Susan's Place Transgender Resources

I've had something I've been wondering about for a little while...

One of the things I notice is that a lot of people, when they talk about paying for top surgery, either mention the entire expenses they paid or just say they paid it in full. This has honestly been what's freaking me out. I can get together a bit of money, but getting together $7000+ dollars for a surgery and the travel fees is a lot, especially considering I'm a broke college student.

But, by a random chance, I happened to notice something about payment plans. I guess I just assumed this sort of thing wasn't available, because I'd never heard anything about it.

So...out of curiosity, has anyone ever done that?
Has anyone ever used care credit? I noticed on a surgeon's website that they had payment plans by them...are they trustworthy?

Any information would be great. I didn't even know this was an option until now.

I'm interested in this, too. However, I'd be worried about trying to pay it back during the first few months. You could set money aside for the down payment, living expenses, bills, and loan payments for a couple of weeks/months until you could go back to work, but... I dunno. I'm going into emergency medical services eventually and plan on doing dispatch during my surgeries/recovery time. I've been trying to work my future career around all this.

You probably need to talk to the specific surgeon you want. Mine was offering a payment plan, but I knew I was going to pay in full, so I declined without hearing the details. You can also get a surgery loan or even put your surgery on a credit card, without intending to pay it all off right away.

I financed my whole surgery fee with Garramone through Care Credit.  I am so glad that I did, because even if in the long run, I end up paying a bit more in interest, that is two years that I will not have to bind while saving money to pay outright.  For me, it is so worth it.  If you have any specific questions about Care Credit and how it worked/works for me, feel free to shoot me a PM and I will answer to the best of my ability.

Quote from: Daniel006 on April 21, 2013, 03:50:37 AM
I financed my whole surgery fee with Garramone through Care Credit.  I am so glad that I did, because even if in the long run, I end up paying a bit more in interest, that is two years that I will not have to bind while saving money to pay outright.  For me, it is so worth it.  If you have any specific questions about Care Credit and how it worked/works for me, feel free to shoot me a PM and I will answer to the best of my ability.

See, that's what I keep thinking. Binding is so uncomfortable, and it's gotten in the way of me doing a lot of things because I hate binding for hours at a time. I'd rather just get it over with now, and then pay it back in bits and pieces.

I was wondering, though, can you get someone to co-sign like a loan? I don't have any credit history, because I don't have a credit card and I have never taken out a loan before. But I'm sure my parents would co-sign for me, if that's possible, because I for sure can pay it back.

You could probably find a loan that a parent could co-sign for you, but I don't know for sure.  I don't think that option is available with Care Credit, but I could be wrong.  You could try applying for Care Credit and find out in a couple moments if they would approve you and for how much.  I was planning on taking out a medical loan and getting a co-signature if I needed one, but when I was approved for a large enough amount to cover the whole surgery with Care Credit, I was able to start taking actual steps forward.

I think I've heard complaints about Care Credit--well, people complain about all manner of things--so be sure to do your research.

Alright. Thanks, guys. I'll keep that in mind.

Quote from: Arch on April 21, 2013, 02:29:49 PM
I think I've heard complaints about Care Credit--well, people complain about all manner of things--so be sure to do your research.

Do you know what they were complaining about?

I certainly don't want to be dealing with a company that's like Payday Loans or something...Don't want to have to deal with loan sharks.

I don't recall. You might search the site for it...but do an advanced search. The basic search isn't reliable.

Quote from: Daniel006 on April 21, 2013, 03:50:37 AM
I financed my whole surgery fee with Garramone through Care Credit.  I am so glad that I did, because even if in the long run, I end up paying a bit more in interest, that is two years that I will not have to bind while saving money to pay outright.  For me, it is so worth it.  If you have any specific questions about Care Credit and how it worked/works for me, feel free to shoot me a PM and I will answer to the best of my ability.

This is probably what I'll end up doing.

Its called, don't ever miss a payment or suffer the consequences.

LordKAT is absolutely correct but I'm going to elaborate:
Be sure if you pay via Care Credit that you absolutely pay every payment on time. I have nothing bad to say about this as it saved my cat's life, but if you don't pay on time your already high interest will turn astronomical. If you run into problems you should contact them immediately, as sometimes that would work in changing terms. The thing that they hate the most is people paying on time every month-- they make crazy money on you if you don't.  :)

BTW, Dr. G takes it but I don't think the surgery center does. The surgery center takes lots of different types of funds. I found out Dr G only takes credit cards or CC. I had to increase my credit limit to pay.

--Jay