Best Sources of Financing?

[gynecomastiabreastredux]

I need to finance about $4000 of the surgery costs. I do not have a credit card. What sources of financing do you recommend?

My doctor's office gave me CareCredit and SurgeryLoans.com pamphlets. CareCredit's rate is high (15%). I haven't gotten my particular rate for SurgeryLoans, but they start at 5.9%

I'd love to hear your recommendations and experiences with these sources of financing.

Thanks!

[jph]

CareCredit is through GE financing which is pretty reputable. As long as you have good credit I don't see why it would be a problem. I don't know how not having a credit card would look on your credit history but if you keep up with the payments (and maybe are able to pay a little more than the minimum if you have fixed payments) then you can drive the actual percentage rate down and end up paying less interest. Just be careful if you take a "no payments til 20xx" option since those have very high rates after the no-payment period and are tempting for you to not think about payments until the balance is due. Whichever way you go, if you are able to start paying now then go for it.

I am having surgery in about a week and a half and signed up for CareCredit. It's easy and fast to do. Already received my first statement and scheduled the payment!

[gynecomastiabreastredux]

Thanks for the feedback, JPH. My doctor doesn't accept the 12 month plan where CareCredit offers 0% interest. Instead, I'd have to accept 15% interest, which seems steep to me.

Did you shop around at all? Why did you choose CareCredit (aside from reliability)?

[jph]

I didn't shop around. I chose it since it was the easiest and I plan on paying more than what's billed each month so the interest isn't so high. Another option you have is to start with CareCredit and then get a lower interest Visa/MasterCard/etc. and transfer the balance from CareCredit to your new card. Or, to avoid that all together, just start out with a regular credit card. Most doctors take those too and the interest might be lower.

[gynecomastiabreastredux]

Thanks JPH

I searched around the web and these forums and concluded there are really only 3 options:

- CareCredit: Run by GE and generally well referenced by many plastic surgeons. Some doctors participate in the 12 month, 0% options. Mine does not. After that, the rate is 15% plus, which is a little steep - http://www.carecredit.com/

- SurgeryLoans: I don't know who runs the company, but they're all over the web for cosmetic surgery financing. Rates are currently 5 - 18%, depending upon the length of the loan, size of the loan and your credit history - http://www.surgeryloans.com/patients/

- Personal credit cards: Assuming you can get one with a high enough limit and a better interest rate than a loan, every plastic surgeon accepts them. Here's a useful article on selecting the right card from a blog that I trust - http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/09/09/credit-card-basics-how-to-choose-a-credit-card/

Several of the old threads on financing gynecomastia surgery refer to Capital One Healthcare Financing. However, they are no longer accepting applications - http://www.capitalone.com/healthcarefinance/

Hope that helps anyone else who is looking to pay for their operations

-GMR