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Photo provided by Samantha Medlin
For Christy Daniel and her team at Hippo Lending, demystifying lending is at the heart of everything they do – especially debt consolidation. Catering specifically to licensed healthcare professionals and created by a 25-year-old company, Hippo takes the mystery out of borrowing by providing customized solutions and advisory services to a greatly underserved market — licensed medical professionals such as physicians, doctors, dentists, nurses, optometrists and veterinarians. The company’s moniker, a subtle nod to the Hippocratic Oath, represents the convergence of medicine and finance.
As Daniel explains, those in the medical field occupy a unique financial space. After years of toiling through medical school, nursing school or related training programs, and in spite of their earning potential and future success within the healthcare industry, unreliable cash flow and huge upfront costs can limit their immediate opportunity. Medical residents just coming out of school, for example, need gap money to help bridge the time before income becomes steady and loans come due. Throw in car loans, mortgages and rent, and debt can quickly become unmanageable.
Reducing stress around debt
Daniel said that while one of her recent nursing clients had just completed paying off her own student loans, she was still helping one daughter through pharmacy school financially and another through college, precariously balancing nine payments to make things work.
“This particular client was so overwhelmed and said she needed to clean things up financially and bring simplicity to her life,” Daniel said. “We were able to reduce her payments from nine into one while significantly reducing her monthly payments. Needless to say, her stress levels were immediately reduced.”
Opening up a new world of possibilities
Struggling under the weight of multiple credit card balances and massive student loan payments for medical school can be overwhelming for any individual. Even medical professionals already established in the healthcare field can feel intimidated when looking to buy a personal stake in an existing practice, start a new healthcare business or just purchase medical equipment for their office.
Another nursing client, the first to graduate from college in her family, had worked her way up from LPN to Nurse Practitioner and was looking for financial help to open her own practice. Still others are capitalizing on the trend of starting their own aesthetics practices, similar to “med spas,” that offer personal care services including lasers, fillers and rejuvenation. During the past pandemic year, overworked psychologists at hospitals were starting new practices to deal with the onslaught of anxiety resulting from the months of isolation and illness. Other clients have come to Hippo wanting to shore up debt so they can retire early.
Daniel refers to all of it as providing financial freedom.
“There is an emotional engagement with each and every one of our clients,” Daniel said. “We provide a user-friendly, easy-to-understand process that helps demystify borrowing and debt consolidation.”
Hippo Lending offers loans for all licensed medical professionals in 4 easy steps, streamlined for simplicity and flexibility. Individuals can stop wondering and find out quickly by entering their desired loan amount and exploring available payment options. This is followed by a 7-minute application process; review and approval within just a few days; and, ultimately, access to funds in as little as a week.
Breathing room for those who devote their lives to restoring health and wellness to others.
Learn more about Debt Consolidation with our Financial Education series.