Offering finance to customers: point-of-sale options for businesses

There are four ways to offer finance to your customers, and the right one depends on who buys from you:

• A retail finance provider. A lender offers your consumer customers a loan or instalment plan at checkout, pays you for the goods and collects from the customer. You introduce the customer; the lender takes the credit risk.
• Buy now pay later. Interest-free instalments, usually short, offered through a third-party provider at checkout or by you directly.
• B2B pay later or trade credit. A finance provider lets your business customers pay over weeks or months while you are paid upfront.
• Your own credit. You let customers pay in instalments and carry the risk yourself.

Retailers usually start with a retail finance provider because the lender handles credit checks, agreements and collections. Our guide to retail finance covers the funding a shop itself might need; this page is about offering finance to the people who buy from you.

Usually, if your customers are consumers or sole traders. Introducing a customer to a lender so they can pay for your goods or services is credit broking. The FCA says a business that introduces customers to third-party finance for goods or services it sells is likely to need Limited Permission Secondary Credit Broking. You would need full permission if you do not meet all the limited permission criteria, or if you already hold full permission for other regulated activities.

The FCA says it usually assesses a complete application within 6 months, and an incomplete one could take up to 12, so start early. The broking rules on promotions also apply: a credit broker that is not a lender must say so prominently. This is a general description, not legal advice; the FCA's Perimeter Guidance and a compliance adviser can confirm what your business needs.

Some interest-free instalments are exempt. Under article 60F(2) of the Regulated Activities Order, a borrower-lender-supplier agreement for fixed-sum credit is exempt where there are no more than twelve payments, all within 12 months of the agreement, and the credit is provided without interest or other charges. Hire purchase and conditional sale agreements are excluded from that exemption.

The rules changed on 15 July 2026 for buy now pay later. The FCA's policy statement PS26/1 says lenders that offer deferred payment credit, interest-free and repayable in 12 or fewer instalments over 12 months or less, to finance a purchase from a merchant are now regulated. Merchants that offer their own deferred payment credit directly are not, and nor is the broking of these agreements.

Lending to limited companies is generally outside consumer credit regulation, and business borrowing above £25,000 is exempt under article 60C of the Regulated Activities Order. Offering finance to business customers is therefore simpler, and a growing group of providers offer B2B pay later at checkout or on invoice.

• iwoca publishes iwocaPay, which lets trade customers spend up to £30,000 and pay over 1, 3 or 12 months, while the seller is paid at checkout.
• Kriya publishes Kriya PayLater, with up to £125,000 of credit for trade buyers, payment terms chosen at checkout and the seller paid in full on delivery.

Both are the providers' own published terms. If you simply give business customers 30 or 60 days to pay, that is trade credit, and you carry the risk and the wait. Our guide to payment terms explains how to set them.

With interest-free finance, the business usually pays. The provider deducts a fee from what it pays you, known as a merchant fee or subsidy, so you receive less than the sale price. With interest-bearing finance, the customer pays the interest and the merchant fee may be lower or nil. Providers set their own pricing and few publish it, so ask for:

• The merchant fee for each product and term you might offer.
• Any set-up, monthly or minimum fees.
• When you are paid: at checkout, on delivery or after the customer signs.
• What happens if the customer cancels, returns goods or complains.
• Whether the provider can claw back payments it has made to you.

1. Check the provider is authorised by the FCA for the products it offers, on the FCA Register.
2. Check it funds your sector, price points and order values.
3. Compare merchant fees across the terms you would actually offer.
4. Check acceptance rates are reported to you, and how declined customers are handled.
5. Test the checkout or in-store journey yourself, including the credit check stage.
6. Read the merchant agreement for notice periods, minimums and chargebacks.
7. Confirm who handles customer complaints and arrears.

Trades businesses that sell larger jobs, such as builders and installers, often also need funding for their own costs while customers pay. Our construction finance guide covers that side.

If you give customers time to pay yourself, the gap falls on your cash flow. Invoice finance can advance cash against business customers' invoices, and asset finance can fund the equipment you need to fulfil larger orders.

Capzy is a credit broker, not a lender, and does not arrange point-of-sale finance for your customers. We help businesses find their own funding, and the lender pays us when a facility completes. You can check your funding options with a soft search that does not affect your credit score; a lender's full application may involve a hard search, and all finance is subject to status and lender criteria. More guides are in our types of finance section.