Extending credit terms is a powerful way to grow your wholesale business—but it’s also a risk. For distributors, setting the right credit limit for each customer can mean the difference between stable growth and serious cash flow issues.
Unfortunately, many businesses rely on gut feel or outdated processes when making these decisions, leaving themselves exposed to bad debt, overextended customers, and strained relationships.
Here’s what you need to know.
Why Credit Limits Matter
A credit limit isn’t just a number—it’s a risk management tool. It helps you control how much you’re willing to be owed at any one time, based on a customer’s financial health and payment history.
When done right, credit limits:
- Protect your cash flow
- Minimise exposure to high-risk accounts
- Enable growth for your most trusted customers
- Create clear expectations from the start
When done wrong, they can lead to overdue invoices, write-offs, and administrative headaches.
The 3 Most Common Mistakes Distributors Make
1. Setting Arbitrary Limits
Too many businesses default to $5,000 or $10,000 with no real assessment. This approach might work for some, but it exposes your business to uneven risk.
2. Never Revisiting the Limit
A customer who was safe 2 years ago may be struggling today. If you’re not reviewing limits periodically, you’re flying blind.
3. Saying “Yes” Too Fast
Sales teams often push for higher limits to close deals—but without checks and balances, that puts the business at risk.
How to Set Smarter Credit Limits
Setting effective credit limits requires a mix of data, process, and tools. Here’s how PencilPay helps distributors take the guesswork out of the equation:
1. Built-In Credit Checks
PencilPay integrates with major credit bureaus to pull real-time business credit scores during the onboarding process—giving you insight into how much risk each customer presents before extending terms.
2. Custom Approval Workflows
You can set internal approval rules based on credit data, requested limits, or customer type. This means no one can exceed your risk threshold without a conversation.
3. Automated Credit Limit Management
Once a credit limit is set in PencilPay, it syncs directly to your ERP or inventory platform (like Cin7, MYOB Advanced, or Xero), helping prevent overordering or unapproved extensions.
4. Real-Time Monitoring
If a customer starts to go overdue or exceeds their limit, PencilPay alerts your team immediately and can pause their ability to place further orders—automatically.
Balancing Risk and Growth
Some of your best customers will grow over time—and you want to grow with them. PencilPay makes it easy to review and adjust limits when it makes sense to do so, based on real-world data and consistent payment history.
By setting dynamic, well-informed credit limits, you create a win-win situation:
- Your customers get flexibility.
- You get protection and peace of mind.
Final Thought
If you’re still setting credit limits manually—or worse, not setting them at all—you’re leaving your business vulnerable. With PencilPay, you can standardize and automate your credit approval process, reduce risk, and focus on scaling with confidence.
Ready to get control of your customer credit process?
Book a demo to see how PencilPay simplifies credit management for modern distributors.