CareCredit is the card most Americans meet in a dentist’s chair or a vet’s waiting room. It is issued by Synchrony Bank, it is accepted at a network CareCredit describes as more than 285,000 enrolled locations, and CareCredit reports more than 12 million open cardholder accounts. It is also, at a 32.99% standard purchase APR, considerably more expensive than the ordinary credit card in your wallet.
None of that makes it a bad product. Used precisely, a CareCredit promotion really does cost nothing. Used imprecisely, it is one of the more punishing structures in consumer credit. This guide lays out every rate, fee and promotional term as of September 2026, what happens when a promotional period ends, and how approval and credit lines actually work.
What Is CareCredit
CareCredit is a private-label revolving credit card. You can only use it inside the CareCredit provider network, it has no annual fee, and Synchrony Bank sets your credit line at approval. The practice gets paid up front by Synchrony and pays a merchant fee; you owe the bank.
The card’s appeal is the promotional financing layered on top. You choose a promotional plan at checkout, and which plans you are offered depends on the size of the purchase and on which promotions the practice has enabled. CareCredit also markets a separate one-time-use installment product, the Pay Later Loan, alongside the card.
Worth knowing about the history: in December 2013 the CFPB ordered GE CareCredit, then the card’s owner, to refund $34.1 million, with more than 1.2 million consumers eligible for the review and reimbursement process. The Bureau found that some consumers were enrolled at the front desk without an adequate explanation of the deferred interest terms and often without receiving a copy of the agreement. That is still the risk point today. The staff member enrolling you is not a lender.
How CareCredit Works
Deferred interest promotions (6, 12, 18 and 24 months)
These apply to promotional purchases of $200 or more. The offer reads “No interest if paid in full within 12 months,” but the cardholder agreement is blunt about the mechanics: “We always charge interest on promotional purchases and their related fees from the date you make the purchase.” Interest runs from day one at the purchase APR. It is waived only if the promotional balance is cleared, in full, before the promo period ends.
The agreement also warns that “the required minimum monthly payments may or may not pay off the promo purchase before the end of the promo period, depending on purchase amount, promo length and payment allocation.” CareCredit’s minimum payment is the greater of $30, 3.25% of the new balance, or 1% of the balance plus interest and late fees charged that cycle. On anything longer than a 12-month promo, that minimum will not get you to zero.
Reduced-APR equal payment plans (24, 36, 48 and 60 months)
These are the honest half of the product. Instead of deferred interest, you get a real disclosed rate and a fixed monthly payment. Minimum purchase is $1,000 for the 24, 36 and 48 month plans, and $2,500 for the 60 month plan.
CareCredit publishes these as monthly payment factors rather than APRs: 4.9876% of the initial purchase for 24 months, 3.6605% for 36 months, 3.0377% for 48 months and 2.6997% for 60 months. Run those through a standard amortization and they work out to roughly 17.9%, 18.9%, 19.9% and 20.9% APR. High, but with no cliff and no retroactive charge.
Approval odds and credit lines
CareCredit publishes no minimum credit score and no approval rate, so anyone quoting you a specific “carecredit approval odds” number is guessing. What is knowable: Synchrony underwrites it as a private-label store card, and store cards generally use a softer standard than a general purpose rewards card. Submitting the application is a hard inquiry. You must be 18 to apply online or 21 to apply by phone.
Approval and sufficiency are two different questions. Your credit line is assigned from your credit profile, not the price of your treatment plan, so plenty of patients are approved and then discover the line will not cover a $9,000 implant case. If it is short, ask the practice to split the case into phases, or price a fixed-rate installment loan instead.
Where CareCredit is accepted
Dental is the category CareCredit is best known for, followed by veterinary, vision and optical, cosmetic and dermatology, and hearing. The network also includes primary care clinics, surgery centers, some hospitals, medical equipment retailers, labs, spas, weight loss, sleep and funeral services, plus retail partnerships with Walgreens, Walmart and Sam’s Club. CareCredit’s own provider page carries two slightly different counts, 285,000-plus enrolled locations and 290,000-plus accepting locations, so treat it as roughly 285,000 to 290,000.
Crucially, not every location offers every promotion. A practice chooses which plans to enable. Ask before you assume a 24-month option exists.
What CareCredit Costs
All figures below come from the Synchrony Bank CareCredit Credit Card Account Agreement revised March 2026 and CareCredit’s own rate pages, read September 5, 2026, which state these terms apply to accounts opened as of 5/30/2024. Card APRs move with the prime rate, so re-check at application.
| Item | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase APR | 32.99% | Daily periodic rate of .09039% |
| Penalty APR | 39.99% | Applied after a late payment; may remain in effect indefinitely |
| Minimum interest charge | $2.00 | Any billing cycle in which interest is owed |
| Late payment fee | $30, or $41 | $41 if you were late in any of the prior six billing cycles; never more than the minimum payment due |
| Returned payment fee | $30, or $41 | Same six-cycle escalation |
| Paper statement fee | $1.99 per month | Waived if you go paperless |
| Annual fee | $0 | No annual fee |
| Foreign transaction fee | 3% | On the CareCredit Rewards Mastercard |
| Deferred interest promos | 6, 12, 18, 24 months | Minimum promotional purchase of $200 |
| Equal payment plans, 24 / 36 / 48 months | Payment factors 4.9876% / 3.6605% / 3.0377% | Minimum purchase $1,000; implies about 17.9% to 19.9% APR |
| Equal payment plan, 60 months | Payment factor 2.6997% | Minimum purchase $2,500; implies about 20.9% APR |
| Minimum payment | Greater of $30, 3.25% of balance, or 1% plus interest and fees | Rounded up to the next dollar |
| Grace period | At least 23 days after the close of each cycle | Applies to non-promotional purchases only |
What happens at the end of a promotional period
This is the number that matters most. Take a $2,000 crown on a 12-month deferred interest promotion. Clearing it on time requires $166.67 a month. Suppose you pay $150 a month instead. After twelve payments you have paid $1,800 and you are $200 short.
At that point Synchrony adds the interest that has been accruing since the purchase date. At 32.99% on a balance declining from $2,000 to $350 over the year, that is roughly $390. So a $200 shortfall produces about $390 in charges, and the combined balance then carries the 32.99% standard APR going forward.
CareCredit’s own consumer explainer uses a comparable example: a $2,000 purchase on a 12-month plan where the minimum payment is $84 a month leaves $992 outstanding when the deadline arrives, at which point the full accrued interest is added. As CareCredit puts it, even $1 remaining triggers the charge.
Compare that to a true 0% offer, where the rate is genuinely zero. Miss the deadline there and you owe the leftover principal, but nothing retroactive. That difference is usually hundreds of dollars.
An equal payment plan, in dollars
A $6,000 implant case on the 60-month plan carries a monthly payment of 2.6997% of $6,000, or about $162. Over 60 payments that is roughly $9,719, meaning about $3,719 of interest. Expensive, but disclosed up front, fixed, and free of any end-of-term surprise. For many people this is the better half of the CareCredit menu precisely because it removes the cliff.
Who It’s Good For and Who Should Skip It
Good fit: you are financing elective care that no assistance program will cover (orthodontics, veterinary, cosmetic, LASIK, hearing aids), you can divide the total by the promo months and autopay that exact amount, and you have margin in the budget if something goes wrong. A cleared 6 or 12 month promo genuinely costs $0.
Also reasonable: you need a longer runway and you choose the 24 to 60 month equal payment plan knowingly, understanding it is a roughly 18% to 21% loan. That is a real cost, but it is a predictable one.
Skip it: the bill is from a nonprofit hospital. The CFPB is explicit that medical credit cards and payment plans are often more expensive than other forms of payment, and warns that once a bill is moved onto a financing product, the hospital’s financial assistance may no longer be available to you because the debt is no longer owed to the hospital. Check hospital charity care first, every time.
Skip it: you are financing the maximum you can afford. Deferred interest extracts its revenue from the minority who fall short, so if your plan requires everything to go right, choose a fixed-rate product instead.
Skip it: you have not yet checked the price. Get an itemized bill, compare it against typical cash rates with our fair price checker, and ask for the self-pay discount using our negotiation script. Financing an inflated price at 32.99% is the most expensive path available.
CareCredit vs. the Alternatives
| Option | Cost if you pay on time | Cost if you fall short | Approval friction |
|---|---|---|---|
| CareCredit deferred interest promo | $0 | All accrued interest at 32.99% back to day one | Instant at the counter, hard pull |
| CareCredit equal payment plan | About 17.9% to 20.9% APR | No retroactive charge, standard late fees | Same |
| Cherry or Sunbit true 0% plan | $0 | Remaining principal only, no back interest | Soft-pull prequalification |
| Proceed Finance loan | A fixed rate disclosed up front, in the single digits to low teens | No retroactive charge | Soft-pull prequalification, larger cases |
| Provider’s in-house payment plan | Often $0 | Usually just a missed-payment conversation | Often no credit check |
| Hospital charity care | Free or steeply discounted | n/a | Application and income documentation |
Between 2018 and 2020, patients ran nearly $23 billion of healthcare costs through medical credit cards and loans with deferred interest periods and paid about $1 billion in deferred interest, per the CFPB’s May 2023 report. That $1 billion is the gap between what these promotions promise at the counter and what they say in the agreement.
The Bottom Line
CareCredit is not a scam and it is not free money. It is a 32.99% credit card with a discount attached for people who pay exactly on schedule. If you are that person, the 6 or 12 month promotion is a legitimately good deal and the equal payment plans are a reasonable, if pricey, way to spread a large case.
If there is any real chance you will be short at the deadline, take the fixed-rate route. Compare Cherry, Sunbit and Proceed Finance, or read the full side-by-side in our guide to medical credit cards and patient financing. For an existing balance, an in-house medical bill payment plan at zero interest beats all of it, and negotiating the bill down first beats financing it at any rate. If you are pricing the work itself, start with our cost guides for dental implants, braces, root canals and hearing aids.