When Should You Use Medical Credit Cards?

If you require a certain medical treatment and are unable to foot the bill, your medical service provider may ask you to sign up for a medical credit card.

Medical credit cards are issued by medical service providers.

However, they are unlike normal credit cards in the sense that they cannot be used anywhere other than the institutions of participating medical providers.

To put it another way, you cannot use them to pay for groceries, gas, or anything else.

They generally are used to pay for medical procedures that are not covered by insurance such as Lasik, cosmetic surgery, and dental treatments.

How do medical credit cards work?

To start with, you should understand that applying for a medical card can have a slightly negative impact on your credit score due to the hard inquiry that is generated.

The second thing to know is that most medical cards do not allow you to make minimum payments towards your balance for an indefinite period of time.

Rather, you are expected to pay back the amount within a predetermined time frame that usually ranges between 6 – 36 months.

These cards may offer 0% interest terms during this repayment period; however, this is usually deferred interest.

What this means is that if you don’t pay back the entire balance within this time, you may be charged interest retroactively, beginning from the date of the initial transaction.

What’s more, in case you are late on even a single payment, you might have to pay a hefty fee.

Plus, your 0% interest rate may be taken away and you can start accruing interest immediately.

This interest rate is usually very steep – typically the high 20s.

Whenever you opt for a medical credit card, make sure you are very careful – get a copy of the terms and conditions and read it conscientiously to understand what you are getting into.

Ensure that you have enough budget to pay off the balance within the stipulated time frame, or else you’ll risk falling into debt.

Medical credit cards can easily lead you into debt, not just because of stringent terms, but also because you are tempted to purchase unnecessary services because you know you can delay the payment.

If those medical services are necessary, consider paying for them through a normal credit card, as long as the expense doesn’t push your credit utilization ratio over 25 – 30%.

You may even consider applying for a normal credit card that has a 0% interest offer for an introductory period – at least you won’t have to deal with deferred interest this way.

Other sources to fund your medical treatment include personal loans, home equity, or even retirement savings - if you are allowed to make penalty-free withdrawals, that is.

Or else, you can simply approach our team at Fund&Grow.

We offer individuals with good credit, the opportunity to obtain as much as $250,000 of unsecured credit at 0% for a period of 6, 12, or 18 months.

This amount can be used for any purpose – from paying your medical bills to financing a small business or even providing a down payment on a property - no questions asked.

We will guide you every step of the way.

So, if you need these kinds of funds, call us at (800) 996-0270, and we will help you right away.