Borrowing money for LASIK

[7on]

My PRK LASIK will be roughly $3198 and I want to look into financing. Something no interest LASIKPlus gave me a pamphlet from CareCredit offering a 12 month no interest with payments of $250. I can play less, (min is $90 or so) but if I don't pay it off in 12 it'll look like it'll be 22.98% interest accruing from Day one. It's not a problem making the payments, I was just wondering from the community if it sounds like a good deal.

Thanks!

EDIT: Looks like I can get 18 months for $178, don't know if it's worse than the 12 though.

 

[maestro55]

Obviously, if you can afford to make the payments and pay it off while in the 0% financing offer than do so. Most of get sucked into an offer like that intending to pay but then it gets on the back burner when you think "there is no interest so I will only pay the minimum this month". Pay it off and you have a good deal.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Obviously, if you can afford to make the payments and pay it off while in the 0% financing offer than do so. Most of get sucked into an offer like that intending to pay but then it gets on the back burner when you think "there is no interest so I will only pay the minimum this month". Pay it off and you have a good deal.

I truly agree with maestro. I technically financed my Lasik through a 401k loan. The interest rate was 4% set for 24 months (I set the time the current rate was set by the Fed no doubt). For me it was nice because I was paying myself back that interest so it wasn't really money lost. I did get the same offer you got, 12 months no-interest, but I elected not to do that because I felt paying myself back interest was a nice way to up my contribution to my 401k plan. I ended up paying it in 12 months anyway after I received some major bonus and I knew I may need the 401k loan again for a life event that was rather unavoidable (you can only have one 401k loan at a time).

I would go for it but work hard to ensure you never have to pay that interest. Paying interest on most anything is such a waste of money. If you can't get interest free for a period of time then I always recommend saving up if the item you're about to buy is more of a luxury item.