I have my first consultation for VSG in less than 2 weeks and I'm so excited! Unfortunately, my insurance doesn't cover the procedure so I need to somehow pull the money together myself. Since I don't have anywhere near enough cash, I was planning on putting a portion of the cost on a credit card. However, I just started noticing different companies that provide surgery loans. So I was wondering if anyone had used one of these companies, and if so, do you have any advice for me? Thanks!

I have my first consultation for VSG in less than 2 weeks and I'm so excited! Unfortunately, my insurance doesn't cover the procedure so I need to somehow pull the money together myself. Since I don't have anywhere near enough cash, I was planning on putting a portion of the cost on a credit card. However, I just started noticing different companies that provide surgery loans. So I was wondering if anyone had used one of these companies, and if so, do you have any advice for me? Thanks!

I was going to finance my surgery; however, certain things happened and I was able to cancel my loan. I went through SurgeryLoan.com ... they approved me; however, the interest rate was high (15.9%) and they wanted to charge me a "service fee" of almost $1800. I was glad I didn't have to get the loan; although I would have done so if circumstances hadn't happened as they did.

I have heard that ChoiceCard (?) or something along those lines is pretty good and reasonable ... I've even heard you can use it for surgery on your pet!

Not sure if that is any help or not, I hope so. And good luck to you with your surgery.

I have heard that ChoiceCard (?) or something along those lines is pretty good and reasonable ... I've even heard you can use it for surgery on your pet!.

I think you are talking about Care Credit (13% interest). And yes you can use the card at Vets! Kinda Cool in my book! But, you can't use it in Mexico. Surgery Loans you can, Cosmi Credit you can. I am approved for some sort of amount through all of them at this point as well as a Personal Loan through Capital One. Care Credit seems like the way to go, but I am on the fence on where I want to go, and don't want to be limited by who takes the card I have. So, I might just go with a Loan pay a bit more in interest but have total choice. So to answer the original poster's question half-way, I have not used any of these cards, but they are out there! Depending on you interest on you Credit Cards now, the surgery cards may be a lower interest rate! But I would take Vegasangel's advise and look into any other "fees" as well-

Hope this kinda helps, good luck!

I am paying cash, however if I needed to I would use my credit card before getting a loan. If you have good credit you can ask for a check from the company...tell them you are going to deposit it to pay off other cards or something, typically they charge a 3% fee (there are some that have a limit on the fee of like $150). You can check all of your cards to see if one will offer you a great transfer rate for a year or so...most right now are around 2.9%. Take the balance (unless your original cards rate was already low) and transfer it to the low balance card. If you do it right you can finance your surgery for around $600 extra + the 2.9%. I had to become creative while my husband was in grad school and first starting out in his practice, I did this a few times! It ended up saving us so much money in the long run, especially since at that time you could get 0% transfers and I would just keep transferring. However right now the transfer rates are a bit higher. Best of luck, hope this helps!

Thanks, everyone! It sounds like some of those companies can really gouge you. An $1,800 service fee sounds unbelievably excessive on top of a 15.9% interest rate. It also didn't occur to me that the financing might limit my choice of doctor. That is definitely a concern. Anyway, I appreciate the advice.

If you're going to Mexico and using a credit card, make sure you call the card company. They will charge an extra 3% typically so you need to see if they will waive the fee. Also, call the surgeon's coordinator and ask them who they suggest for financing.

If you have a house you could also do an "Equity line of credit" and this type of loan is less than 5% interest and the good thing is you only have to PAY 1% of the total amount each month. so let's say you take out 15 thousand- your payment would be $150.00 each month. This is a much cheaper way to go- So you might want to look into that option as well if your a home owner..

I agree with a HELOC. If that is an option for you, it could be your best bet. The interest paid from a HELOC is tax deductable as well. Good luck finding financing.

I financed part of mine. I was going to use Med Choice but they were only given me half of what I needed, then I found out that since my doctor is in Mexico they would not be able to do the loan. They told me to apply to their visa card. I did this with several medical loan companies. Each time they came back with the interest rate it was something like 22% + other fees.

I thought about putting it on my credit card but then the card company charges you 3% because it is out of the country and the doctor was going to charge me their finance fee 5%. That is 8% more to my credit card interest rate.

I ended up taking a loan with Lendingclub.com. If you have a credit score of 670 and above you qualify. Then different members loan you money. You have to write up a summary of why you need the money. Pretty cool concept.

I got the money and paid my doctor with Paypal. Paypal guarantees your money. If you cancel the surgery or something happens and you dispute it with Paypal you may get the money back instead of loosing it.

I forgot to mention if you use a credit card. You should ask your doctor if they use Paypal. Then you should register your credit card with Paypal and have the deduction made from the credit card as if you are paying for something bought online. This way the credit card will not charge you the 3% interest for using it in a foreign country and neither will the doctor (incase they charge finance fees that are applied to them)

I fretted over how to get the money for about a week, then I decided to try my credit union. I had just paid off my car, so as long as this new loan payment was less than my car payment, I was going to be ok. I ended up getting approved and with a 6.9% interest, which was much better for me than care credit. Anyhow, if you have the option, that's my suggestion! Best of luck.