taking the plunge...

hey everyone, this is my first post after stalking these forums for months now!! i have a phone consultation today with dr. mumford but i am still undecided as to which clinic i should go to. from what i have read, it seems each clinic is absolutely acceptable. i have a few questions - did anyone finance through one of the lenders mentioned on each of the clinics webpages? i didn't spend a lot of time on them but it looked like one could be financed over 5 years, and the other over 4. of couse ideally it won't take that long because i know the interest rate is outrageous but i think that is the route i will go. i'm a little uncomfortable emtying that much money out of my bank. does anyone know if there is anywhere in bc that you can pay to have it done? what about washington state? i had a consult at the edmonton clinic but they said i was too healthy, should go back to WW, etc. frankly i expected a little more understanding - if i wanted to hear that i'd see my GP or my talk to my mom! so i guess i just want to explore all my options as far as clinics go. if i can go to BC or Washington state, either would be closer than TO. But again, i need to be able to have the surgery based on BMI alone and not associated co-morbidities. Did anyone have complications following surgery in TO that required you to have to fly back there? that, i guess is my biggest concern. thanks for your help everyone. this forum has been a huge help to me in justifying the expense! i'll keep in touch.

Hi There, I was banded last Friday at the TLBC. I looked into Credit Medical for funding and the interest rate wasn't horrible (9.5% / 5yrs), but they will only give you $10,000 if you're applying alone, even if your credit is perfect. I didn't want to only fund half of it through them and have another payment to make for the difference on a credit card, so I upped my credit line with ING (9.45% interest) to cover the whole thing. Make sure you look into all of your options....

I haven't had any issues so far and I've been very satisfied with the procedure via the TLBC, but it's only been 5 days! I did get charged $1,000 for a psychological assesment that never happened - if you can get out of that charge with the other clinics and they're just as reputable, it's something else to consider!

Hope this helps and good luck!