Cherry

Cherry is the installment lender to look at first if your practice does large cases. It approves with a soft credit check, finances far more than most competitors, pays the practice in two to three business days and is rated very highly by the patients who use it.

What you cannot see in advance is the cost to the practice. Cherry does not publish merchant fees, so get the schedule in writing for the promotions you plan to offer and compare it with Sunbit and CareCredit.

What Cherry is

Cherry is a point-of-sale financing platform used in dental, medical aesthetics, veterinary and other practices. It is a technology platform rather than a bank: loans are made by partner lenders. Cherry says it is trusted by 60,000 healthcare providers, including more than 25,000 dental practices.

Patients get a fixed installment plan rather than a revolving credit card. That makes the cost predictable: a set number of payments and no deferred-interest cliff.

Patient terms

What it costs the practice

Cherry charges the practice a percentage of each financed transaction. It advertises that practices can cut merchant fees by as much as 50% compared with competitors, but it does not publish the schedule, and the comparison depends on which promotions you use.

Ask for the fee at each plan length and at both 0% and interest-bearing plans. As with every lender, the longer the 0% period, the more the practice pays. Also confirm in the merchant agreement that the program is non-recourse, including for disputed treatment.

Where Cherry is strong

• Ceiling. $50,000 covers full-arch and full-mouth cases that lenders capped at $20,000 cannot.
• Approval experience. A short phone application with a soft check means patients are willing to try, and a high share are offered something.
• Predictable for patients. Fixed installments and no retroactive interest.
• Patient satisfaction. 90% of roughly 1,900 Trustpilot reviews are five-star, and Cherry replies to almost all negative reviews.
• Extras. Our database records that Cherry also administers membership plans, which suits practices with many uninsured patients.

Where it falls short

• Fee transparency. No published merchant rates.
• Down payment. Collected at checkout, which can surprise patients who expected to pay nothing today.
• High APRs at the lower end of credit. Up to 35.99%; on a long plan the interest can approach the treatment fee.
• Integrations. We could not confirm direct integrations with named practice management systems, so expect to post payments manually unless the vendor shows otherwise.
• Approval claim. “About 90%” is marketing; measure your own approvals over the first 90 days.

Cherry alternatives to compare

• Sunbit: lower ceiling, published fee floor of 1.9%, states no late fees. Cherry vs Sunbit.
• CareCredit: a credit card many patients already hold. CareCredit vs Cherry.
• Proceed Finance and LendingClub Patient Solutions for even larger amounts.

All three main options side by side: CareCredit vs Cherry vs Sunbit. For implant cases specifically: dental implant financing options.

Bottom line

Cherry is a strong second lender next to CareCredit, and a strong first choice for practices focused on high-value treatment. Sign up only after you have the fee schedule, the recourse terms and a clear script for explaining the down payment.

What users say about Cherry

These are consumer (patient) reviews: about 1,900 on Trustpilot with a TrustScore of 4.8 out of 5 (90% five-star, 3% one-star), read on September 30, 2026. We found no substantial body of public reviews from dental practices. Themes are paraphrased, not quoted.