4 Best Dental Financing Solutions | Top Options
Everyone needs to go to the dentist. But not everyone has dental insurance. In such cases, many folks turn to dental financing solutions so they can keep their teeth clean and avoid pricier, painful dental problems later down the road even if they don’t have insurance at the time of an appointment or cleaning. What financing solutions are right for you? No need to do a ton of research – we’ve already scoured all the available options and found the five best dental financing solutions available in 2021. Let’s take a look at each solution individually so you’ll know which you should apply for when your next dentist visit comes up.
Why Do You Need Dental Financing?
Let’s face it – dental care can be expensive . Unfortunately, it’s also something we all need to pay for at some point or another. No matter how strong your teeth’s enamel is or how well you brush, you’ll still at least need to visit your dentist a time or two per year to get a more detailed cleaning and to check for cavities and other dental health problems. But not everyone has dental insurance. Without alternative financing options, dental bills can be a rude awakening. Lots of folks end up having to pay exorbitant amounts just to keep their teeth from degrading over the years. But there is some good news: alternative financing options do exist if you know where to look. Dental financing can help you tackle any immediate or future dental bills if you don’t have insurance or if your insurance suddenly runs out for one reason or another.
Top 4 Ways to Finance Your Dental Bills
There are three broad dental bill financing methods we’ve found and would like to share. But let’s take a look first at the most versatile option: taking out a personal loan.
Personal Loans
Personal loans are just that: personal. You can use them for anything you like provided you get approved after applying. Personal loans can be used for purchasing big items, paying off debt, and for paying for high medical bills, like those often incurred by dentist appointments. But personal loans do come with a little bit of risk. For one, there’s no guarantee you’ll get approved for any loan you apply for, even those with low credit score requirements . Furthermore, you’ll need to make sure that you can pay off the loan regularly or you’ll end up hurting your credit score in the long run. Still, personal loans are flexible and versatile dental financing options you can and should look at if you don’t have insurance and still need to pay for a pricey dentist visit or exam. Personal loans can be applied for and received as either flat loans (i.e. the money shows up in your bank account after a business day or two) or as a credit card.
Seek Capital’s American Express Plum Card
Seek Capital has tons of great personal credit card options for those who qualify. For dental visits and other medical bills in particular, we’d recommend checking out our American Express Plum Card . There’s a lot to like about this personal credit card. For starters, it’ll allow you to take up to 60 days to pay off any bills without incurring interest. So long as you pay the minimum amount by the due date, you’re set! This card also doesn't come with any foreign transaction fees, cash flow flexibility (it lets you choose whether you get your bill at the beginning, middle, or end of the month), and an extended warranty for any qualifying purchases. What about fees? This card comes with a $0 introductory annual fee for the first year of use. Every year after that has only a $250 fee. The best news? You can apply for and get a decision about whether you qualify for this credit card in about 30 seconds. All you need to do is apply right on our site. Don’t hesitate to check out our other credit cards options , as well!
LightStream’s Personal Loan
LightStream also offers a great personal loan that you can use for the most expensive dental bills. While this institution’s personal loans usually require a credit score of 660, you’ll benefit from a normally low APR of 4.49% (although note that APR can go up to 20.49% if you have really low credit or other negative financial factors). Fortunately, you can take out this loan for up to $100,000 (with a minimum of $5000). This should cover most major dental expenses, even if you have to go through multiple surgeries or serious dental work and tooth repair. The loan doesn't come with any ancillary fees and you get an automatic rate discount if you set up the auto-pay feature. However, you can’t prequalify on LightStream’s website and you must have several years of credit history, so this loan may not be the best for young folks who don’t have a lot of credit history to speak of. Term lengths range between two and seven years.
Dental Financing Alternatives
Personal loans aren’t your only dental financing option if you don’t have insurance. Like most medical practices, there are alternatives you can pursue if you want to finance your dental bills without taking out a loan or paying out-of-pocket.
Finance Through Your Dentist
One possibility is financing straight through your dentist. With this method, your dentist may offer an in-house payment plan. All you have to do is sign up at their office and you’ll make regular payments to your dentist just like you would with a lending institution. Even better, most dental office payment plans don’t charge interest or other fees – they just want you to be able to pay your bills over time rather than default and never pay them back at all. However, not every dental office offers this alternative, so it may be a good idea to ask your dentist whether they provide in-house financing options before signing up for an expensive procedure or exam.
Medical Credit Cards
The last dental financing solution is a medical credit card. Medical credit cards are specialized credit cards that can only be used to finance medical procedures and expenses. In return, these cards often have special financing options that you don’t normally see with other credit cards. One great example is CareCredit . This credit card allows you to pay for wellness and health care at over 225,000 enrolled providers, including a lot of dentists. Financing lengths are often relatively short-term, such as 6, 12, or 18 months. No interest is ever charged on any purchases of $200 or more so long as you pay the minimum monthly amounts. CareCredit and similar cards are, therefore, good financing options for regular dental bills, like the cost of a biannual checkup if you don’t have the cash on hand to pay for it at the front desk or through insurance. However, it’s important to know that you will be charged a relatively high 26.99 interest rate if you don’t manage to pay off the full balance by the end of the agreed-upon term. So these cards can be expensive in the long run if you don’t have steady income to pay back your bills on time.
Summary
Ultimately, it’s great that dental financing options exist to help people pay for their dental bills without having to put off important surgeries or cleaning appointments just because they don’t have insurance. Be sure to consider all of the options above and don’t hesitate to contact Seek Capital if you want more advice about personal financing or want to explore more of our personal credit card applications! Sources https://www.carecredit.com/howcarecreditworks/prospective/ https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/credit_score.asp https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/credit-education/report-basics/hard-vs-soft-inquiries-on-your-credit-report/#:~:text=A%20soft%20inquiry%20occurs%20in,not%20impact%20your%20credit%20scores .