Paying for Treatment: Financing Options in Laguna Hills

Pearl32 Dentistry and Wellness works with four outside patient finance companies: Cherry, CareCredit (a credit card issued by Synchrony Bank), Sunbit and Happen Bank. You apply to them, they decide, and they set the terms. All four are subject to credit approval. None of them is a payment plan with this office.

Why this page exists

Cost is what people worry about most and ask about least. So here it is in writing, before you’re sitting in a chair with someone waiting for an answer.

For a cleaning or a filling, most people pay on the day, or insurance covers the bulk of it. Financing is for the bigger work: implants, a full arch, veneers, a reconstruction done in stages. That’s where the total is real money and paying it at once isn’t realistic for most households.

Here’s what we’ll do. You get an itemized written estimate before anything starts. If you have insurance, we send a pre-treatment estimate so their share is confirmed in writing. Then the decision about how to pay is yours, and you can take it home and think about it.

The four companies

Cherry

Cherry is a financing platform, not a bank. Depending on the plan, the credit is either made by Lead Bank, Member FDIC, or is a retail installment contract that Cherry purchases. Checking your eligibility doesn’t affect your credit score. Cherry decides, not us. Subject to credit approval.

CareCredit

CareCredit is a health and wellness credit card issued by Synchrony Bank. Some patients already carry one from an earlier medical, dental or veterinary bill. You can see whether you prequalify without affecting your credit score. Submitting a full application is a hard credit inquiry, which may affect your credit score. Subject to credit approval. See CareCredit for details.

Sunbit

Financing offered is made by Transportation Alliance Bank Inc. dba TAB Bank, which determines qualifications for and terms of credit. THIS IS A LOAN SOLICITATION ONLY. SUNBIT NOW, LLC IS NOT THE LENDER. Checking your options doesn’t affect your credit score. Subject to credit approval.

Happen Bank

Happen Bank, N.A., Member FDIC, is the bank formerly called LendingClub, so you may still see the old name in places. You can check your options without affecting your credit score. A hard credit inquiry appears only if and when a loan is actually issued to you, or when you get a final decision on a revolving line of credit from Comenity Capital Bank. Subject to credit approval.

How applying actually works here

California is specific about this, and it surprises people, so it’s worth setting out.

You fill in your own application. We’re not permitted to complete any part of it for you. That’s Business and Professions Code section 654.3, and it binds every dental office in the state. Our team can give you the link and answer questions about your treatment and the estimate. We can’t enter your details, we can’t explain the credit terms to you, and we can’t do it on your behalf while you wait. Questions about the credit itself go to the finance company.

Before you apply, California also requires that you get and sign a one page notice in large type. It says the credit is with the finance company and not a payment plan with this office, and that we don’t work for them. It also tells you that you don’t have to apply at all, that you can take the application somewhere else and take as long as you want over it, and that you can pay us another way. All of that is true, and none of it annoys us. Read it properly rather than signing it to be polite.

The usual order of events:

• You come in, we examine and scan, and we talk through the options.
• You get an itemized written estimate, so you know the number before deciding anything.
• If you’re using insurance, we send a pre-treatment estimate so their share is confirmed in writing.
• If you want to spread the balance, you read the notice, then apply to whichever company you choose.
• They decide, and they disclose the terms to you. If the terms don’t suit you, you don’t have to proceed.

One more rule worth knowing: where treatment is staged, we can’t charge your credit account for work we haven’t done yet. California limits that to thirty days ahead of the appointment.

If you’re declined

It happens, and it isn’t a verdict on you. The finance company has to tell you what it decided, and you have the right to ask why. Ask them, not us. A decline from one company doesn’t decide anything about the others, and it doesn’t decide anything about your treatment.

Most larger cases can be staged. We do the part that’s urgent now and the rest later, sometimes across two insurance benefit years, which on many plans means two annual maximums instead of one. Say so if money is the constraint. It changes what we recommend, and we’d rather plan around it than have you vanish for two years and come back with a bigger problem.

Insurance, and where financing fits alongside it

We accept most major PPO plans and Delta Dental HMO. Dental plans carry an annual maximum, and on implant or reconstruction work that maximum usually runs out long before the treatment does. Financing covers the gap between what the plan pays and what the work costs.

If you have no insurance at all, look at our membership plans before you look at credit. For routine care they’re usually the simpler answer.

Questions people ask

Does checking my options hurt my credit score?

The first eligibility check doesn’t affect your score with any of the four. With CareCredit, a full application is a hard inquiry. With Happen Bank, a hard inquiry appears when a loan is issued or you get a final decision on the revolving line. Separately, the plan itself is reported to the bureaus, and missed payments can hurt your rating. Subject to credit approval.

Can the front desk apply for me while I wait?

No, and no dental office in California can. Business and Professions Code section 654.3 makes it unlawful for a practice or its staff to complete any part of a patient credit application. We give you the link. The application has to be yours.

Is this a payment plan with your office?

No. These are four separate finance companies and your agreement is with them. California requires us to give you a signed notice saying exactly that before you apply.

Which one should I choose?

We can’t advise you on credit and we won’t guess at whether you’ll be approved. All four are listed here. Read what each one sends you and compare them yourself, because they aren’t the same product.

How long does a decision take?

All four are built to answer fast, and each of them describes a decision in seconds. The slow part is the treatment planning, not the finance.

Can I use financing and insurance together?

Yes, and on larger cases most people do. We bill your plan for its share and you finance the balance. The written estimate shows both parts separately, so you can see what you’re actually borrowing.

Do you offer an in-house payment plan?

Not as a credit arrangement. What we do instead is stage treatment so the cost spreads across appointments, and across insurance benefit years where the clinical timing allows. For routine care, the membership plans do a similar job.

What if I only need a small amount covered?

Then credit may be more trouble than it’s worth. Ask us about staging the work, or about the membership plans. We’d rather say that than send you off to borrow money you don’t need.

Treatment pages with costs explained

Each of these sets out what the fee covers and what gets quoted separately: full arch implants, single dental implants, full mouth reconstruction, porcelain veneers and clear aligners.

Cherry, CareCredit, Sunbit and Happen Bank are independent finance companies. Pearl32 Dentistry and Wellness does not decide your application, does not set your terms, and is not a bank. All applications are subject to credit approval by the relevant lender. See the finance company for details. If something goes wrong with the treatment, that is still ours to put right, whoever financed it.