[08rookie]

not for myself. i will explain...

as you may know i am a funeral director. i serve a blue collar market. many families do not have life insurance. most funerals are paid for by family funds. all arrangements are governed by financial situations.

i know i can sell a "loan" service to my families. i dont know if these loan services exist. of course anybody can walk into a bank and apply for a personal loan but i didnt know if there is anything more flexible then that???

john comes in and selects a 7k funeral arrangement. wants to put down 3 grand and finance 4k??? i want to facilitate a loan process for the family....the family gets a service they want with the merchandise they want, i get paid for my services, and the lender gets a return on his money....the only collateral i guess offered are deeds to cemetery and death certificates....all which are incredibly important in the final plans...

do i have any options? just tell family if they are short of funds to run to a bank and apply for a loan?

[Seminole]

You would have to see if a local bank would be willing to partner with you to loan them the money, or they can go to the bank themselves, or you can "loan" them the money yourself by setting up payment plans with a predetermined interest amount.

[08rookie]

Originally Posted by Seminole

You would have to see if a local bank would be willing to partner with you to loan them the money, or they can go to the bank themselves, or you can "loan" them the money yourself by setting up payment plans with a predetermined interest amount.

i dont know anything about loaning money. im not in the business of lending and collecting. lending institutions have a better grasp of whats a risk for them.

[CIGARGUY]

There are smaller financial companies that will make higher interst loans on most anything. I would seek out a few of those and explain what you want to do. I would be shocked if one of them wasn't interested. They are the same companies that typically do the 90 days same as cash type stuff for appliances, tires, home projects, etc.

[double_j]

Why do funerals cost so much anyway? I have life insurance but if my family spent more than a couple grand to put me in a box and throw me in the ground, I'd haunt them forever.

I'd counsel against steering people towards one of those 'short term' loan outfits. The rates are generally higher than normal and you don't want to open yourself up to a suit because somebody thinks your locked them into a usurous rate during a time of grief. Also, the collateral isn't worth much to anyone but the person who would be getting a loan. I guess you could resell the cemetary space but the lien holder would have to dig up the old body first.

Going to a bank for a partnership might be the only potential solution but I'm not sure that financial institutions would want a part of it. At the very least, you'd have to guarantee the loan yourself. If that's the case, then you'll have to get involved with the credit screening, etc.

Too much of a pain - I'd steer clear.

[08rookie]

Originally Posted by double_j

Why do funerals cost so much anyway? I have life insurance but if my family spent more than a couple grand to put me in a box and throw me in the ground, I'd haunt them forever.

I'd counsel against steering people towards one of those 'short term' loan outfits. The rates are generally higher than normal and you don't want to open yourself up to a suit because somebody thinks your locked them into a usurous rate during a time of grief. Also, the collateral isn't worth much to anyone but the person who would be getting a loan. I guess you could resell the cemetary space but the lien holder would have to dig up the old body first.

Going to a bank for a partnership might be the only potential solution but I'm not sure that financial institutions would want a part of it. At the very least, you'd have to guarantee the loan yourself. If that's the case, then you'll have to get involved with the credit screening, etc.

Too much of a pain - I'd steer clear.

some funeral home absolutely rape people. my girlfriend family spend close to 20 gs for a service. there are a couple things to remember. there is a general overhead for a funeral home. the "general" is different from place to place, state to state...but the price usually includes the staff, equipment, preparation, chapel bla bla bla....however some families want special merchandise. the merchandise always bumps up the price.

caskets range in price, livery charges range in price, special prayer cards range in price, even churches range in price for a mass....and the cemetery is completely different. some cemeteries charge an arm and leg for their space. its not always the funeral home. the funeral home is one part of a larger chain. alot of coordination is involved.

[BTM]

Is it true that some plots are financed, and if the person stops paying they dig the body up, put it in a random space in the woods, and resell the space?

[campbelly]

Originally Posted by 08rookie

some funeral home absolutely rape people. my girlfriend family spend close to 20 gs for a service. there are a couple things to remember. there is a general overhead for a funeral home. the "general" is different from place to place, state to state...but the price usually includes the staff, equipment, preparation, chapel bla bla bla....however some families want special merchandise. the merchandise always bumps up the price.

caskets range in price, livery charges range in price, special prayer cards range in price, even churches range in price for a mass....and the cemetery is completely different. some cemeteries charge an arm and leg for their space. its not always the funeral home. the funeral home is one part of a larger chain. alot of coordination is involved.

it gets even crazier sometimes...my uncle runs a funeral home in montreal and ive seen some caskets go for 20k alone for the reallllly nice ones..some people even have the casket then encased in a metal vault (the one of which ive seen was gold plated)... add in service costs, plots etc and you can imagine how far the costs can go up

[Kroy]

Originally Posted by campbelly

it gets even crazier sometimes...my uncle runs a funeral home in montreal and ive seen some caskets go for 20k alone for the reallllly nice ones..some people even have the casket then encased in a metal vault (the one of which ive seen was gold plated)... add in service costs, plots etc and you can imagine how far the costs can go up

I hear you get corpse explosion when you seal up the coffin and the leftover gases in the body have nowhere to go. Kinda off topic but your post reminded me of that.

[campbelly]

Originally Posted by Kroy

I hear you get corpse explosion when you seal up the coffin and the leftover gases in the body have nowhere to go. Kinda off topic but your post reminded me of that.

lol while i have heard some bad stories i have never heard of that happening and ive even worked at the cemetery too..but truth be told, most of the time the casket is crushed when the dirt is put back on top of it..even the vault sometimes doesn't stand a chance (and it will also erode over time and crush eventually)