I know this is a Long Long Shot but I need help with financing....

[Lilpeach_059 0]

The problem with surgery loans is that they are unsecured loans so your credit has to be higher. A friend of mine is going through this right now. Every single surgery loan company has told her the same thing, for a surgery loan you have to be around 675-700 before they will even consider it. :cursing:(

Yea I figured the range would be a a little high, thats why I recommended credit repair. Going from a 615 to 675 can be done in a few months with the things I recommended--as well as paying off accounts that will make your score rise, and not the ones that will make your score drop. My most recent client went from a 516 to 535 in less than 2 months by following some of these guidelines! :tongue2:

[keithf 2]

I have good credit. Like in the 615's not great but not bad. I am trying to have surgery before I end up tipping the scales past 256.... I have tried to apply for care credit, surgeryloans.com, etc. but no one will finance because I have too many inquiries.

Okay. First -- don't panic. Weight is just a number. BMI is just a number. They do not actually matter. What matters is your ability to function and live a healthy life.

You *can* start doing that without WLS: I just had surgery yesterday morning, after spending two months losing about 40# or so of my excess. That in itself improved my quality of life significantly -- increased flexibility, endurance, bloodwork, you name it.

The surgery is simply an (expensive) tool to help you maintain the healthy habit which comes from your own efforts -- not the surgeon's. If you can in fact do it on your own, you'll be a few thousand dollars richer. If you can't, you'll still have bought yourself time to accumulate the money and credit you need (eating less, and being more healthy, costs less).

As for credit? Good credit takes time. Better credit (no-cosignor) takes even longer. Here are some things I learned on the way:

- Credit must be active. This was mentioned by someone else. You need to have live accounts that *demonstrate* you are credit worthy. You must be willing to use credit while maintaining a good buffer between your balance and your total credit available.

- Credit needs to have longevity. You need to have several years of credit in good standing to get full benefit from it. Young accounts with high limits and low rates help, but older accounts help more.

- *STOP SHOPPING FOR CREDIT!* .. Each application you initiate drops your credit score by about 2 points or so for a temporary, but measurable time, as I measured by watching my score on Experian. This includes inquiries for credit cards, loans, utilities, housing, et cetera. What lendors will see is that you're shopping around, and they'll wonder why: are you desperate for credit, rather than interested in a good rate (in which case why don't you just cut for the chase and apply for the one good card after responsible research?). They'll wonder why you're being denied. That doesn't look good.

Of course, this doesn't apply for simply checking your credit history, which you are entitled to do for free once a year by law. Just do it through the credit bureaus.

- Verify your credit history at the bureaus. Each of them. Different lendors use different bureaus, and as I discovered to my horror, the information in each can vary wildly. Sometimes credit history gets reported multiple times due to shoddy work on the part of creditors (for example, my college loans were in a bad state once -- long ago, thankfully -- and reported *three* times due to sales of the note, even though by law they could only appear once, and only as the original loan, not a new loan dating from the sale date). You must check and correct this: it has the potential to greatly increase your score. This is what "credit repair" shops do, only many of them do it by disputing every credit line whether legitmate or not. Disputing legitimate credit could potentially do more harm than good. Naturally, if you have had a bad credit experience in the past, potential lendors have the right to know that when taking you on as a credit risk.

- Credit scores vary by credit bureau: Experian, Equifax, and Transunion all have slightly different calculations they use for determining credit score. You should get the scores from all three in addition to verifing your history. I myself actually subscribed to Experian so I could pull my credit report as often as I like with no adverse effects. I still do.

Remembering this, you can ensure your credit rating reflects just how good a risk you really are. But, again, that takes time. I started around the 15th percentil for credit. I'm now around the 99th. hinting to my bank to increase the credit limit on my existing cards was a good start. A few of those and my credit buffer became quite large. That little trip took less than ten years of being clever: if I hadn't sent a lot of letters off to clean things up, it would have taken longer.

Good luck on all accounts. In the meantime, consider mimicking how you might live leading to surgery, and you ought to be able to slow the upward trend on the scale long enough to get that loan. You've already shown the motivation, right?

[greytz 4]

I wish this was true but when it comes to WLS it isn't. It's a different premium that you have to pay and if it's excluded, it IS excluded.

There was a woman that contacted me about a year ago, she weighs 600#. She has ins, but WLS is excluded. She tried everything, she has every comorbidity (heart disease, HPT, kidney damage, diabetes, severe edema, you name it, she has it), I put her in touch with a WLS ins guru who knows every trick in the book and it was fruitless. She just gained more weight fighting it. She hired an attorney to fight it and just spent about $750 fighting a fruitless battle.

Ins will pay to replace joints, meds for high blood pressure, insulin for diabetes, they'll pay a LOT more money than needed to fix the problems of obesity but if your boss doesn't pay that WLS premium then they will not cover it.

Well, again it depends on a lot of factors and she shouldn't give up until she has tried everything just as you said. It can be discouraging but I don't think she has the kind of finances to do what some people are able to do. The appeal division is an option. If they say no, then they do but she can at least try it.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Well, again it depends on a lot of factors and she shouldn't give up until she has tried everything just as you said. It can be discouraging but I don't think she has the kind of finances to do what some people are able to do. The appeal division is an option. If they say no, then they do but she can at least try it.

I'm not suggesting she shouldn't appeal it but I do tend to disagree with what you wrote earlier:

Try your insurance company again and find a new doctor that will help you. I used to work for an insurance company so I know that if the doctor does and says the right things the insurance company will usually pick up some percentage of it.

If WLS is excluded they do not usually pick up a percentage of it. It's like having auto insurance and when there is a fire in your home wanting your auto insurance to pay for the house fire. If you don't have home owners ins then auto ins isn't going to cover it. If you have major medical and no WLS benefits then MM isn't going to cover WLS. It's not a practice I agree with in the least but that is how they look at it. It's a stupid practice IMHO on the part of Ins Co's.

I would just hate to see someone continue to gain weight and spend money on lawyers when that money and time might be better spent focusing on self pay.

[greytz 4]

I'm not suggesting she shouldn't appeal it but I do tend to disagree with what you wrote earlier:

If WLS is excluded they do not usually pick up a percentage of it. It's like having auto insurance and when there is a fire in your home wanting your auto insurance to pay for the house fire. If you don't have home owners ins then auto ins isn't going to cover it. If you have major medical and no WLS benefits then MM isn't going to cover WLS. It's not a practice I agree with in the least but that is how they look at it. It's a stupid practice IMHO on the part of Ins Co's.

I would just hate to see someone continue to gain weight and spend money on lawyers when that money and time might be better spent focusing on self pay.

I never once suggested a lawyer and on that we agree.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

I never once suggested a lawyer and on that we agree.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you did suggest a lawyer. I was referring to the person I wrote of earlier that did spend $750 to get an ins co to pay for something that is specifically excluded.

By all means, the OP should go through the appeal process, I just didn't want her getting her hopes up too much. (

[maryrose 2]

A lot of insurance companies now make you wait six months anyway under a supervised diet program.

Can you start saving money get established with a good Lap Band doc and start saving your money?

This will give you time to lose some weight too.

Just a suggestion.

I know this will take longer, but I'm two years out and still working on it, as many others are.