Although plastic surgery procedures were once thought to be activities for wealthy people to spend their excess money on, they are now more accessible to the mainstream. The main reason “regular people” are able to undergo surgical procedures that were previously considered off-limits is due to funding. Now it’s possible to finance your cosmetic surgery and make payments, just like you would for any expensive product you couldn’t afford all at once.
Some surgeons have financing options available through their office, while all other common financing options are up for grabs as well. Some of the procedures that patients consider financing include facelifts, liposuction, breast augmentation or reduction, arm, thigh and buttock lifts, nose or ear reshaping, facial implants and some injectable treatments.
Most cosmetic surgery procedures aren’t exactly cheap, and unless there’s a medical reason to do it, your insurance probably won’t help you at all. Some of the common cosmetic surgery financing methods include a line of credit, a regular credit card, a specific medical credit card, and a payment plan directly from the surgeon’s office. You can also get a regular loan from the and pay the procedure that way.
Of course, financing your plastic surgery has its good points and its bad points. Here are some of the pros and cons to help you make a decision before your procedure.
advantages
The most obvious positive aspect of financing your plastic surgery is that you won’t have to wait to proceed. Regardless of the specific treatment you want to receive, you most likely want it because of a current problem you have with your body or face that you correct as soon as possible. When you finance it, the wait is no longer a problem. Here are some of the benefits, broken down by funding method:
• regular credit card – you can usually get low interest cards and really build your credit during the checkout process. If the card offers point programs, you can take advantage of that as well.
• medical card – when available, they often come with zero percent interest promotions and can also give the user a sense of spending control, since they are only used for one thing.
• Credit line – A revolving line of credit from your bank usually offers very low interest rates and sometimes your payments are interest only, which is another attractive feature.
• surgeon payment plan – Surgeons want your business, so they will often work with patients to create a plan that is tailored to their situation. Late payments are also typically not reported to a credit bureau.
• bank loan – a loan from the bank will offer decent interest rates, but there are more cons than pros.
cons
The most obvious scam related to financing your plastic surgery is that you now owe a few thousand or several thousand dollars, with an interest rate attached. Some of the others are as follows:
• regular credit card – with your regular card, you may not have enough space to cover the surgery you want, plus you’ve tied up a few thousand dollars’ worth of available credit until you’ve paid it off.
• medical card – some claim that these types of cards are associated with high-pressure sales tactics and interest rates that are much higher than advertised.
• Credit line – Just like with your credit card, using a line of credit to finance your plastic surgery will tie up available credit space that you won’t be able to use if emergencies arise.
• surgeon payment plan – It’s important to read the fine print to see how the interest rate changes over time, and even if your credit history isn’t affected, missing payments could result in no further procedures from the doctor in the future .
• bank loan – Confidentiality may not be high on the agenda when using a bank loan, and many patients are not interested in letting anyone know what they are doing when it comes to cosmetic surgery. There is also a chance that you may not be able to get enough to cover the entire procedure.
