Customer Credit Policy Template
Four documents and four sheets that set a credit limit from evidence you verified, with a review date on every one.
Free download · No account needed
A credit application is a document the applicant wrote. The revenue figure, the years in business and the three trade references are claims, and a scorecard that reads a limit off the revenue band has scored the claims. This pack sorts every fact into self-reported, independent and observed, then verifies each reference against the legal entity that will actually be invoiced rather than the trade name on the letterhead. That one check is usually worth more than the rest of the file.
On the illustrative distributor in the sheets, an applicant asked for 150,000.00 at net 45 against a claimed revenue of 14,200,000.00. The buying entity turned out to be nineteen months old, and two of its three references confirmed they invoice an affiliate with a different EIN. One reference verified against the buyer, high credit 48,000.00. Median verified high credit times the tier multiplier of 0.50 gives an opening limit of 24,000.00 at net 30, and names the 126,000.00 gap instead of hiding it.
The second half is the calendar. Every limit leaves with a next-review date and eight triggers that override it. The register carries the notification date, because Regulation B expects a business credit applicant to hear the action taken within a reasonable time and sets a retention floor. Three of fourteen limits here are past due, carrying 288,900.00, and the account at 98.9 per cent of its ceiling sits behind the oldest decision in the book. Chase what already shipped in the AR collections pack.
What's in the pack
Application Review sheet
One row per material fact with seven columns: claimed, found, source, evidence class, verification, and what it did to the limit. Facts that checked out clean get a row too, because a dated non-finding is still evidence.
Credit Limit Register
Every limit with its exposure, utilisation, tier, terms, last review and next review on the same row. Putting utilisation next to review status is what surfaces the account nearest its ceiling behind the oldest decision.
Review Calendar sheet
Sorted by next review date, with the exposure behind each one, what that review has to do, and an owner. Past due subtotals separately, because the subtotal is the argument for doing them.
Exception Log
Every deviation with the reason as it was understood at the time rather than a category, a named authoriser, and an exit: a reversion date, a condition, or a review that will resolve it.
Credit Policy
The three evidence classes, the four tiers and their multipliers, the median-of-verified-high-credit formula, and the concentration cap that applies to any account with no history of its own.
Where the Evidence Comes From
Six sources in the order they are worth checking, and what each one catches. Three are free and take minutes: the state register, UCC filings, and the county and federal court dockets.
Application Review Note
One page per applicant, worked through end to end. Claimed, found, arithmetic shown, and a list of two or three producible things that would move the limit. Declines and reductions get one too.
Review Calendar
The cadence by exposure band and by tier, with the shorter winning, plus the eight event triggers that open a review inside five business days whatever the schedule says.
How to use it
- 1
Take it blank, or seeded
Download the empty Word and CSV files with no signup, or open the pack in River and hand it a filled credit application instead.
- 2
Settle the entity question first
Read the signature block, the purchase order and the W-9, and extract the exact legal entity from each. When those three disagree, that disagreement is the finding and it goes at the top of the note.
- 3
Verify, then compute
Run the three free searches, call the references and ask which entity they invoice, take the median of what was confirmed against the buyer, apply the tier multiplier, then test the concentration cap.
- 4
Stamp the next date before you close the file
The cycle comes from the shorter of the exposure band and the tier. A limit with no next-review date becomes a decision about a company that has since changed.
Frequently asked questions
Is this template free?
Yes. Four Word documents and four CSV sheets download with no signup and no card. Edit with AI is the optional path for anyone who would rather hand River a credit application than fill eight files by hand. The rest of the template library works the same way.
What format are the downloaded files?
Four Word documents and four CSV sheets in one zip, opening in Word or Google Docs and Excel or Sheets. The Credit Limit Register is the working file: one row per applicant carrying the evidence tier, the limit, the next-review date and the triggers that override it.
How can a limit be set without a credit bureau report?
By using what a bureau file mostly aggregates anyway. The state business register, UCC filings and court dockets are free and public, and a trade reference reached by telephone is stronger than a listed one. A bureau subscription is worth having once volume justifies it, and it slots in as one more independent source.
Why does the entity check matter so much?
Because a group with an operating company, a holding company and two dormant shells is completely ordinary, and the trade history usually sits in the wrong one. On the worked applicant, two of three references named an affiliate with a different EIN, which moved the limit by 126,000.00.
Does this tell me what notice I have to send when I decline?
No, and it should not. Regulation B sets a 60-day floor on retaining trade credit application records once the applicant has been notified, with longer floors elsewhere in the rule, and which floor reaches a given arrangement is a question for your counsel. The pack keeps the record and names the question.
How is this different from chasing an invoice that is already late?
Timing. This is the gate before the invoice exists, so the only lever is how much and how long. Once an invoice is out, the AR collections pack works the aging, and the bad debt and write-off pack decides when to stop chasing.
What does Edit with AI actually do?
A free River account is created and this pack installs as a private workspace. The agent starts ready for a credit application, checks the buying entity across your documents, runs the public searches, builds the evidence grid, and computes the limit the policy produces. It fills nothing until you send something.
Set the limit on what you confirmed
Download the blank pack as Word and CSV files, or open it in River and let the agent check the buying entity and compute the limit from verified evidence.
Edit with AI