options for financing lapband / self pay

[bobdole 0]

Hello Everyone,

My girlfriend is wanting lapband surgery and I will be financing it for her. We will be using Dr.Ortiz of the Obesity Control Center in Tijuana. We've checked him out thoroughly and like him. Anyways, I contacted Welcome to Citerra Financial and they needed my gf's name and info as well. They said they the banks they apply to require the patient information. I have good credit (700+ credit - was approved for a 150k mortgage a few months ago, didn't take it due to some other circumstances but was approved), and hers is not so good. They said all the banks rejected the applications due to this.

I am trying to investigate what other options we have. I know if I go and try to apply to a similar financing service for medical loans this will probably happen again and that every denial can negatively affect your credit.

I called my local bank (regions) and they suggested either a "personal loan" ranging from 11-20% fixed interest 3 year term or a line of credit (variable rate, she said its ~9% now).

The line of credit seems the better choice to me, the bank said it functions pretty much like a credit card. That there are minimal monthly payments and you can pay it off as quickly or whatever rate you want. My gf is trying to get on disability (denied the typical 3 times, now got a lawyer and going to a hearing). The laywer says there shouldn't be any problem pushing it through so she will getting a lump sum in backpay from the first time she applied which she plans to give to me to pay off the loan I get.

I do however like to plan for the worst, just my nature. So if I assume she doesn't get disability and I end up having to pay it off (i'm ok with this), which option in your opinions would be better? The only loan I have every received was my car loan and I got a bit screwed on it so I'm being much more careful this time.

If there are any other options for us that you know of please make them known.

Thank you.

We will be borrowing ~8500 dollars

Edited July 25, 2008 by bobdole

[Yvonne72 0]

I use Care Credit... It's for medical loans. My card is in my Mom's name and they only needed a signed letter w/ a notary stamp on it stating it was o.k. for me to use her card!

Just go to Carecredit.com

1st you'll want to make sure the surgeon accepts it!

Good luck and what a nice thing you are doing for your friend...

[cranberry31 0]

Hi,

I was horrified by care credit and Citerra personally, they are predatory lenders, they charged a hideoulsly high interest rate of almost 15 % and there was a charge/fee of $2500 for a $10K loan, yopu could pay it off in a year with no penalties but you would still pay that 25% fee.

I ended up getting a $7000 cash advance from my credit card for a $100 fee and a 1.9% for 12 months, the interest rate defaults to 9.9% on the unpaid balance after AUG 2009. you could check with your credit card companies to see if they have a special promo.

[Long2BFree 12]

You sound like a very special guy to finance the surgery for her. You are a keeper!

I looked at the amount you want to finance. Will that cover the fills once she gets back to the US?

[bobdole 0]

Thanks for the replies. My gf and I have been together for a little over a year. We basically live as we're married and both know we will be. I just can't propose to her until her condition improves some (extremely low energy - has severe fibromyalgia). We're both hoping this surgery will help her lose weight which will in turn lessen her chronic pain, give her more energy, and improve her self esteem.

cranberry - 2.5k ontop of the interest you would pay for the 10k? That is rather absurd. I'll look and see if my credit card company has any loan promotions, thats a good idea. Thank you.

Long2bfree - the 8.5k is 7.5k to cover the surgery (+500 deposit i gave them a week ago) and the remainding 1k for airfare, 2 extra hotel nights, and a bit of walking around money. This would cover fills if we were to return to dr.ortiz, but i don't think $600+ in airfare per trip is worth just getting filled locally and paying out of pocket. Its $100-300 from what I've seen.

I can afford the loan payment no problem, just don't happen to have any cash saved up at the moment. I also just got an 8k raise at my job that will become effective next month.

If anyone has any more ideas please enlighten me.

Edited July 26, 2008 by bobdole

[ImGonnaLose 0]

I second the credit card idea. I put mine on my Amex, and then did a balance transfer to by BoA Visa card (0% until March '09). After that, it goes back to my regular rate of 9.9%, but I plan to play the balance transfer game with another card. I just need to remember to keep track of balance transfer fees and make sure the switch between cards is cost-effective.

[bobdole 0]

A question: If I got something like carecredit or a line of credit from a bank would that be considered a credit card payment from the doctors point of view? They info packet said paymets made with credit cards incur a $300 processing fee, which is of course rather gay and I'd like to avoid it.

[bobdole 0]

I ended up going with a $8500 "line of credit" from Regions Bank with interest rate currently at 8.5%(varies as fed rate +2.5). I got approved for 2 loans, one with my credit union for 10.9% and another from regions at 13% i think it was.

[LeannMorton 0]

capital One or Care Creidt is great!! I think it will work for you and you can fill it out on line, and they tell you in 2 minutes if your approved!!

[Long2BFree 12]

Thanks for the replies. My gf and I have been together for a little over a year. We basically live as we're married and both know we will be. I just can't propose to her until her condition improves some (extremely low energy - has severe fibromyalgia). We're both hoping this surgery will help her lose weight which will in turn lessen her chronic pain, give her more energy, and improve her self esteem.

Just marry the girl! You say that you live liked you are married and know you will marry, so why wait? It almost sounds like in the back of your mind that you want that option to leave her if her weight/health situation doesn't improve.

[bobdole 0]

I know you mean well but you don't have hardly any knowledge of who we are or of our relationship. I can't marry someone until I'm sure I'll be happy with her for the long run. There are aspects of our relationship that have to change before I can marry her (not personality or anything like that). This is one of the reasons I'm doing this, I want to marry her so I'm trying to make it happen.