Whether you need to pay for dental work or several chiropractic visits, it’s important to read the fine print when considering Care Credit.

Life is often full of surprises, one of them being medical issues. Shoveling the driveway may lead to six weeks of chiropractic therapy, and eating that tempting caramel apple might land you in your dentist’s chair with the added bonus of a high dental bill to repair a cracked tooth.

While there are certain scenarios where you have the cash on hand, most people don’t have several hundred (or even thousands of) dollars to pay for an unexpected medical bill.

So what should you do? If it’s possible, try to set up a payment arrangement with your Louisville doctor’s or dentist’s office. If they agree to create a contract for a fixed monthly payment with no interest, that’s the way to go. If they tell you that they can’t do that, your next option is to dip into your savings or emergency fund.

If you don’t have enough cash in there, the third option is to charge the amount due onto a credit card. That being said, it’s important to note that you should judiciously open credit cards, as opening too many has quite a few downsides.

However, if you’re in a situation where the balance on your invoice is truly something that you can’t afford, opening a credit card with a 0% introductory APR can be a good option instead of using a card that you already have (since it would come with a high APR).

Care Credit is known for offering 0% interest rates upfront, which sounds perfect since it’s advertised as a “medical credit card.” That should be the perfect card for your medical bills, right? Not exactly.

There’s a huge catch: If you don’t pay the balance off in full after the introductory period is over, you’ll be charged in arrears for deferred interest on the entire initial balance.