Are you considering a dental practice loan?
You'd rather perform a root canal on yourself than talk to 13 different companies to find the information you need.
Right?
Here's the problem:
(Almost) every website you go to will tell you why their dental financing product is great...
... but the truth is, there is no "best" product.
The best way to finance your dental practice is the one that is fits best with your situation.
Let's go over some ways to finance your practice...
If you can go to your bank, you should probably click out of this website right now.
Seriously, in many cases a bank loan will be better for you than most of the products we can offer.
Loans through your bank are going to be less expensive than financing anywhere else.
However, if you want to have a chance with the bank, your personal credit score should be at least 725.
When we you look into dental office financing, it's usually for one of two reasons:
If either of these scenarios describe you, read on...
So you can acquire an SBA loan through your bank... but it's not exactly an easy process.
SBA loans are never easy to get.
However, if you've been practicing for at least 2 years we can often help you apply for an SBA loan using a streamlined process for up to $350,000.
You'd need a personal credit score of 600 or greater (675 for loans over $150k) and proof that your cash flows (profits) are sufficient to cover the payments.
That's still no guarantee you'd be approved.
However, in many cases it's worth your time to apply.
Rates are 6-7% for a 10-year loan with no prepayment penalty, and approval (or denial) can often happen in a week or less.
So, what if you don't get approved for an SBA loan?
If you can't get qualified for bank or SBA financing, there are still options.
We work with a number of different lenders that can help you access reasonable rates for financing.
We work with a couple of sources that only fund healthcare practices.
One that we particularly like offers working capital to dentists with the following features:
In order to qualify for this program, you should have a credit score above 630 and nothing totally miserable on your credit report.
PS - if you need financing primarily to purchase equipment, the parameters are somewhat different. Check out this article that goes over equipment financing for dental practices.
You may have noticed we start with the least expensive products first in this article.
This is also how we treat you if you choose to work with us.
For tougher situations, there are still options, but they are more expensive. How much more expensive really depends.
You may run into some companies that start with pushing short term, higher rate loans.
Did you know, when a broker helps you access a reasonable product, they make an average of 2% of the size of the loan as a commission?
However, there are a lot of brokers out there that won't show you these "reasonable" options, because the commissions for selling a high-priced product are much, much higher.
(That's like doing a crown when a filling would suffice, just to line your pockets.
You'd probably agree that's a pretty scummy thing to do...)
Sometimes, just like when you have to do a crown, we can't get someone approved without using a high rate loan.
In these cases, the second to last choice is a 10-year term loan product with a monthly payment. The rates are pretty bad, but there is no prepayment penalty.
Rates for this product start at 27%, and go up from there, but the payments are reasonable compared to some of the shorter term loans we see some dentists getting into.
Which brings us to the last choice:
Our least favorite option to finance a dental practice is business or merchant cash advances.
In very limited circumstances, they can be useful...
Unfortunately, these are often the first products most small business owners (including dentists) are shown.
Let's say you need $50,000.
When you use this product you'll be advanced $50,000 and have to make daily payments for a short period of time - usually 6 to 9 months.
You'll pretty much never be told the real interest rates. If comparing them to the other products we mention in this article (amortizing loans) the rates go from 80-100% or even higher.
(That's why you won't ever be told the rate...)
The truth is, we think these are pretty lousy products. When we do recommend them, we'll work hard to find the least objectionable product you could be approved for.
Conclusion:
When you need dental practice loans, there are literally dozens of options available.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution. It's important to work with someone who will find the best option for you, not just the fastest way to line their own pockets.
Smarter Finance USA can help you get Dental Practice Financing.
To learn more, call us at (800) 786-5696 or click in the picture below.
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