to do that this time. Thank you so much! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmistake22 Posted March 30, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2022 On 3/28/2022 at 5:27 PM, Bulldoger said: CareCredit a a good card as IIRC it can only be used for medical and vets. I applied for it when my dog had heart failure I was 1500 short on the $4,000 vet bill. I did end up paying interest as I could not pay it off in 6 months. I did pay it off and they then quickly closed my account even though I was never late with it and my scores dropped 20 points. Yes, Carecredit can only be used for medical and vets. It just helped us give our dog care that we would not have been able to afford otherwise. Interesting that they closed it on you...I thought they would have left it open so you could charge it again and maybe they would make more interest off you. So strange! Thanks for the info, it helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Rizzo Posted May 2, 2022 Report Share Posted May 2, 2022 On 3/28/2022 at 8:28 PM, bigmistake22 said: Good morning, I'm a bit confused and want to be sure I do this right. Can anyone offer guidance? I was recently approved for Care Credit card through Synchrony bank for $4900. I was shocked b/c my credit is terrible and I'm just starting the repair journey. We ended up only needing $800 on the card - to be paid back in installments over the next 6 months, interest free. I have the enough to pay the full $800 off right now but I'm not sure if this is the best or should I pay it off over time to show I can pay on time, etc. Right now, other than mortgage, I do not have any monthly payments - my credit card was charged off (I'm about to get https://paydaysay.com/what-are-registration-loans.php). No car payment, no loans, etc. I thought maybe having a monthly payment for 6 months might help with my score - or should I just pay and get it over with - balance down to zero ASAP? Thanks in advance... FICO scores, as far as I can determine, are influenced by use. In general, the less credit you use, the higher your credit score. Paying down the card over 6 months won't hurt in your case. However, if you can set up a system with a few minor monthly charges and an automated payment, you will be able to rebuild your credit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Reggie Posted May 4, 2022 Report Share Posted May 4, 2022 My wife has a $7k limit on her Care Credit card and I only have $1k - I have always paid the minimum payment - but always pay the promotional balance before the time is up - we had dental work done for our children and the time came in handy - some procedures were given 12 months to pay. My way resulted in some large monthly bills - but it was better than paying an extra $500 in interest had I not paid some of the promo bills off on time. The deferred interest avoided was a eye-opener as that is the amount of interest other cards charge on similar balances I don't pay as much attention to - so I keep balances low now. My debit card is my favorite credit card these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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