More patients than ever are looking for flexible payment options before saying yes to care. When financing is available, treatment acceptance goes up, practices grow faster, and patients get the procedures they've been putting off. But choosing the right financing partner isn't always straightforward — especially when platforms built for other industries start showing up in healthcare comparisons.

Wisetack and Cherry both offer consumer financing with soft credit checks and monthly installments, but they were built for very different purposes. If you're a healthcare provider evaluating your options, here's what you need to know.

What is Wisetack?

Wisetack is a financial technology company built to bring flexible pay-over-time options to service businesses — think HVAC companies, auto repair shops, and home improvement contractors — that have historically had few good financing tools.

Wisetack has integrations with software platforms like Housecall Pro and Jobber, so service providers can offer financing within the tools they already use. Loans are issued through LendingClub Bank and other lending partners. While Wisetack does serve some healthcare categories, it operates as a generalist platform across multiple industries rather than a specialist in any one of them.

How Does Wisetack Work?

For Consumers

When a customer receives a prequalification link, they can begin checking eligibility immediately through a soft credit check with no impact to their credit score. The prequalification application is straightforward and takes just a few minutes.

Once prequalified, customers can review their available financing options and choose a plan that fits their budget. From there, they complete the full loan application — which may hurt their credit score depending on the lender they’re matched with.

Key terms for Wisetack consumer financing:

• APRs from 0% to 35.9%, depending on creditworthiness
• Terms from 3 to 60 months
• Simple interest — no compounding interest
• No origination fees, no late fees, no hidden fees
• Loan amounts up to $25,000

Customers can set up autopay to manage their monthly installments, and Wisetack reports payment activity to credit bureaus, which means repayment behavior will affect credit score.

For Service Providers

Once enrolled, service providers can send customers a prequalification link — typically via text to a customer's mobile phone number — at the time of service or estimate. From the Wisetack merchant portal, providers can track financing offers, monitor loan application status, and manage their financing activity.

Wisetack charges a transaction fee to merchants rather than a monthly fee, which can make it feel low-friction to get started. The platform also offers a marketing toolkit to help service businesses promote financing to their customers.

What is Cherry Payment Plans?

Cherry is a buy now, pay later financing platform built exclusively for healthcare and wellness providers. While Wisetack serves trades, home services, and some healthcare categories, Cherry was designed from the ground up for medical practices — where treatment costs are higher, approval rates matter more, and the patient experience is everything.

At practices, Cherry is offered first over its competitors more than 80% of the time, serving providers across dental, orthodontics, medical aesthetics, plastic surgery, dermatology, vision, hearing, and veterinary care.

How Does Cherry Work?

For Patients

Patients benefit from a 35-second financing application that uses only a soft credit check — meaning there’s no impact to their credit score at any point during the application process. Approval decisions are instant, and patients can choose from a range of flexible payment options right at checkout.

Key terms for Cherry Payment Plans:

• Loan amounts up to $65,000
• Terms from 1 to 60 months
• True 0% APR for qualified borrowers — no deferred interest
• No origination fees, no hidden fees, no prepayment penalties
• Approval rates up to 90% across credit profiles

Patients can manage their account online, set up autopay, and make payments via credit card, debit card, or ACH — all with clear terms and no surprise charges.

For Providers

Getting started with Cherry is simple. Once enrolled, practices gain access to a marketing toolkit with ready-made materials to promote financing to patients — in office, online, and across social channels. When a patient is ready to move forward with treatment, staff can initiate the financing process directly at the point of care.

Cherry pays providers up front — typically within 2-3 business days — so practices don't have to wait on patients to make monthly payments or take on the risk of default. And with the lowest merchant fees in the industry, Cherry helps providers grow by keeping more revenue in the practice.

Providers also get access to a dedicated customer support team that specializes in healthcare — not a general call center.

Cherry vs Wisetack: Side-by-Side Comparison

The Biggest Differences Between Cherry and Wisetack

1. Industry Focus

This is the most important difference. Wisetack is a generalist platform — it serves home services, trades, and some healthcare categories, but healthcare is one vertical among many. Cherry was built exclusively for healthcare and wellness providers, and that focus shows in everything from its loan limits to its approval rates to its customer support.

For a medical or wellness practice, that distinction matters. A platform designed around your industry will always serve your patients — and your business — better than one that was adapted to include it.

2. Loan Amounts and Terms

Healthcare treatments can be expensive. Procedures like mommy makeovers and full-mouth dental restoration can exceed $30,000 — and sometimes reach higher. Wisetack's maximum of $25,000 may be sufficient for some home improvement projects, but it leaves many healthcare use cases underserved.

Cherry supports loan amounts up to $65,000, with repayment terms from 1 to 60 months. That combination of high limits and long terms makes it possible for patients to finance even major procedures with manageable monthly payments.

3. Merchant Fees

Every financing platform charges providers something for the service. Wisetack charges a transaction fee on each financed loan starting at 4.9%. Cherry's merchant fees start at 1.7% — the lowest in the healthcare financing industry — which means practices keep more of what they earn on every treatment.

Over the course of a year, that difference in merchant fees can add up to significant savings.

4. Approval Rates and Credit Profiles

Cherry approves up to 90% of applicants across all credit profiles — including patients with limited credit history or lower credit scores. That high approval rate means fewer patients walk out the door without a financing option, and more treatments get accepted.

Wisetack does not publicly disclose its approval rates, and its approval criteria were designed around a broad range of service industries rather than the diverse patient population a healthcare practice sees every day.

5. Interest and 0% APR Availability

Both Cherry and Wisetack offer 0% APR options, and neither uses deferred interest. But there's a meaningful difference in how accessible those interest-free options are. Wisetack's standard plan includes 0% APR for 3-month terms only — longer interest-free periods require merchants to enroll in paid 0% APR add-ons. Cherry offers true 0% APR across a broader range of qualifying plans, giving more patients a genuine interest-free path to care without additional cost to the provider.

The Bottom Line

Wisetack is a capable financing platform for what it was built to do — helping home service businesses and trades offer pay-over-time options to their customers. But healthcare providers need a financing partner that was designed with their patients, their procedures, and their practice in mind.

Cherry offers higher loan amounts, broader 0% APR availability, approval rates up to 90%, and the lowest merchant fees in the industry — all backed by a team that specializes in healthcare financing. It's why practices offer Cherry first over the competition more than 80% of the time.

Ready to see what Cherry can do for your practice? Claim your personalized demo today and find out how easy it is to start offering financing your patients will love.