FAQ - Payment Plans powered by ExtendCredit.com

GENERAL

• Q: Whose money am I using for the in-house financing plans?
• Q: Can I determine the terms for the payment plan?
• Q: How do I know if I should offer extended payment terms to a specific individual?
• Q: We currently offer conventional consumer financing through a 3rd party source. Why should we use ExtendCredit as well?
• Q: What if we are too busy to manage our own in-house financing?
• Q: Can I use ExtendCredit.com to put customers with existing accounts receivable balances on payment plans?
• Q: Am I locked into a long term contract?
• Q: Do I need any special equipment or software?
• Q: Is my customer data protected?
• Q: Who is ExtendCredit.com?

OPERATIONAL

• Q: Do I need to create any forms or legal documents such as promissory notes or credit agreements?
• Q: How are payments collected from my customer?
• Q: Do my customers receive a statement or invoice?
• Q: How do the payments get to me?
• Q: What if a customer misses a payment?
• Q: What if a customer refuses to make the payments?
• Q: What if a customer wants to pay off their payment plan early?
• Q: How do I know how much cash flow I should receive from my outstanding payment plans?

GENERAL

• Q: Whose money am I using for the in-house financing plans?
• A: ExtendCredit.com enables you to offer in-house customer financing through your own extended payment terms , so ultimately, you are self financing the transaction or procedure.(Back to Top)

• Q: Can I determine the terms for the payment plan?
• A: Yes, you are in control of everything when you take an application and set up an in-house financing plan. You decide what services or products are eligible for in-house financing, the down payment amount required, the amount available for financing, the number of payments required, and whether to charge interest or not. If you decide to charge interest, you set the interest rate for the payment plan.(Back to Top)

• Q: How do I know if I should offer extended payment terms to a specific individual?
• A: ExtendCredit.com provides you with a standard Credit Application to collect required information from the applicant. Once input into the system, you have an option to run an instant credit and identity verification on the applicant based on the information provided in the credit application. During your initial system training, we review this process with you and provide you with user documentation so you understand how to best utilize this service in your credit decision process.
  
  If approved, ExtendCredit.com provides you with a written Credit Agreement that you have the borrower sign. At this point, you also obtain the borrower's bank account and routing number information to set them up for automatic direct debit (ACH) from their bank account for monthly payments. This entire process is designed to provide you with all the tools that professionals use to determine an individual's credit worthiness and once approved, minimize payment problems. If credit is denied, ExtendCredit.com provides you with a written Denial of Credit letter that is compliant with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act that you provide the applicant to explain the reason(s) for why their application was denied and what their rights are under these circumstances. (Back to Top)

• Q: We currently offer conventional consumer financing through a 3rd party source. Why should we use ExtendCredit.com as well?
• A: Great question. Our customers and partners often view ExtendCredit.com as a complement to conventional financing. In fact, several of our partners are conventional lenders.
  
  In today's economy, approval rates for conventional financing are significantly lower than in years past. There are no signs that this trend will change anytime soon. In fact, it may get worse. So in this case, ExtendCredit.com helps the business fill the gap created by lower approval rates by letting the business offer their own in-house customer financing.
  
  As mentioned earlier, several of our partners are conventional lenders. They use ExtendCredit.com because they know their lending standards are not going to meet every need. Also, they know that the discount rate they may have to charge the business for accepting a particular loan may be too expensive for the business to absorb.
  
  For these lenders, ExtendCredit.com's in-house financing software has proven an effective complement for their business customers in situations where the lender can not provide the financing for the consumer. Business owners can think about things the same way. Use ExtendCredit.com.com when an applicant doesn't meet the lending requirements imposed by 3rd party sources or the loan's discount rate is too high to make financial sense for the business. Just because a traditional lender will not approve an applicant doesn't mean they are not creditworthy. ExtendCredit.com provides businesses the credit decisioning tools needed to evaluate an applicant's credit worthiness. (Back to Top)

• Q: What if we are too busy to manage our own in-house financing?
• A: We understand that you are busier than ever. That is why we designed ExtendCredit.com to be as easy-to-use and automated as possible. Generally, all you need to do is process credit applications and decide which ones to approve. The system handles the rest for you.

We also offer an affordable, optional service where you simply fax completed applications to us and we handle rest for you. Contact your ExtendCredit.com sales person at (888) 364-2808, or email us to learn more. (Back to Top)

• Q: Can I use ExtendCredit.com to put customers with existing accounts receivable balances on payment plans?
• A: Yes, absolutely! For existing accounts receivables, you simply choose the terms you want to offer, establish their payment plan and ExtendCredit.com will handle the rest for you. We also offer the ability to electronically import accounts into ExtendCredit.com for situations where you have many accounts to convert to payment plans.

Additionally, we offer contract services to assist you with the entire process, from "best practice" design to executing a campaign for converting accounts to payment plans. Contact your ExtendCredit.com sales person at (888) 364-2808, or email us to learn more. (Back to Top)

• Q: Am I locked into a long term contract?
• A: No. You can cancel your service at any time without cost or penalty. (Back to Top)

• Q: Do I need any special equipment or software?
• A: No. ExtendCredit.com is a web-based application. You can securely access it from any computer with an internet connection using any standard browser. There is no software to download and no equipment to purchase. (Back to Top)

• Q: Is my customer data protected?
• A: Yes, absolutely. Your customer and business data is always secure. At ExtendCredit.com, our top priority is keeping your data secure and protected. Our data center is certified for the highest level of security and all data is encrypted using the latest security technology. (Back to Top)

• Q: Who is ExtendCredit.com?
• A: ExtendCredit.com is a privately held corporation based in Aliso Viejo, California. Investors include Tech Coast Angels, Pasadena Angels, and a select group of private investors. (Back to Top)

OPERATIONAL

• Q: Do I need to create any forms or legal documents such as promissory notes or credit agreements?
• A: No. A Credit Application and Credit Agreement are automatically generated by ExtendCredit.com. The Credit Agreement is automatically populated with all the details of each payment plan. There is nothing to manually prepare. (Back to Top)

• Q: How are payments collected from my customer?
• A: Payments are collected via an automatic direct debit (ACH) from their bank account.

We built ExtendCredit.com around ACH because it is a secure and effective payment method for maximizing collections success. More specifically, we optimized the entire payment process to minimize missed payments and speed cash flow to the merchant. It is also much more cost effective than paying the high cost associated with credit card transactions. (Back to Top)

• Q: Do my customers receive a statement or invoice?
• A: An email is automatically sent to each customer four days before their payment is scheduled to remind them of the payment. (Back to Top)

• Q: How do the payments get to me?
• A: Payments collected from your customers are automatically deposited as a batch into your bank on a weekly basis along with a statement detailing those customer payments." (Back to Top)

• Q: What if a customer misses a payment?
• A: ExtendCredit.com automatically retries failed payments which clears up many problems. If after the retry process is exhausted the payment is still in default, our borrower support staff contacts them on your behalf and works to resolve the missed payment and get the repayment schedule back on track. (Back to Top)

• Q: What if a customer refuses to make the payments?
• A: If we determine that the customer will not voluntarily make the payments due, ExtendCredit.com support staff will mark the account as "suspended". Subsequently, you are notified and able to review online the list of suspended accounts and determine which accounts need to go into collections status. You are in control of the process. Once you determine that an account needs to go into collections, ExtendCredit.com takes it from there and handles the process for you through a fully integrated, professional independent outside collections agency who will pursue the debt on your behalf. At any time, you can look up the account in ExtendCredit.com and see the current collections status and all communications with the borrower. (Back to Top)

• Q: What if a customer wants to pay off their payment plan early?
• A: You can accept their payment in any form you choose and then log into ExtendCredit.com and update the account accordingly. (Back to Top)

• Q: How do I know how much cash flow I should receive from my outstanding payment plans?
• A: ExtendCredit.com provides a set of real-time detailed reports that allow you to see the projected cash flow by week for the next four weeks.(Back to Top)