Is 15 minutes to open a credit account for a new customer too long?
Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2025 8:59 am
Does your store take 15 minutes or more to open credit for a new customer ?
What do you think of this weather?
I personally think it’s too big…
In fact, it's an absurd amount of time!
Nowadays, there is simply no justification for taking so long to open a credit account.
This is especially true for those who work in the footwear, clothing and optics segments.
For furniture and electronics, 15 minutes can even be considered a time limit (but it cannot go beyond that).
The question is:
What can you do to speed up credit approval for your store ?
Basically, it involves changing some attitudes.
To learn more, continue reading this article until the end.
Or watch the video I just published on our YouTube channel and learn how to open a credit account quickly!
YouTube video
Opening a credit account vs fraud
When we talk about making your credit system more agile, first of all, it is necessary to understand the reasons that lead to delays in credit approval.
Many stores take more than 15 minutes to open a credit account for a new customer because they want to find out more information about that customer.
Then the credit agent calls a partner store to check if job seekers database the customer has already purchased there, checks the customer's registration data, calls the references to see if the phone number exists...
Finally, it performs a series of validations that can really be useful if you are concerned about avoiding credit scams .
But if you ask the store owner why they are doing this validation, you will see that most of the time they are not thinking about preventing fraud.
He wants to know if the customer's contact details and registration data are correct so that he can charge them in the event of default.
In this case, the store is more concerned about granting credit than specifically about fraud.
Which, depending on the segment of activity, is actually the correct attitude.
The problem is that this time-consuming check is not necessary.
That is if your store has a credit analysis system to do this.
It is worth remembering that fraud continues to exist and is a real problem.
But even in this case, credit scoring technology can help uncover a scam without the credit broker needing to search for all of the customer's documentation.
Using Credit Policy to Prevent Fraud
When we deal with an operation to combat fraud in traditional retail, we have to look mainly at electrical and furniture stores.
In the footwear, clothing and optics segments, fraud is not something that is so harmful to the business.
Do you know why?
Because in these stores the average ticket is usually around R$120 to R$400.
While for electronics and furniture, this value rises to something between R$600 and R$1,000.
This is why, for the latter, the risk of loss in the event of fraud is much greater.
Observing the average ticket is a great way to identify possible scams.
After all, since the scammer no longer intends to pay, he ends up buying a lot at once.
In a store where the average ticket is R$120, for example, this “customer” will try to make a purchase of R$1,500 on credit.
If you have a system monitoring credit granting, an alert will be triggered every time the customer has a high debt amount at the time of purchase.
This means that you don't need to waste your time (or your customer's) when approving a sale.
If you run a shoe, clothing or optical store, having a good credit policy is enough to control losses due to fraud.
What do you think of this weather?
I personally think it’s too big…
In fact, it's an absurd amount of time!
Nowadays, there is simply no justification for taking so long to open a credit account.
This is especially true for those who work in the footwear, clothing and optics segments.
For furniture and electronics, 15 minutes can even be considered a time limit (but it cannot go beyond that).
The question is:
What can you do to speed up credit approval for your store ?
Basically, it involves changing some attitudes.
To learn more, continue reading this article until the end.
Or watch the video I just published on our YouTube channel and learn how to open a credit account quickly!
YouTube video
Opening a credit account vs fraud
When we talk about making your credit system more agile, first of all, it is necessary to understand the reasons that lead to delays in credit approval.
Many stores take more than 15 minutes to open a credit account for a new customer because they want to find out more information about that customer.
Then the credit agent calls a partner store to check if job seekers database the customer has already purchased there, checks the customer's registration data, calls the references to see if the phone number exists...
Finally, it performs a series of validations that can really be useful if you are concerned about avoiding credit scams .
But if you ask the store owner why they are doing this validation, you will see that most of the time they are not thinking about preventing fraud.
He wants to know if the customer's contact details and registration data are correct so that he can charge them in the event of default.
In this case, the store is more concerned about granting credit than specifically about fraud.
Which, depending on the segment of activity, is actually the correct attitude.
The problem is that this time-consuming check is not necessary.
That is if your store has a credit analysis system to do this.
It is worth remembering that fraud continues to exist and is a real problem.
But even in this case, credit scoring technology can help uncover a scam without the credit broker needing to search for all of the customer's documentation.
Using Credit Policy to Prevent Fraud
When we deal with an operation to combat fraud in traditional retail, we have to look mainly at electrical and furniture stores.
In the footwear, clothing and optics segments, fraud is not something that is so harmful to the business.
Do you know why?
Because in these stores the average ticket is usually around R$120 to R$400.
While for electronics and furniture, this value rises to something between R$600 and R$1,000.
This is why, for the latter, the risk of loss in the event of fraud is much greater.
Observing the average ticket is a great way to identify possible scams.
After all, since the scammer no longer intends to pay, he ends up buying a lot at once.
In a store where the average ticket is R$120, for example, this “customer” will try to make a purchase of R$1,500 on credit.
If you have a system monitoring credit granting, an alert will be triggered every time the customer has a high debt amount at the time of purchase.
This means that you don't need to waste your time (or your customer's) when approving a sale.
If you run a shoe, clothing or optical store, having a good credit policy is enough to control losses due to fraud.