Beware of Deceptive Financing

Zero interest rate—good deal or bad?

Advertised LASIK financing can often be deceptive and difficult to decipher. Sometimes intentionally so. A number of LASIK surgery chains routinely quote: zero down payment 18 or 24 months, zero interest rate. This only tells half the story. Instead of directly charging you interest, these chains simply increase the price you pay for your refractive surgery. In other words, the cost of paying over time is built into the price they charge you for the surgery.

Example: *No Interest for 18 Months!!*
What this means: *Applies to purchases of $300 or more made on the credit card account. Under the promotion, no finance charges will be assessed on the promotional purchase as long as: (1) pay the promo purchase amount in full within 3, 6, 12 or 18 months (the “promo period”) and (2) pay, when due, the minimum monthly payment on your account, which includes a required minimum monthly payment on the promo purchase. If you fail to satisfy either of the above conditions or account balance exceeds credit limit, all special promo terms may be terminated and finance charges may be assessed on promo purchase amount from date of purchase. On promotions requiring a minimum payment, payments over the minimum will usually be applied to those promo balances before non-promo and other balances. If you have a non-promo balance, this may reduce the benefit from the promo. Optional debt cancellation charges on promo purchase are not deferred and are not subject to the promo terms. Standard card agreement terms apply to non-promo purchases and existing accounts. Variable APR is approximately 22.98% and variable delinquency APR of 28.99% applies if the minimum payment not made by payment due date, payment not honored or credit line exceeded.