How to offer customer financing as a contractor

A big job is a big number, and a big number is easy to put off. When the customer can see the job as a monthly payment, the decision becomes whether the monthly number fits, not whether they have the whole amount today.

Financing also changes which option they pick. A homeowner who would take the cheapest repair in cash will often look at the better option when the difference is a few dollars a month. The customer still decides; you are only showing them the choice.

• Pay later on the pay page. Affirm or Klarna sit next to card and wallet on the invoice. You enroll in nothing, the customer applies on their phone, and you pay a higher processing rate on those payments. Koira's pay page does this on every plan for invoices from $50 to $30,000.
• A lender program. You apply to a provider as a dealer or merchant, and offer its plans. Service Finance, GreenSky, Wisetack and Synchrony work this way. They can cover bigger jobs and promotional no-interest plans, and the fee is set by the program.
• A loan marketplace. The customer compares personal loans from several lenders and pays you from the loan. Acorn Finance and Hearth work this way, with $0 dealer fees.

Every provider's amounts, terms, fees and payout timing are side by side in the provider comparison.

1. Pick by your average job. Under $30,000 with nothing to set up, use pay later on your pay page. Bigger jobs or promotional plans need a lender program.
2. Read the fee. Find what you pay per financed job on the provider's own page, and decide whether you price it in or offer it only on some jobs.
3. Sign up. Lender programs need an application and a review of your business; pay later on a pay page needs none.
4. Put the monthly number on the estimate. Show it next to the price of each option, so the customer sees it before they ask.
5. Let the lender run the application. The customer applies on their own phone; the lender decides approval, sets the terms and gives the disclosures.
6. Get paid. Know when the money arrives: at the payment, after the customer confirms the work, or from the customer's own loan.

• Mention it with the price, not after the customer hesitates: "This is $8,400, or it can be paid monthly if that is easier."
• Use the monthly number the calculator gives you, and say it is an example; the lender sets the real rate.
• Do not promise approval, a rate or a term. Say the lender decides, and the customer will see their options before they commit.
• Text the customer a payment example they can look at later; most big decisions are made at the kitchen table that evening.

The monthly payment calculator builds that example and a text you can send.

Every option costs someone something. On a pay page, you pay the processing rate: Stripe publishes Affirm at 6% + 30¢ and Klarna at 5.99% + 30¢ per payment. Wisetack publishes a flat 3.9% per transaction. GreenSky charges a fee per transaction, invoiced monthly. Acorn Finance and Hearth charge no dealer fee, and the customer's lender sets the rate; Hearth charges you a subscription.

Whatever you choose, look at the fee as part of the job's price. A 4% fee on a job you would have lost costs nothing; on a job the customer would have paid in cash, it comes out of your margin.

On Koira, financing is part of the pay page on every plan, including the free Office plan. The customer pays in full or picks pay over time through Affirm or Klarna on the same page, on invoices from $50 to $30,000, and applies on their own phone. You do not run credit, explain payment plans or fill in lender forms.

Estimates with up to three options make the monthly number matter most on the best option. See how financing works on Koira.