Thursday, October 10, 2013

10 Smart Feasible Ways to Finance IVF Costs Without Infertility Insurance or Going Broke


Although several insurance companies offer some sort of infertility insurance, many do not cover IVF because in vitro fertilization costs are so expensive and IVF success rates are not very high. Because of this, many couples need to come up with alternative financing methods to fund their infertility treatment. Here are 10 smart feasible ways to finance IVF costs without going broke in the process.

Mortgage Refinance or Second Mortgage

Both of these are an option if you own your home. You can decide on an amount to refinance or borrow after researching with your fertility doctors what the full in vitro fertilization price will be in your case. You would get the full amount at closing.

Get a Home Equity Line of Credit

If you own your home and have built some equity into it, this is another option. A HELOC is different from the above in that you chose a maximum amount that you may use for a line of credit and the lender will advance you up to that amount whenever you chose. You can draw on the HELOC to fund your fertility costs in certain ways, such as writing a check or using a credit card on the account.

Borrow Against Your 401K

Some 401K companies allow you to borrow money from your 401K. Speak to your employer to see if this is an option. When you borrow against your 401K, you don't have to pay taxes on the loan.

Infertility Clinic Financing

Many infertility clinics have financing available, usually with a set interest rate where you make monthly payments. Clinics usually let you plan your payments depending on what procedures you use.

Third Party Loans

Loans from third party lenders are also an option. In fact, there are even financial centers that specifically offer IVF funding programs. You can research online or ask your fertility doctor if they can refer you to such a center.

Find a Credit Card with a Low Interest Rate

If you have good credit and can get a card with a high revolving credit limit and a low interest rate, you could use this option.

Find a Fertility Clinic with a Shared Risk Program

With a shared risk program, you would pay in advance for a certain number of IVF cycles. If you do not achieve a pregnancy by the end of the cycles, you would get a partial or full refund, depending on your agreement with the fertility center.

Borrow from Family or Friends

If you have family or friends that would be willing to give you a loan to help pay for IVF, decide on an interest rate and put together an agreement in writing with a set repayment plan. Borrowing from family or friends would mean that you would have a much lower interest rate then if you used other financing methods, or even no interest rate at all, which means you would be spending less on your IVF treatment.

Use Your Tax Return Money

You can start preparing for IVF treatment by having more money withheld from your taxes. Then, when you file your taxes, you will have a bigger refund from your tax return and you can use it to pay a portion of your infertility treatments.

Get A Second Job

If you have a marketable skill or talent that you could turn into a side job, you can supplement your regular income, and start a nest egg with the extra income to use for IVF costs. There are plenty of free resources online on how to start a side business with relatively little cost. Or you could do something as simple as putting ads advertising your skills on Craigslist. Get a little creative and do a little brainstorming. You may be surprised with what you come up with. When there's a will, there's a way!

One thing to bear in mind with financing options is that you need to be able to manage the incurred debt with the additional costs of having a child. If this will be a problem with any of the options above, then that particular option is not right for you. You do not want to find yourself in financial ruin or ruin your credit rating.

I hope that these options, used alone or in combination with another option, have helped give you an idea of ways you could pay for your IVF costs.

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