Offering finance on a proposal lets your customers spread the cost of a larger job into monthly payments. This article follows the full journey, from setting up your finance options to your customer applying and your team accepting the request.
It covers finance you manage yourself, where your team reviews and responds to each request in Commusoft.
How the finance journey works
Set up: You create a finance template, your customer messages, and link finance to an option template
Send: You send the proposal with a link to the proposal portal
Apply: Your customer chooses Finance when accepting the proposal and submits a request
Review: Your team checks the request and accepts or rejects it
Complete: Your customer is told the outcome and finishes accepting the proposal
How to offer finance on a proposal
Step 1: Create a finance template
A finance template holds the terms, interest rates, and deposit options your customers can choose from.
ā”ļø Click your Profile icon > Settings > Proposals > Finance templates > View
Click Add new finance template.
Enter a Template name.
For each term, enter the Term (months) and the Rate paid by customer. The rate is the annual interest rate, not a monthly one.
Check Enable terms for each term you want customers to see.
Add up to four Deposit default values, each between 10% and 50%.
Check Allow 'Other' option so the customer can enter their own default value to let customers type their own deposit percentage.
Check Add representative, then choose the APR, Term (months), and Deposit for your example plan.
Click Save.
Note: The Multiplier fills in automatically from the term and rate, and sets the monthly payment. See a worked example in the Finance template article.
Tip: Turn on Add representative to show a full worked example on the proposal. Without it, the proposal only shows "Pay by finance".
Step 2: Set up your customer messages
Three templates keep your customer informed at each stage. Each has an email and an SMS version. Leave a version blank if you don't want it sent.
ā”ļø Click your Profile icon > Settings > Proposals
Loan application submission: Sent when your customer submits a finance request. Read the Loan application submission template article.
Loan application acceptance: Sent when you accept the request. Read the Loan application acceptance template article.
Loan application rejection: Sent when you reject the request. Read the Loan application rejection template article.
Step 3: Add finance to an option template
Finance is offered per option, so link a finance template to each option template that should offer it.
ā”ļø Click your Profile icon > Settings > Proposals > Option templates > View
Open the option template and click Configure.
In Set up finance, click Add.
Select your finance template from the dropdown.
Click Save.
The pricing section now shows the grand total and a finance breakdown based on your representative plan. Learn more in the Option templates article.
Step 4: Send the proposal
Your customer applies for finance through the proposal portal, so the email you send needs a link to it.
Add the option template to your proposal template.
In your opportunity template's send proposal email, include the [proposal_portal_url] tag.
Create the proposal on the opportunity and send it to your customer.
Step 5: Your customer applies for finance
When your customer opens the link and clicks Accept proposal, they reach the Payment step and choose Pay in full or Finance. If they choose Finance:
They see the monthly cost based on your representative plan
They can change the APR, term, and deposit, and the monthly payment updates as they go
They click Continue to submit the finance request
The finance amount is based on the option your customer chose, plus any add-ons they selected.
Once they submit, your customer receives your loan application submission message. The proposal's timeline shows the loan as submitted, and you receive a notification.
Note: The notification and timeline confirm the request was submitted, but don't show which plan your customer chose. You'll find the full details in the next step.
Step 6: Review and accept or reject the request
Anyone with Sales access can accept or reject a finance request. It isn't tied to a user role.
ā”ļø Click Reporting > ā° > Finance > Finance requests
Each request shows the opportunity, option template, customer, and status. It also shows the plan your customer chose: total price, APR, term, deposit, and loan amount. Filter by opportunity name or finance status to find a request.
Find the request.
Click Actions.
Click Accept or Reject.
Learn more in the Managing finance submissions article.
What happens next
If you accept the request
Your customer receives your loan application acceptance message
The salesperson and the person who created the opportunity are notified
Your customer can return to the portal to confirm and accept the proposal
If you reject the request
Your customer receives your loan application rejection message
The salesperson and the person who created the opportunity are notified
Finance is removed, and your customer can choose Pay in full or decline the proposal
If your customer can't find their link, resend the proposal from the opportunity
Common questions
How do I see which finance plan my customer chose?
You can see which plan your customer chose in Reporting > Finance > Finance requests. The notification and timeline only confirm that a request was submitted.
Can my customer change the plan I offered?
Yes, your customer can change the APR, term, and deposit in the portal. They can only pick terms you've enabled, and deposits stay between 10% and 50%.
Who can accept or reject finance requests?
Anyone with Sales access can accept or reject finance requests. It isn't limited by user role.
What happens if I reject my customer's finance request?
If you reject the request, your customer can go back to the same proposal link and pay in full instead, or decline the proposal.
Tutorial
A finance request that sits unreviewed leaves your customer waiting on a decision, and the job can't move forward until they hear back. The notification doesn't say which plan they picked, so your team needs to know where to look and what to check before accepting.
š Before you start, you need:
Sales access
An option template you can add finance to
An opportunity template whose send proposal email includes the [proposal_portal_url] tag
By the end you will be able to set up finance on a proposal, see what your customer sees when they apply, and accept or reject their request with the plan they chose in front of you.
Watch a video
Practise this
Before you look, write down what you expect your customer to see at the Payment step for one of your option templates: the APR, term, deposit, and monthly payment. Then open that option template and check the finance breakdown in the pricing section, without sending anything. If the numbers don't match, check which terms are enabled and what your representative plan is set to.
Check what you know
Dr Spencer applies for finance on his heat pump proposal, and Claire gets a notification that a loan application was submitted. Where does she find out which plan he chose?
Dr Spencer applies for finance on his heat pump proposal, and Claire gets a notification that a loan application was submitted. Where does she find out which plan he chose?
Not from the notification or the proposal timeline, which only confirm that a request came in. Claire opens Reporting > Finance > Finance requests, where the request shows the APR, term, deposit, and loan amount Dr Spencer picked. She accepts or rejects it from Actions.
The heat pump proposal is Ā£6,250. Dr Spencer chooses a 20% deposit and 14.7% APR over 60 months. What will his monthly payment be?
The heat pump proposal is Ā£6,250. Dr Spencer chooses a 20% deposit and 14.7% APR over 60 months. What will his monthly payment be?
The deposit is Ā£1,250, so the loan amount is Ā£5,000. The multiplier for 14.7% over 60 months is 0.023633, so his monthly payment is Ā£5,000 x 0.023633 = Ā£118.16. He repays Ā£7,089.82 in total over the 60 months.
Summary
Claire offered Dr Spencer finance on his heat pump installation. She created a finance template, linked it to the option template, and sent the proposal with the portal link. When Dr Spencer applied, she found his chosen plan in Finance requests and accepted it.
š” Key takeaways
Enabled terms: only the terms you enable appear in the portal, so customers can only pick from those.
Representative plan: turn on Add representative so customers see the monthly cost, not just "Pay by finance".
Finance requests: the notification only says a request came in. The plan your customer chose is in the Finance requests report.
You'll know it's right when your customer's request appears in Finance requests showing the plan they picked, and your acceptance or rejection message reaches them.