Interest Free Credit Card Options for Medical Procedure?

fleetfeather on 22/11/2018 - 15:46

Hi all,

Did a bit of a forum search and found this thread here: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/387877

That thread mentions a somewhat similar position to me: I'm looking a getting elective surgery done with a total cost of just over $10k. I have the savings to cover that ~$10k today (I have about $14k in liquid assets, $2k in easily movable assets, and $12k in shares), but would prefer not to see $10k disappear in an instant.

As such, I was thinking of getting a credit card (which I've never had before) to pay the procedure off over, say, 6-12 months.

Does the OzB community have any suggestions for me of where to turn for a good deal here? The longer the interest free repayment term, the better - as long as there's no nasty surprises.

Thanks!

Financial

Comments

  • pantsparty on 22/11/2018 - 16:04
    +1

    I will get the ball rolling - Citibank Rewards Platinum Credit card - 0% interest on purchases for the first 13 months - $49 annual fee:

    https://www1.citibank.com.au/CardsOnline/platinum0for13offer…

  • tellhimhesdreaming on 22/11/2018 - 16:11
    +1

    You'll want to make use of a Balance Transfer deal with a 0% interest rate. There are several different ways you could do so though.

    One that I've never done, but believe is possible is by making use of Citi Bank's 'cheque to self' from the balance transfer amount. Meaning you can request a new card and a balance transfer of 10k, and get that written to cheque which you can bank. Then you'd have 14 months to pay that off the balance if you were using this card

    Hopefully someone with a bit more hands on experience can help you out and set me straight if I've gotten something wrong.

    • fleetfeather on 22/11/2018 - 17:37

      Interesting, aren't Balance Transfers for situations where an accumulated debt gets moved from some credit card to another? I don't have any accumulated debt as of right now…

      What is the benefit of a 'cheque to self' as opposed to simply paying for a product/service/whatever with the credit card, then paying back the debt over time?

      Sorry if these are really basic questions haha…

      • Baysew on 22/11/2018 - 17:47
        +1

        The product/service/whatever may not take a credit card. eg A medical procedure. - Doctors etc may not accept cards

        • fleetfeather on 22/11/2018 - 18:31

          Ahh gotcha. That makes sense. I guess that's also a good option in case someone wanted to convert a already paid-for purchase into a pay over time purchase (i.e. you could cheque to self, then deposit it into your savings account, then pay back the cheque over time)

          In my case, the specialist does take credit card, so I guess this is less of an issue for me

  • nica80 on 22/11/2018 - 16:54
    +1

    this is a great deal ATM:
    https://www.bankwest.com.au/personal/credit-cards/low-rate
    zero rate on purchases for 13 months not just balance transfers.

  • blonky on 22/11/2018 - 16:59
    +2

    Start with a card that gives you a decent sign up bonus - like the ANZ Black or Westpac Altitude for 120,000 Qantas points (or both and split across those cards to hit the min spend)

    Use that to pay for the surgery, then balance transfer onto something like the Citibank card with no interest for x months

    • fleetfeather on 22/11/2018 - 17:42

      What an OzB. Surely banks have systems in place to avoid punters doing something like this? the 120k points is roughly equiv to a $1500 return flight overseas

  • ixious on 22/11/2018 - 17:01
    +3

    Coles Platinum No Annual Fee Mastercard - 0% p.a. on purchases
    for 15 months

  • resisting the urge on 22/11/2018 - 20:26
    -2

    Not sure if 10k will make it fly, but it may be cheaper to get it done by a better surgeon at a better hospital in Thailand and have a holiday and bank some change?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hospitals_in_Thailand

    or the one everyone knows: https://www.bumrungrad.com

    If 10k does not net enough of a saving given the flight costs, maybe get something else done whilst you are there… even things like pathology/check-ups are very expensive to have done here.

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