Going to a dentist is not rewarding, even less so with the high costs involved, which can make it more painful. On many occasions, we will ask ourselves how to pay for dental work with bad credit because we will not always be able to make the payment in cash.
Fortunately, there are different options with which we can pay for our dental treatments and relieve some of the pressure. The problem arises when we have a bad credit score, so we will have to look for different alternatives.
What is dental financing?
When we cannot afford to pay for dental work all at once, we will have to resort to dental financing. It is because it is the only way we will be able to pay for our dental work. We usually find alternatives such as personal loans, medical credit cards, or direct payment plans.
However, when financing these jobs, we will have a higher cost on our dental work in the form of fees and interest that will be added to the amount borrowed. Therefore, we should always understand the terms of the financing to know if we will be able to afford the associated costs.
What types of dental financing are there?
There are different types of dental financing. Among those are:
Personal loans
Applying for a personal loan is one of the most popular options for people looking to pay for their dental plans. It is a good option if we have a bad loan because it does not require any collateral to secure the loan.
The lender will consider different factors to be considered for the application. However, some lenders only offer loans for cosmetic dentistry, so we should know how the procedure is classified.
If our credit score is low, we may pay more for the loans we apply for because the interest rates are higher. For this reason, it is always worth comparing the different services that offer these types of loans.
Medical credit cards
These cards are designed to pay for medical services, including dental services. These cards can be used exclusively for medical treatments and only within a specific network of providers who accept the card.
The issuer of these cards will review our credit history to see whether or not we pass the study to apply for our card. These cards work just like a conventional credit card, and the interest rates are based on the deferred period.
Sometimes, we can avoid paying interest if we make our payments on time and do not let them fall behind. But if payments cannot be made, interest will be charged to our account from the beginning of when the money was borrowed. Normally the terms to repay the money without any interest are 12 to 21 months.
Direct financing
Some dental services may offer the possibility to apply for internal payment plans and financing through external lenders. In these cases, the terms vary depending on each provider, and some even offer loans that require no down payment.
Others offer a low down payment. Some do not require a credit check to be approved, but APRs and fees will always be high.
Is it possible to get dental financing if we have bad credit?
We may face a challenge if we want to obtain financing for our dental work with a low credit score. It is because most financing plans will run a credit check on our credit history, and bad credit could result in us being turned down or having a higher interest rate.
Bad credit will mean we have credit at the lower end of the range of scores. Scores of 580 and below are considered “poor,” so it will be very difficult to finance any dental plan.
But, at many dental offices, we will be able to find financing options even when we don’t have good credit. We will have to ask our dentist about the options available. Not being able to access financing with the best features does not necessarily mean that we do not have options to finance our plans; we will have to pay more.
Dental financing options
If we do not qualify for dental financing, there will always be options for paying for dental plans, such as:
Seeking less expensive care
If it is not an emergency treatment, we can save money by taking the time to evaluate less expensive alternatives. We can evaluate different services from different dentists to see if we can save more money on our dental treatment.
We could also opt for less expensive care if a dental school is nearby because they will offer significant discounts through dental clinics. However, for these cases, we will need to ensure that our dental insurance plan provider participates and has dental coverage.
Negotiating our bill
If we can pay a portion of the bill, we will likely be able to negotiate the total cost of the bill with the dentist before committing to treatment. For this reason, we will always need to research to find out about the fee for the treatment we need.
If our dentist is charging us more than the regular cost of treatment, we can try to negotiate a lower bill by quoting average costs. Some dentists may also offer discounts for patients without insurance to pay for the cost of care.
Dental health care is important but very expensive when we have dental insurance. For this reason, it is always good to look for alternatives so that we can get our treatment financed.
However, it will always be good to confirm if the treatment is necessary and to understand all the charges associated with financing so there are no surprises later. Especially if we have bad credit, which is the situation in which the financing costs may be much higher.