New consumer finance program helps funeral homes better serve their families in time of need
June 9, 2011 – Charleston, SC: East Bridge Funding (EAST BRIDGE) announces the launch of a new consumer finance program built exclusively for the funeral home industry. This is a nationwide program and is available now to most funeral homes. Using this program, funeral directors will be able to offer their families an at-need financing solution to help pay for some or all of the costs associated with a funeral.
“Funeral costs can be expensive and if a family has not financially pre-planned for the death of a loved one, they can find themselves unable to pay for the services that they want,” said Daniel O’Connor, Managing Director of East Bridge Funding. “Most funeral homes offer pre-need insurance, which a family can purchase prior to the time of death in order to cover most of the expenses associated with a funeral. If a family does not have this type of insurance, the expenses have to be paid for out of pocket and when a funeral can cost an average of $7,000 to $9,000 or more, it can put the family in a difficult spot. Historically, there haven’t been many at-need financing options for this industry which is why we felt compelled to bring a service like this to market”
The new program has an attractive interest rate for the debtor, is low-cost to the funeral home, and has a quick and easy application process. “We used a new lending relationship for this program and they have been great to work with,” continued Mr. O’Connor. “They understood what we where trying to do and share the same sense of duty about helping this industry. We have offered at-need programs in the past but they where difficult to implement and expensive to the funeral home to use so we didn’t have much luck with them.” Mr. O’Connor hopes that the industry will have success using the program going forward. “I think that with today’s economy, more and more families are going to need services like this and we want give funeral homes an opportunity to better serve those families when the situation arises.”
To use the program, funeral homes must be in positive financial standing and must have been in business for 2 years or more. It is required that funeral homes wishing to use the program submit documentation to show they are qualified. Setup takes approximately 2-3 weeks.
About East Bridge Funding
East Bridge Funding is a receivables management company offering unique consumer finance programs to businesses. Services provided include installment contract funding, accounts receivable financing, private label credit card programs, account servicing and bad debt collections.
For more information visit www.EastBridgeFunding.com or contact Daniel O’Connor, Managing Director at 843-971-7541, [email protected].
