5750 S Kenwood Ave 3, Chicago, IL 60637
Mon–Fri 9:00–19:00
Sat–Sun 10:00–17:00
- Home
- ⇾ Plan Ahead
Benefits of Planning
Emotional Benefits:
If your wishes are unknown when you die, they will be faced with making difficult decisions at a trying time. Will they know if you wish to be buried or cremated? Will they agree on an open or closed casket? Confusion and disagreements…
Financial Benefits:
Planning ahead enables you to make financial arrangements to cover your funeral costs. Even if you are leaving behind sufficient money, will your survivors be able to access it? Funeral insurance and funeral trusts are sound financial planning…
Family Benefits:
Taking care of your funeral arrangements is a thoughtful and caring thing to do for your family. It is comforting to know that you have done all you can do to ease their burden. And you can be assured that they will appreciate that your…
Types of Funding Options
Cash & Checks
Credit Cards
Specialized Funeral Loans
Cash & Checks
Paying with cash or check at the time of need is how most people deal with paying for a funeral. Although many within the funeral industry will encourage us to pre-plan and purchase a pre-need funeral plan, this does not always guarantee the best discount of funeral services ahead of time. Paying with cash can give you some negotiating power.
Funeral directors are caring, compassionate professionals but they are also business people. Purchasing a funeral is a consumer transaction just like any other consumer purchase you make, so you should approach it the way you would any other purchase.
Do not disclose what your actual finances or budget is. Make sure you know comparable prices from local funeral homes. Do not feel under pressure to make an instant decision. Do not feel embarrassed about bartering for deals -overpaying is not dignified.
Credit Cards
Funerals are, by and large, expensive. We have allowed the industry to goad us into frills and flourishes which contribute little, yet cost much. Having to finance one suddenly can be a burden that many, perhaps most, families are unprepared to face. Not coincidently, there is often a windfall of money at this time, in the form of life insurance proceeds, so families are looking for a suitable way of managing funeral costs.
In this case, credit cards may be an option and even a good one at times. Virtually all funeral homes now accept credit cards, and if you've checked your mail lately you know credit card companies are hungry for business.
Moreover, with some of the competitive rates available today, you might well want to put funeral costs on a credit card, rather than leave a balance on the books at the funeral home while waiting for the insurance proceeds to arrive.
Specialized Funeral Loans
Borrowing money to pay for funeral costs is not generally a good idea. Not only can it be very hard to keep up repayments on a purchase such as a funeral, you will find that obtaining financing for a loan for a funeral is not always easy. Most ordinary lenders are reluctant to finance funerals. No one should have to go into debt to bury or cremate his/her lost loved one.
However, there are a number of specialized companies that will lend for funeral payments, but you will need to have some good credit standing. A number of these companies offer their services through funeral homes.
Be sure to fully check the terms of any funeral financing agreement if you decided to get a funeral loan.
Amounts between $1,000 and $10,000 can be funded with interest rates of around 15%, and terms of up to 36 months.