Will it hurt me to apply for a vet care credit card before discharge

[ccsjoe]

Sorry to hear about this empowered.

[warren49]

Although we were not in, or near BK, a few years ago we were dealing with job loss and a very sick dog. In the end, we had to make an extremely difficult decision that, in the long run was probably the best for the dog, but at the time was driven by our financial situation. It is something that I can personally understand, having had to deal with a very similar circumstance in the past. Even after 10 years, I get very emotional when I think about it.

[BKDebby]

Empowered, I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty, but she is now at the Bridge and free from pain. If it's any consolation, usually when they have kidney failure and it's in the later stages, you are lucky to have 6 more months with them, if that - even if you give them the IV fluids.

And it probably wouldn't matter now if you would have applied for Care Credit way before your BK or any of this happened, it's a good chance even if you have a zero balance with GE Money Bank, who is behind Care Credit, they would not keep your account open. I asked my lawyer about this last week when I filed, and he told me my chances are nil in keeping that card for my pet emergencies.

[empowered]

Hi bkdebby. Yes, after seeing what people wrote about Care Credit and its very low credit limits and the likelihood of losing the card after bankruptcy even if the company was not a creditor, it was pretty clear that, for pet emergencies, cash or pet insurance like Trupanion is the only way to go in bankruptcy. My kitty turned out not to have renal failure. I don't believe she'd been fully diagnosed at the time of my first posting on this issue. It was something else that didn't have to affect lifespan if only I had taken her to the vet sooner. I'm pretty certain that I would have taken her sooner, just to be on the safe side, if only I'd purchased the pet insurance that I considered earlier in the year (though I don't remember if it was the Trupanion brand insurance, which would have been preferred for this event) or still had some cash reserves. I'm stunned by how deeply this has affected me. I keep going over it in my mind... the point at which I noticed a change in her body, the fact that she was still eating and drinking and how I reassured myself that she was still eating so things were okay, the plan I had to get her checked out as soon as I started work again, within weeks... the point at which a positive outcome became an impossibility....

I hope that those among you who see themselves as "planning for bankruptcy" will create a plan that covers all members of your family -- feline and canine too -- if you can afford it at all. Six months of pet insurance for my cats would have cost me under $250.

warren49, thanks for writing about what happened to you and how emotional it makes you feel even now. I was struck by what you said.