CareCredit loans with high interest rates offered at vulnerable moments, class action claims

CareCredit interest rates class action lawsuit overview: 

• Who: A consumer filed a class action lawsuit against Synchrony Bank. 
• Why: The class action lawsuit claims Synchrony Bank offers exploitative high-interest so-called CareCredit loans to consumers in need of financial help during emergency medical situations. 
• Where: The CareCredit class action was filed in New York federal court.

Synchrony Bank offers “exploitative” high-interest loans to individuals in need of emergency care at medical and veterinary offices, a new class action lawsuit alleges.

The class action lawsuit claims the so-called CareCredit loans offered by Synchrony Bank often carry “extraordinarily” high interest rates that are “above and beyond what is permitted by New York’s state usury law.” 

“To compound such matters, these loans are offered to consumers at extremely vulnerable moments in their lives – and they are unable to grasp the potential financial ruin that awaits them when they ultimately choose to pull the trigger on one of these usurious loans,” the CareCredit class action says. 

The consumer behind the complaint is seeking to represent a nationwide class of CareCredit account holders who signed up on the CareCredit website and who accrued interest above 16% per annum during the applicable statutory period. 

Class action says CareCredit interest rates can go up to 39.99%

The consumer argues the interest rate on a new CareCredit account is an “astonishing” 32.99% per annum as of May 30, 2024, and account holders who end up being late on payments can see their interest rate go as high as 39.99%. 

“(CareCredit’s) product is designed to take advantage of the flaws in the medical and veterinary services industries on the backs of unwitting consumers that they eventually crush under a mountain of debt,” the CareCredit class action says. 

The plaintiff claims Synchrony Bank is guilty of unjust enrichment and breach of good faith and fair dealing, and violating New York’s Deceptive Trade Practices Statute and Usury Laws.

They demand a jury trial and requests declaratory and injunctive relief and an award of compensatory, punitive, actual and statutory damages for themself and all class members.  

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Synchrony Bank — then known as GE Capital Bank — to pay $34.1 million in June 2014 to refund more than 1 million consumers who signed up for a CareCredit credit card under the belief they were interest free. 

Do you have a CareCredit account? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiff is represented by Javier L. Merino and Brian D. Flick of DannLaw, Jennifer Czeisler, Edward Ciolko and Arturo Pena of Sterlington, PLLC and Adam Pollock and Anna Menkova of Pollock Cohen LLP. 

The CareCredit interest rates class action lawsuit is S.G., et al. v. Synchrony Bank, Case No. 2:24-cv-05788, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

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