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Synchrony Car Care™ credit card review

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Kliment Dukovski
Last updated:  

A store card for gas purchases and car maintenance.

  • Get this card if you want to pay your car services within six months with promotional financing.
  • Pick something else if you want to earn rewards on your purchases.
  • Apply with a good to excellent credit score of 670 or higher.

$0

Annual fee

29.99%

Purchase APR

670

Recommended credit score

Details

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Review by

Kliment Dukovski is a credit cards writer. He's written over 600 articles to help readers find and compare the best credit cards. Kliment has also written on money transfers, home loans and more. Previously, he ghostwrote guides and articles on foreign exchange, stock market trading and cryptocurrencies.

Expert review

If you need a credit card with a $0 annual fee to pay for gas or car services, the Synchrony Car Care™ credit card may be worth a look. What’s cool about this card is that even though it’s not a standard credit card, it’s accepted at more than 700,000 merchants. This includes popular ones like Exxon, Chevron, Yokohama and Continental. Other gas stations and car service merchants also accept this card, which gives you more flexibility.

Now, don’t expect to earn rewards on your purchases or get any discounts. That’s not what this card is about. What you get instead is promotional financing on your purchases. Here’s how it works: Say you want to get new tires that cost $600. You can buy them now and pay them off in six monthly installments of $100 without paying any interest. But beware — Should you fail to pay off your balance in full before the six months are up, you’ll pay interest of 29.99% accrued from the day you made your purchase.

Because of that, applying for the Synchrony Car Care™ credit card makes sense only if you can’t — or don’t want to — pay for your larger car purchases at once. But if that’s not a problem for you, a gas credit card with rewards or a car service card with rewards may be a better choice.

How to apply for the Synchrony Car Care™ credit card

  1. Go to the provider's site and click Apply now.
  2. Fill out the application form.
  3. Review the form and submit.

Card benefits

  • Promotional financing on purchases. This card’s main feature is six months of promotional financing on purchases of $199 or more. But you must pay your balance in full before the six months pass or you’ll accrue interest at the ongoing APR of 29.99%.
  • Accepted at many merchants. Synchrony claims there are more than 700,000 gas stations and merchants that accept this card including 7-eleven, BP, Exxon, Chevron, Yokohama, Continental, Mytireshop.com, Toyota, Hendrick and more.
  • No annual fee. You won’t pay an annual fee for this card.

What to watch out for

  • A store card. You can only use this card at participating merchants.
  • No signup bonus. Unlike many store and credit cards, with the Synchrony Car Care™ credit card, you won’t earn any bonus upon signup.
  • No rewards. You won’t earn any rewards on your purchases.
  • Promotional financing is not a 0% intro APR period. If your purchase qualifies for promotional financing, be sure to pay your balance in full by the end of the six month period. If you don’t, you’ll pay interest from the day you made your purchase. And considering the card has a 29.99% APR, this can add up.

Promotional financing example

Say you buy your tires for $600. You can buy them now and pay them off in six monthly payments of $100. But if you’re late on your last payment, or if you fail to fully pay off the $600 balance within the six months, you’ll pay interest of around $95. So the $600 tires will actually cost you $695.

The larger your purchase, the more interest you’ll accrue if you fail to pay your balance on time.

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Bottom line

If you’re looking for a card to pay for gas or a car service within six months with no interest, the Synchrony Car Care™ credit card could be worth considering. But if you’re looking to earn rewards on your gas purchases, consider a gas credit card.

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