It escalates in a fixed order, and the expensive part is not the one most people brace for. Here is the whole sequence with the actual numbers from the account agreement.
CareCredit is a Synchrony Bank credit card, so non-payment follows the same escalation path as any other card — with one addition that makes it considerably worse than a normal card. That addition is deferred interest, and it does not wait for you to default. It fires on a calendar date.
Notice where the biggest single number sits. It is not at the end. The deferred interest release is triggered by a date on your promotion, not by how far behind you are — which means someone who has never missed a payment and someone who stopped paying entirely can both get hit with it, on the same day, for the same amount.
The account agreement sets the late payment fee at $30 if you have paid the minimum on time in each of the prior six billing cycles, and $41 if you have not. A returned payment carries a fee of up to $41 as well.
The detail worth knowing: under the agreement's own balance math, late fees, returned payment fees and paper statement fees are “treated as new purchases.” They do not sit inert on the account. They join the balance and start accruing interest at the purchase APR immediately.
Card issuers generally do not report a payment as late until it is 30 days past due. This is standard industry reporting practice rather than a term of the CareCredit agreement, but it holds across essentially all major issuers.
Practically, that gives you a window. A payment that is four days late costs you a fee. A payment that is 31 days late costs you a fee and a delinquency on all three credit reports, where under the Fair Credit Reporting Act it can remain for up to seven years from the date of first delinquency. If you are going to be late, being late by less than a month is a materially different outcome than being late by more.
The standard purchase APR is 32.99%, at a daily rate of .09039%. The penalty APR is 39.99%, at a daily rate of .10957%.
The trigger is specific, and it is more forgiving than most people assume: the penalty rate may be applied if the total minimum payment is not received by the due date two or more times during any 12 consecutive billing cycles. One miss does not do it. Two do — and they do not have to be back to back. A miss in February and a miss in November are enough.
On duration, the agreement is blunt: the penalty APR “may remain in effect indefinitely.” The account is reviewed “from time to time” to see whether a reduction is appropriate, with nothing promised. This is the consequence in the list that has no natural expiry date, and it is the one worth the most effort to avoid. Details on the mechanics are in the grace period and late fee guide.
This is the large one, and it operates on its own schedule regardless of your payment history.
Interest on a promotional purchase begins accruing on the purchase date and accumulates in the background for the entire promotional period. If the promotional balance is not $0.00 on the expiration date, all of it is charged to your account at once, calculated back to the day of the purchase.
That range is an estimate from the average balance carried across the promotional term at 32.99%; your actual figure depends on how quickly you paid down and on your exact plan length. The CareCredit calculator works it from your own numbers. What does not vary is the structure: reaching exactly zero waives the entire reserve, and finishing a few dollars short releases nearly all of it.
After the release, the deferred interest is simply part of your balance, and the agreement's stated method compounds daily — each day's interest is added to the next day's balance.
Take the example above: roughly $2,429 owed and no payments made. At the 32.99% purchase APR that balance grows to approximately $2,860 after six months. At the 39.99% penalty APR it reaches roughly $2,970 over the same period. Doing nothing is not a neutral choice on this card.
If the account stays unpaid, the standard industry practice for revolving credit is to charge off the account at around 180 days delinquent. A charge-off does not erase the debt — it reclassifies it. The balance is typically sold or assigned to a collection agency, a separate collection entry may appear on your credit reports, and depending on your state and the amount, the debt can be pursued in court within that state's statute of limitations. Charge-off and collection entries generally remain on a credit report for seven years from the original date of first delinquency.
Paying the promotional balance in full — including with a true 0% intro APR transfer — waives the entire deferred interest reserve.
Compare balance-transfer options →Related: Grace Period and Late Fees · Can't Pay It Off in Time? · Missing the Deadline · Charged Interest After Paying It Off
Rates, fees and quoted terms are taken from the CareCredit Credit Card Account Agreement (Synchrony Bank), revision 3/2026, reviewed 2026-08-10. Credit reporting timelines, charge-off timing and statute-of-limitations rules are general industry and regulatory practice, not terms of that agreement, and vary by issuer and state. Dollar figures shown are estimates for illustration. Card terms change — verify against your own agreement and statements before acting.
Enter your balance and promotional expiration date. The calculator shows the payment that clears it in time — and what missing it would release.
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