Paying for surgery in Germany - Emergency

[treefrog]

I am ready to cry!

I am having some difficulties with the timing of getting a home equity line of credit, which is how I was planning on paying for surgery. Unfortunately, according to the bank, with the current economic climate, it is taking longer to process loans. When I initially called the bank they told me it would take about a week, which would have been fine. But now they are saying it is going to take 3-4 weeks.

That is too late. I am set to have surgery in 20 days. I'm sure ProSpine has been expecting payment already.

This doesn't even take into consideration the time to arrange for the wire transfer through xe.com.

Does anybody know if there is a way to pay ProSpine part of the payment directly with credit cards? Because at this point, I think that is what I am going to have to do. I don't have enough available credit to pay the entire thing, but it looks like I will have to use what I have.

Or do you know if I can use credit cards with xe.com?

Okay, so here is the situation. The home equity line of credit (HELOC), is my boyfriends. He has a home in MD, that is paid for. He already has a small HELOC, and applied to have the amount increased, so it would be enough to pay for surgery. So, I can't make the phone calls, it's all up to him.

The credit cards are in my name, so I can do that. I know I will have to pay a fee, since it will be a cash advance fee of I think 3%. Does anyone have a good suggestion for the best way to do this? I don't know if I can just give xe.com the credit card numbers (I don't think they handle it this way), or if I will have to call the credit card companies to get the cash advance. And now I am getting worried about how long that will take, to actually get the money into my account.

OMG, I can't handle this. I don't know what to do.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[Justin]

Cathy, I sent you a PM.

[trkdoc714]

Cathy,

This isn't for promoting a bank, but for your needs. I went to BB&T for the HELOC. They processed it in a day. I know they're in your area. I hope this helps!

Bob

[treefrog]

Bob, did you already have an account with BB&T?

The HELOC is actually an increase in an existing HELOC, which you would think would be easier to do. They should already have all the house information. And the damn house is paid off too. (Not the house we live in) We really thought this would be easy and quick.

We will go to the branch tomorrow, if they don't seem to be cooperative over the phone. We will see if lowering the amount will push it through faster. We put in for almost double the amount we need for the surgery.

And I emailed ProSpine. At the very least I wanted to let them know that I have every intention of paying the bill in full, but there may be some delay. But also to ask if there is some other option for making a partial payment until the loan comes through.

Hopefully something will work out. I just can't even think about all the work that would be involved if I had to reschedule the surgery. And I really hope it doesn't come to that. That would be a disaster.

[trkdoc714]

Cathy,

I didn't have an account with BB&T. I called and spoke with the manager. He took the application over the phone and called me the next morning to set up an appointment to sign the contract.

I'm not sure if they would've given me that service if the house was out of town though.

Good luck Cathy!

Bob

[Gilbert P]

Hi Cathy

I feel your pain I am also trying to finance my surgery and still no loan or financing I wish Obama would help the people that really need it

Wish I could win the lottery and help all the spine patients
Just keep trying

all the best lol

Gilbert p

[treefrog]

Well we have come up with an alternative plan, and we are going to use this as leverage with the bank. If they can't get the loan in time, we will just cancel the application and go with our other plan. Their loss.

Good luck Gil. I wish you could win the lottery too, or someone in the spine community.

[Katie]

Deep breath, don't panic...just get your ducks in a row Good that you have an alternate plan. That always helps calm the nerves!

If you contact the doctors, they surely will understand. Not everyone needs to be paid up front, 100% from what I have heard.

Big hug, things will work out.

All the best.

[treefrog]

I do feel better now, though it is still up in the air. We went to the bank this morning, and re-faxed everything that was needed. He said that although normally it only takes a week to process, they are swamped with loan applications and it is taking longer to get them done.

He did say, that from what he could see, the loan should be able to be processed quickly. My boyfriend will call the loan processing center tomorrow, to ask them what the status is, and then will call the local loan agent (who took the application) on Saturday.

We decided not to cancel the loan, even if they get it to us late. We will then just use it to pay back the alternative funds we will use in the meantime.

I haven't gotten a reply from ProSpine. So, I'm not sure how critical it is to move on the alternative funds. If ProSpine absolutely wants payment before doing surgery, then I think we need to start the process of getting the alternative funds. Because I also have to set up the wire transfer too, which is going to take some amount of time.

Now that I am thinking about it, with 19 days until surgery, I think I need to put the alternative plan into action. So that payment can be made on time.

[Justin]

Cathy,

I'm glad you are doing everything in your power to make things happen. I'm sorry that you have this added stress to worry about in addition to your upcoming surgery.

I would speak directly with ProSpine. They have been extremely understanding to patients when "life" happens. In 2003, they were very helpful and reassured me when I had some financial concerns. They want the best for their patients and will help ease your stresses and concerns in any way they can. They really bend over backwards to make to the entire surgical experience as painless as possible.

It is good that you are getting your ducks in a row. I know things will work out and fall in place.

Please keep the forum posted, as we do care.