What patient financing actually costs a UAE clinic

Ask a practice manager why the clinic hasn't signed up for patient financing yet, and the real objection is rarely the concept. It's the fine print. What does this actually cost, and where's the catch? This is the clinic-side answer: what a UAE clinic pays to offer patient financing for UAE clinics, when the money arrives, and what happens when a patient asks for a refund.

The fee is one line in your agreement, not a mystery

Hazel doesn't publish a single fee percentage, because there isn't one number that fits every clinic. Your merchant fee is agreed during onboarding, based on your specialty and the volume you expect to run, and it's written into your clinic agreement before you sign anything. The fee comes out of the amount you're settled, and Hazel invoices your clinic monthly for that activity, payable within five days. There's no arrangement fee and no separate charge for the patient's application itself.

When the money actually arrives

Once a patient's plan is approved and disbursed, your clinic is paid the full treatment value upfront, generally within one business day of disbursement and up to 48 hours after treatment confirmation. That's the whole settlement event: one payment, for the full amount, regardless of how many months the patient takes to repay it. Every payout shows up in the clinic dashboard, so reconciling a month of activity is a glance, not a spreadsheet.

What happens on a refund or cancellation

Treatment plans change. A patient reschedules, a course of sessions is cut short, a procedure is cancelled after approval but before it happens. Refunds and cancellations follow the terms set out in your clinic agreement, agreed with you during onboarding, not a policy improvised after the fact. What doesn't change is who carries the repayment risk: if a patient later misses an installment, that sits between the patient and Mashreq, the licensed bank behind the financing. There are no clawbacks against your clinic for a missed payment.

What your clinic carries, side by side

For your clinic	Patient financing (Hazel)	Chasing payment in-house
When cash arrives	Full treatment value upfront, generally within one business day of disbursement	Whenever the patient pays, spread over however long that takes
Missed or late payments	No credit or collection risk — it sits between the patient and Mashreq	Your clinic absorbs the shortfall and the follow-up calls
What it costs you	A merchant fee agreed in your clinic agreement	Staff time, aged receivables, and plans people never finish paying off
Refunds and cancellations	Follow the terms in your clinic agreement	Handled case by case, on whatever terms you set at the time

The repayment relationship itself isn't an informal handshake. Mashreq is a bank licensed and supervised by the Central Bank of the UAE, which sets the consumer protection standards licensed banks follow for disclosures, affordability, and complaint handling. Your clinic doesn't administer any of that; it sits between the patient and the bank.

Three questions worth asking before you sign

1. "What's my actual merchant fee, and is it in writing before I commit to anything?"
2. "How fast is settlement for my typical ticket size, and is it the full value or a discounted one?"
3. "If a patient misses a payment later, does anyone contact my clinic about it?"

If you're still comparing how to offer flexible payment at all, how to offer patient financing at your UAE clinic walks through in-house installments, bank referrals, and card plans before landing on point-of-care financing.

The bottom line

Your fee is agreed once, in writing, before you commit to anything — not renegotiated after the fact. You're paid the full treatment value upfront, generally within one business day, and you carry none of the collection work if a patient falls behind. Register your clinic to see your actual terms.

Keep readingIn-house payment plans vs third-party patient financingThe same settlement facts from a different angle: who carries the credit risk when you run your own plan versus when a bank does.