Helping remove the price barrier for patients

Total Lifestyle Credit is helping thousands of people undergo the aesthetic treatments they desire. Founder Tim Boon explains how this service can help increase conversions for clinic owners, and how easy it is for practitioners to get involved.

Total Lifestyle Credit (TLC)offers an ethical and transparent way for patients to fund their cosmetic procedures – and in turn can help clinics increase new patient conversions by removing the price barrier. TLC offers a payment plan solution to suit each patient’s requirements and has been designed to cover all medical, cosmetic and lifestyle needs as well as any associated costs.

Founded by Tim Boon, a personal finance executive with more than 19 years’ industry experience and the former owner of MacCredit, a successful consumer loan company, TLC is pioneering a new way for patients to fund their aesthetic and medical procedures. Their service is backed by 9 lines of funding, giving patients more options for accessing funding and the confidence to choose the services they need and not focus on the price.

‘I started MacCredit back in 2004 as I saw that there was no one openly offering payment plans in the medical space,’ says Tim. ‘We were involved with about 2,500 businesses nationally, and I was lucky to sell that company in 2016, after which I retired for 3 years.

‘In 2019, I decided to create an even better service, one that aligned with the modern patient. This was the genesis of Total Lifestyle Credit (TLC), and today we have just under 3,500 clinics on board nationally and are the biggest patient funding facility in the country.

‘If you’re interested in an aesthetic procedure, you’ve got a lot of out-of-pocket expenses. And even though there are certain Medicare rebates, you typically have to pay for everything upfront. I wanted to create a funding product so that the patient has complete control over how they finance their chose procedure. And, if the patient does get any rebates, they can put it straight back on to the payment plan with us, which gives them flexibility.’

TLC clients range from the St John of God Hospitals nationally to medical businesses including Dr Anoop Rastogi, Dr Kourosh Tavakoli, Coco Ruby, Hunter Laser Vision, Cosmetic Avenue, City Fertility IVF group, Aesthetik Dental, AMOS, One Cosmetic and Next Smile, just to name a few.

‘At TLC we pride ourselves on exceptional customer service, responsible lending and supporting our clinics nation-wide, assisting their businesses to run more profitably by helping patients secure the treatments they want and need, which is something I’m really passionate about,’ he says.

The TLC difference

‘What differentiates TLC is that if you walk into a bank, you can only get one product, whereas we are backed by 9 funding lines, which allows us to marry up clients with a funding facility that suits them,’ Tim continues.

‘We can also help people with all forms of employment, including casual and part-time, so there’s a much broader demographic that’s available to clinics and practitioners. In effect, we offer practitioners a 10-30% growth opportunity for their business because we can broaden the demographics of potential patients.

‘Our difference is also in the service we provide. Our Australia- based team is passionate about providing top-tier, world-class service. A lot of our clients are on a very emotional journey; our account managers look after the patient from start to finish, which creates a caring and supportive environment in the seemingly cold and robotic world of finance.

‘Prospective clients can talk to us before they even book in for a consult to see if the treatment they are considering is financially viable for them. So, when they are ready to walk through the doors of their chosen cosmetic clinic and provider, the price point barrier has all but been eliminated. With some of our fintech, we can get the client approval within an hour. And for the clinics, instead of receiving incremental payments from the patient, they receive full payment of the procedure upfront.’

Effects from cosmetic surgery reforms

The new cosmetic surgery reforms do not preclude aesthetic medical practitioners from providing information on their website about funding options, including payment from medical financing companies such as TLC.

‘The new cosmetic surgery guidelines have put extra pressure on patients to take more time off to complete the preliminary consultations with both their GP and cosmetic surgeon,’ says Tim. ‘Service is now even more of a key factor in securing a potential patient’s business. Letting patients be aware of how they can access the treatment via a payment plan helps to open up more accessibility for the clinic.

‘Ahpra has verified that TLC’s payment options can still be offered on the clinic’s website. We also follow Ahpra guidelines very closely. We fund directly to the patient, so they’re the ones that choose who they go to rather than other companies that pay directly to businesses,’ he adds.

Partnering with TLC

If clinics choose to work with TLC, all they need to do is add their information to the TLC website. It’s free of charge, with no holdback fee or service cost, and no clinic liability.

‘May of 2023 has been our biggest month ever, with more than 2,200 patients applying with us – a large portion of which went to the medical aesthetics space,’ says Tim. ‘In the past

17 years, I’ve been able to generate in excess of $2.5 billion in applications for the medical and aesthetics space, which doesn’t just go to the clinic but it covers nurses, receptionists, device costs, hospital staff, etc, and that’s something I’m really proud of. We’ve surpassed over $1.4 billion applications since starting TLC in 2019.’

TLC also provides a commercial arm, helping medico-asset businesses and new clinic fit-outs. ‘We’re passionate about assisting businesses in getting the right medical devices and offering the right solutions to their clients,’ he says.

Ultimately, TLC works to provide an extension of a clinic’s business model – helping to increase patient conversions and contribute to providing an overall positive client experience.’ AMP

Create your free business listing with TLC. To get started, simply complete the form at https://medical.tlc.com.au/list-your- business or for more information visit https://medical.tlc.com.au/

Benefits to your practice

• Funding patients from $2,001 – $50,000
• Simple 30-second patient-point form that you can add to your practice website
• Compliant with Ahpra guidelines
• Patients are funded within 24 hours of approval and your practice receives 100% of the total care treatment plan upfront
• TLC provides your practice with marketing merchandise to promote patient payment plan options
• 9 funding line options – allowing us to fund all forms of employment
• TLC provides your practice with a dedicated account manager
• No cost to your practice (no merchant fees)

Benefits to your patients

• Access to the lowest medical segment interest rates for good credit scores
• No early payout fees
• No upfront fees – everything is included for the client in their minimum payment
• TLC covers treatment, flights, accommodation, product range, etc
• Flexible terms up to 84 months
• Protected by consumer credit laws

What businesses are saying

‘TLC has changed the face of our business. We have increased our client sales by more than 60% in the past 6 months just by offering a simple payment option.’

‘Offering $30 a week instead of a $6,000 price point is a much easier pill for clients to swallow. It has been so successful for us that we now have a payment plan section in our consults and it is our biggest converter.’

‘Having a simple payment option that is not charging our clients ridiculous interest rates has been a game changer for our business, and the TLC team have been simply wonderful to deal with.’

‘The TLC team go that extra mile to get our clients across the line. All we have to do is give our clients a 30-second form to fill out and then we just get notified that the settlement is done and our client has $ to spend.’

What patients are saying

‘What a great team, from the first phone call. This would have to be the most stress free-loan I have ever gotten. I just wish everything was that easy.’

‘The TLC team was an absolute pleasure to work with – the whole process was smooth and stress-free. The staff are super friendly and helpful. Within 24 hours of applying, I had the funds direct to my account. Highly recommend.’

‘Thank you for all your guidance and support. Completing the application was very easy. The processing time for approval was very quick. The staff were extremely helpful and friendly whilst remaining totally professional. I know where I will apply for finance if required in the future. Thanks again!’