A business credit application form is the request a seller gives a business customer before selling to them on credit. The customer fills in their business details, commercial registration, VAT number, trade references and the credit limit they are asking for, then signs, stamps and returns it. The form has 12 sections, and the last two are for the seller only: an 8-item checklist to review before approving, and the decision on the approved limit and payment term. It is not a bank account opening form, and it is not a term deposit.
Word to edit and add your business logo, PDF for your customer to print, fill in by hand and sign. Both files are in Arabic.
Read this before you give the form to your customer
- The customer asks, and the seller decides. The customer fills in the sections up to the declaration and signature, and the seller writes the approved credit limit and payment term in the “Seller’s decision” section. Both may differ from what the customer asked for.
- The form suggests no figures. No credit limit, payment term or late-payment penalty is written in advance. Each of them is a blank field the two parties fill in.
- The terms are an agreement between the parties. Suspending supply on late payment, notice of changes to the details, and the period for disputing a statement of account are all clauses the two parties can edit or strike out before signing. The form does not replace legal advice.
What the business credit application form contains
The customer fills in the first ten sections, and the last two stay blank until the application comes back to the seller.
| Form section | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Business details | Name as on the commercial registration, registration number and expiry date, legal entity, VAT registration number, activity, and national address |
| Owner or authorised signatory | Name, position, ID type and number, and the authorisation or power of attorney number if the signatory is not the owner |
| Contacts | The purchasing contact and the payments contact, and the email address that receives invoices and statements of account |
| Bank details | Bank name, account holder and IBAN, to match incoming transfers with invoices |
| Trade references | Three suppliers the customer buys from on credit, how long they have dealt with each, and the payment term each one gives the customer |
| Credit facility request | The limit requested in figures and in words, the payment term requested and the date it runs from, and average monthly purchases |
| Security | Type, amount, number and due date of the security, left blank if the seller asks for none |
| Attached documents | 7 boxes the customer ticks, from the commercial registration to the original security |
| Agreed terms | Payment within the approved term, staying within the limit, suspending supply on late payment, notice of changes to the details, and the period for disputing a statement of account |
| Declaration and signature | A declaration that the details are correct, consent to contacting the trade references and to using the data for the stated purpose, and a signature and stamp box |
| Pre-approval checklist | 8 items the seller reviews before deciding, and a field for review notes |
| Seller’s decision | The decision, the approved limit and payment term, the security required, the next review date, and the approver’s name and signature |
The fields that carry figures are left blank on purpose: the credit limit, the payment term, the consequences of late payment, and the notice periods. These are decisions for each seller and each customer, and the form does not suggest a figure nobody chose. The declaration section also has a consent line for using personal data, with a blank field where the two parties write the purpose the data is used for and how long it is kept.
Customer credit application: what the customer asks for and what the seller decides
Every credit figure in the form appears twice: once in the customer’s request and once in the seller’s decision. The gap between the two is the result of the credit risk scoring the seller carries out on the application.
| Item | In the customer’s request | In the seller’s decision |
|---|---|---|
| Credit limit | The amount requested, in figures and in words | The approved amount, which may be lower than requested |
| Payment term | The number of days requested, and the date it runs from: the invoice date or the delivery date | The approved term and the date it starts |
| Security | The security the customer offers, if asked for one | The security required and its amount |
| Review | Nothing to fill in | The next review date for the account |
A limit approved today may not suit the customer a year later, which is why the decision section carries a next review date. If you grant large limits to a small number of customers, read about credit risk before you approve the application.
Security in a credit application: the promissory note
A common form of security in credit sales is the promissory note: a commercial paper in which the maker undertakes to pay a set amount to the beneficiary on a set due date or on sight. It can be issued electronically through the Nafith platform. Its conditions, its elements and how it is used are explained in our article on the promissory note, and you will find a ready-made version in the promissory note template.
The security section of the form does not assume any particular type: the customer writes the type of security, its amount, number, due date and the name of its maker, and ticks the original or a copy of it under attached documents.
After approval: following up a credit customer in Qoyod
Once the account is approved, the day-to-day work of accounts receivable management begins. In Qoyod accounting software you record the customer’s details from the form, and issue their invoices with a due date from the sales module. Once the VAT registration number the customer wrote in the first section is entered on the customer record, it sets the type of e-invoice automatically: a tax invoice if the customer has a VAT number, and a simplified tax invoice if not.
You can turn on email payment reminders that reach the customer a number of days you choose before the due date, and, from the Pro plan, follow outstanding debts in the customer aging report, comparing weekly or monthly periods, as the receivables aging glossary entry explains. If you measure how fast you collect, track days sales outstanding.
The AR Command Center is a paid Qoyod add-on for following your receivables in one place, and it comes with the Customer Portal: a page for each of your customers where they see their approved invoices, balance and statement of account, and can pay, raise a dispute and message you.
Other templates complete this one in the credit sales cycle: the customer statement of account template you send every month, the customer balance reconciliation template to confirm the balance between you, the accounts receivable calculation template, and the allowance for doubtful debts template to calculate a bad debt provision when a customer falls behind on payment.
Business credit application form: frequently asked questions
What sellers ask before they open a credit account for a business customer.
What is a business credit application form?
A request the seller gives a business customer before selling to them on credit. The customer writes in their business details, commercial registration, VAT number, contacts, bank details, trade references, and the credit limit and payment term they are asking for, then signs and stamps it. At the end of the form the seller writes the decision and the approved limit and term.
Is this a bank account opening form?
No. It is a request between a seller and a business customer to open a credit purchase account: the customer receives the goods or the service now and pays for them within a term the two agree on. It has nothing to do with opening an account at a bank, or with a term deposit.
Who sets the credit limit and the payment term?
The customer writes what they are asking for in the “Credit facility request” section, and the seller writes what they approve in the “Seller’s decision” section after reviewing the documents and the trade references. The form suggests neither a limit nor a term: both are blank fields.
What security can a seller ask for in a credit application?
The seller decides, and may not ask for security at all. A common form of security is the promissory note, a commercial paper in which the maker undertakes to pay a set amount to the beneficiary on a set date or on sight, and it can be issued electronically through the Nafith platform. The security section of the form records the type of security, its amount, number and due date.
Can I use the form for a new customer who pays in cash?
Yes. If the customer will pay in cash, use only the first four sections, from business details to bank details, as a new customer account form. The credit facility request, the security, the agreed terms and the seller’s decision are for credit sales only, and you can delete them from the Word version.
Is the credit application form available in Word?
Yes, the form is available in Word and PDF. In the Word version you edit the terms and add your business logo before sending it to the customer, and the PDF is printed blank for the customer to fill in by hand, with an empty box for your business logo.
Download the business credit application form in Word or PDF
The form is available in Word and PDF, and before the seller’s decision it has an 8-item checklist, the first item being a check that the commercial registration is valid and matches what the customer wrote.