Synchrony Launches Flexible Financial Solution for Pet Care

Consumer financing company Synchrony has begun rolling out a reimbursement process designed to provide an easy and flexible financial solution for pet care.

This solution connects pet insurance and Synchrony’s CareCredit health and wellness credit card so that insurance claim reimbursements can go directly to the card, the company said in a Wednesday (Oct. 9) press release emailed to PYMNTS.

“We understand the financial challenges pet parents face, especially with rising costs of care, so we keep pushing ourselves to innovate to solve for industry pain points,” Jonathan Wainberg, senior vice president and general manager of pet health and wellness at Synchrony, said in the release.

This new payment experience was launched in collaboration with Pets Best pet insurance, according to the release. Available for use by consumers who have both CareCredit and Pets Best, it connects the two solutions and streamlines the payment process by delivering a unified experience.

With this new offering, consumers take their pet to a vet office that accepts CareCredit, pay with their CareCredit credit card, file a claim with Pets Best and, when the claim is processed, receive an automatic reimbursement credit for eligible expenses directly to the credit card, the release said.

The reimbursement innovation will also be scaled to additional pet insurance brands in the future by Synchrony in collaboration with Independence Pet Holdings (IPH), a multibrand, multichannel pet insurance provider, per the release. One of IPH’s brands is Pets Best, according to the company’s website.

“This transformative process is just the first step in IPH’s joint efforts with Synchrony to make pet healthcare payments as simple and integrated as possible,” IPH Chairman Dirk Beeckman said in the release. “We look forward to continuing to build our partnership and scaling this solution out to additional pet insurance brands under the IPH umbrella in the coming months.”

Synchrony is providing financing solutions and budget-friendly alternatives to assist in covering pet-related expenses ranging from the veterinarian to the groomer to pet insurance, Wainberg told PYMNTS in an interview posted in January.

“People are still bringing pets into their family and at increased rates. And they are spending more,” Wainberg said.