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Dear Clever Credit: I Need to Pay for a Dental Procedure. What Credit Card Do I Use?

By U.S. News & World Report

Dear Clever Credit.

I want to pay a dental bill with a credit card, but I don’t know which one. The cost will be around $1,000 to $2,000, and health care doesn’t need to be a top-spending category. My credit score is in the high 700s, and I already have the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card, so I prefer cash back. I’m looking for 0% APR for at least a year and any additional benefits for my situation.

Signed,

Tragic and Toothsome

Dear Toothsome,

My first instinct was to recommend a medical credit card like CareCredit. But since you only plan to use this new credit card for one medical purchase and no other in the near future, I think you’re better off with a general credit card with a long 0% introductory annual percentage rate period. This is especially true since CareCredit is a deferred-interest product, not an interest-free one. This means at the end of your promotional period, if you still have a balance left over, you don’t pay interest on just the remaining balance; you have to pay interest on the initial balance.

[Read: 0% Introductory APR Credit Cards]

Instead, I recommend you get a rewards credit card with a 0% introductory APR and take advantage of the sign-up bonus. One such option is the Discover it® Cash Back. This card offers a 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months, then 17.49% to 26.49% variable APR. And instead of a traditional sign-up bonus, Discover will match all the cash back you earn at the end of your first year.

Since the Discover it Cash Back has rotating categories, you can earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places you shop each quarter when you activate. Keep in mind that you have to activate these categories every quarter. There’s also a quarterly cap of $1,500; after that, you earn 1% cash back.

The card has no annual fee, and its rewards categories could pair well with your Capital One Savor card. Here’s hoping your new credit card doesn’t come with a root canal!

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Dear Clever Credit: I Need to Pay for a Dental Procedure. What Credit Card Do I Use? originally appeared on usnews.com

Update 04/06/26: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.

Powerball hits $1 billion for tonight’s drawing, the biggest US lottery jackpot of the year

By CNN
(CNN) — The Powerball jackpot has climbed to an estimated $1 billion after no ticket won the grand prize Monday night, marking the first billion-dollar Powerball jackpot since a player in Arkansas took home $1.8 billion on Christmas Eve last year.Wednesday night’s drawing will be the 44th consecutive drawing in the current jackpot run, and the prize ranks as the eighth-largest in Powerball history, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which administers the game.The winning numbers from Monday night’s drawing were 6, 37, 54, 55 and 64, and a red Powerball 10, with a Power Play multiplier of 3.If a player hits the jackpot Wednesday, they can choose between an annuitized prize estimated at $1 billion, paid in 30 graduated payments over 29 years, or a lump sum payment estimated at $433.1 million. Both figures are before taxes. Some states, including Florida, Texas and Tennessee, do not tax lottery winnings, and most Powerball and other major lottery winners choose the lump sum over annuity payments.Although no one won the $905 million jackpot Monday, some ticket holders still won sizable prizes, according to Powerball. One ticket sold in Tennessee matched all five white balls and included the Power Play option to win $2 million. Two other tickets, sold in California and Maryland, matched the five white numbers to win the $1 million Match 5 prize. In California, the payout can vary based on ticket sales and the number of winners.The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot are approximately 1 in 292.2 million. For perspective, a person has a better chance of being struck by lightning in a given year — a 1 in 1.22 million chance, according to the National Weather Service. The odds of being killed by a shark over a lifetime are roughly 1 in 4.3 million, according to the International Shark Attack File.No one has won the grand prize in more than three months, since two players in Florida and Texas split a $20 million prize on May 2.The size of this jackpot is no anomaly. Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots have grown larger over the past several years, driven by game redesigns that lengthened the odds of winning, more frequent drawings and an expanded player pool.Three winners in Florida, California and Tennessee became the first to claim a jackpot over $1 billion when they split a $1.586 billion Powerball prize in 2016.The largest Powerball prize on record — $2.04 billion — was won in California in 2022. Last year’s $1.8 billion Arkansas jackpot ranks second.Powerball tickets are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and the United Kingdom. Drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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