In some cases, applying for medical credit cards might make sense. Some of the reasons people generally give for getting a healthcare credit card include paying for the bill associated with medical expenses related to things like IVF, egg transfer, and fertility treatments; managing an existing but well-controlled condition while having a little more of a cushion in the estimated household finances; helping to offset expensive treatments with a single monthly payment, or treating it as an investment and getting a bump in one’s credit rating by consistently paying overtime. None of these are a bad reason and depending on your actual financial situation, a medical credit card may help give you peace of mind if anything should happen that your health insurance plan won’t cover. However, there are some pitfalls you should be aware of too. Missing just one payment can adversely affect your credit score and undo all the progress you’ve already made. Even the best medical credit cards often have a high-interest rate attached to them, although some companies sometimes hide this among the fine print of their advertiser disclosure statements, or entice borrowers to ignore how much they’re likely to pay by offering a featured zero percent introductory APR for six, twelve or 24 months on approved credit. The catch is, if you don’t pay the entire amount by the time the introductory rate expires, you could get whacked with a 20-30% APR on the entire balance later, even if you were just a few payments away from being in the clear. Another factor that few people seem to know about medical credit cards is that, unlike conventional credit cards that can be used for almost any purpose, they’re very limited in what you can and cannot use them for. Some card issuers may allow you to use your medical credit card for dental financing up to a certain amount—but if your card won’t even cover the cost of your yearly checkup and cleaning, you’ll have to find another way to pay the difference. Some cards can be used for emergency hospital care, but not for routine healthcare, or vice versa, which means they may be completely useless at the time you most need them. Still, others require you to purchase X amount of permitted goods and services over a given time period to continue to qualify for the card; if you don’t buy, the card goes bye-bye! This doesn’t mean that having a medical credit card is a bad idea if your financial situation allows it. After all, having access to more ways to deal with the costs of unexpected or emergency medical care is not a bad thing for anyone, especially these days. However, if you want to get a medical credit card, we recommend you take a look at this article from the pros on the editorial team at NerdWallet featuring comprehensive reviews and ratings of the best credit cards for healthcare costs in 2022, broken down by respective category, rewards, ease of use and terms and limitations, so you can select the right card for your and your family’s needs. And if that medical credit card doesn’t get you where you want to be, or you find out it won’t pay for something that you were sure it would, then United Medical Credit is here to help you access the cash you need to finance your medical care—fast!