CareCredit Expands Payment Plans to 95% of US Veterinary Hospitals

Synchrony’s CareCredit card is now offered at 95% of veterinary university hospitals.

The company announced the milestone Wednesday (Sept. 13), along with new partnerships with Virginia Tech, the University of Missouri and Oregon State University, making CareCredit a financing option for pet owners who use those schools’ hospitals.

“For decades, veterinary university programs and hospitals have been an invaluable resource for pet owners,” Jonathan Wainberg, senior vice president and general manager for Synchrony’s pet business, said in a news release. “By partnering with veterinary universities, we’re both expanding access to simple, flexible financing options for pet parents to pay for veterinary care and connecting veterinarians with the education and resources they need to thrive in today’s workforce.”

CareCredit is accepted at 28 of the nation’s 29 universities with public veterinary hospitals that serve pets, as well as more than 25,000 veterinary providers, according to the release. Vets refer pet owners to these hospitals due to their budget-friendly solutions.

As PYMNTS noted last month, 70% of pet owners view their pets as family members or even children. And one-third require emergency veterinary treatment every year.

Last year, CareCredit revealed that pet owners could expect care expenses ranging from $20,000 to $55,000 for dogs and $15,000 to $45,000 for cats over their pets’ lifetimes, and that about 30 million U.S. households had faced unexpected pet expenses.

An emergency expense of $500 would “cause incredible duress for over 50% of pet owners,” Wainberg told PYMNTS in August. When a customer becomes a CareCredit user for the first time, they typically spend approximately $1,100.

Even with inflation causing consumers to cut back, pet care is one area where people aren’t willing to spare expenses, according to PYMNTS Intelligence.

Data from the study “Consumer Inflation Sentiment Report: Consumers Cut Back by Trading Down” found that while 47% of all shoppers have switched to a less costly merchant for at least one grocery product, just 19% of shoppers have searched for less expensive merchants for pet food and supplies.