Credit Application Form Template

A credit application form is what you ask a new business customer to fill in before you supply them on credit. It should capture the customer's exact legal name, company number and addresses, who runs the business, who pays your invoices, the credit limit and terms they want, and two trade references, then get a signature consenting to credit checks and accepting your terms of sale. Copy or download the free template below; no email needed.

The template

Copy it into a document or your website form builder. Square brackets mark the parts to replace or fill in. Delete the retention of title wording in section 6 if your terms of sale do not include it.

APPLICATION FOR A CREDIT ACCOUNT

[Your company name]
[Your address]  [Email]  [Phone]

Please complete every section and return to [credit control email].
We aim to reply within [x] working days. Until an account is opened,
orders are supplied on [proforma / payment in advance].

--------------------------------------------------------------
1. ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS
--------------------------------------------------------------
Registered name:                 [                         ]
Trading name (if different):     [                         ]
Legal form:   [ ] Limited company   [ ] LLP   [ ] Partnership
              [ ] Sole trader       [ ] Other: [          ]
Company registration number:     [                         ]
Date incorporated or started:    [dd/mm/yyyy]
Registered office address:       [                         ]
Trading address (if different):  [                         ]
VAT registration number:         [                         ]
Website:                         [                         ]
Nature of business:              [                         ]
Parent company (if any):         [name and company number  ]

--------------------------------------------------------------
2. DIRECTORS, PARTNERS OR PROPRIETOR
--------------------------------------------------------------
Limited companies and LLPs: names and positions only.
Sole traders and partnerships: full name and home address of
each owner or partner.

Name:              Position:           Home address:
[              ]   [              ]    [                     ]
[              ]   [              ]    [                     ]

--------------------------------------------------------------
3. ACCOUNTS CONTACT AND INVOICING
--------------------------------------------------------------
Accounts payable contact:        [                         ]
Email for invoices:              [                         ]
Phone:                           [                         ]
Invoice address (if different):  [                         ]
Do you need a purchase order number on invoices?  [ ] Yes [ ] No
Do invoices go through a supplier portal?         [ ] Yes [ ] No
  If yes, portal name and setup contact:  [                ]
Your payment run dates:          [e.g. weekly on Thursdays ]

--------------------------------------------------------------
4. CREDIT REQUESTED
--------------------------------------------------------------
Expected monthly spend with us:  GBP [          ]
Credit limit requested:          GBP [          ]
Payment terms requested:         [  ] days from [invoice date / end of month]
Our standard terms are [30] days from invoice date. Other terms
apply only if we confirm them in writing.

--------------------------------------------------------------
5. TRADE REFERENCES (two suppliers who give you credit)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Reference 1
Company:          [                         ]
Contact name:     [                         ]
Email / phone:    [                         ]
Trading with them since:  [year]   Their credit limit: GBP [    ]

Reference 2
Company:          [                         ]
Contact name:     [                         ]
Email / phone:    [                         ]
Trading with them since:  [year]   Their credit limit: GBP [    ]

--------------------------------------------------------------
6. DECLARATION AND CONSENT
--------------------------------------------------------------
I confirm that:
- the information in this application is true and complete;
- I am authorised to sign on behalf of the business named above;
- you may contact the trade references above, search the
  Companies House register, and search one or more credit
  reference agencies, which may keep a record of the search;
- I have read how you use personal data in your privacy notice
  at [link to privacy notice];
- any account opened is on your terms and conditions of sale
  at [link / attached], including [retention of title and]
  your right to statutory interest and compensation on late
  payment under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts
  (Interest) Act 1998;
- we will tell you in writing of any change of ownership,
  legal form, name or address.

Signed:        [                         ]
Name:          [                         ]
Position:      [                         ]
Date:          [dd/mm/yyyy]

--------------------------------------------------------------
FOR OFFICE USE
--------------------------------------------------------------
Received:                    [date]
Companies House checked:     [ ] Yes  Status: [active / other]
Latest accounts filed:       [period end]  Overdue? [ ] Yes [ ] No
Credit report:               [agency]  Score / limit: [      ]
References received:         [ ] 1  [ ] 2
Credit limit approved:       GBP [          ]
Payment terms approved:      [  ] days
Approved by:                 [name]      Date: [dd/mm/yyyy]
Next review date:            [dd/mm/yyyy]

What each section is for

• About your business. The point is the exact legal entity. Some groups trade under one name through several companies, and a trading name on its own does not tell you which legal entity owes you the money. The registered name and company number are what go on your invoices and, if it comes to it, on a claim form.
• Directors, partners or proprietor. For a limited company, names are enough because the register lists the officers. For a sole trader or partnership the owners are personally liable for the business debts, so their home addresses matter. That is personal data, which is why the declaration points to your privacy notice.
• Accounts contact and invoicing. Late payment from a larger customer is often process rather than money: a missing purchase order number, an invoice sent to the wrong inbox, a supplier portal nobody set up. Getting this right at the start saves weeks on the first invoice.
• Credit requested. Expected monthly spend tells you what limit the account really needs. Stating your standard terms here, and that other terms only apply if confirmed in writing, stops a customer later claiming they were promised 60 days by a salesperson.
• Trade references. Ask for suppliers who give credit, not friends or accountants, and ask each one what terms and limit they give and whether invoices are paid on time.
• Declaration and consent. Consent to the checks, the privacy notice link and acceptance of your terms of sale, signed by someone with authority. This is what ties the account to your terms, including retention of title if your terms have it.
• For office use. A written record of what you checked and why you set the limit. It makes a later review quick, and it is the evidence of a working credit control process if you ever apply for invoice finance.

Checks to run before you approve

The form is only half the job. These are the usual checks, in roughly the order a credit controller runs them. The Companies House searches cost nothing (GOV.UK).

### Credit checks on a new business customer: what to check and where

| What you are checking | Where | Cost | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Company exists, is active, and the name and number match the form | Companies House register | Free | Company status, registered office, date of incorporation |
| Who runs it and for how long | Companies House register (officers) | Free | Current and resigned directors; recent changes of control are worth asking about |
| Whether accounts are filed on time and what they show | Companies House register (filing history) | Free | Filed accounts and whether any are overdue; small companies may file limited detail |
| Secured lending and insolvency | Companies House register (charges, insolvency) | Free | Registered charges over the company's assets and any insolvency proceedings |
| Payment behaviour and a suggested limit | A commercial credit reference agency | Paid (varies by agency) | Credit score, payment performance data, court judgments, a recommended limit |
| How they actually pay other suppliers | The two trade references on the form | Free | Terms given, limit given, whether they pay on time; references chosen by the applicant tend to be favourable |

Source: Companies House free search, GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-a-company)

Sole traders and ordinary partnerships are not on the Companies House register; rely on a credit reference agency, the trade references and proof of address.

Setting the limit and the terms

There is no formula for a credit limit. It is a judgement about how much you can afford to lose if this customer stops paying, set against how much they need to buy. Our suggestion for a new account, and it is a judgement rather than a rule: start with a limit that covers one payment cycle of expected spend, then review it after a few months of on-time payment. The credit reference agency's suggested limit is a useful ceiling, not a target.

On terms, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act sets the defaults. With no agreed date, a business payment is late 30 days after the customer receives the invoice or you deliver, whichever is later, and agreed terms between businesses should usually be no longer than 60 days unless longer terms are fair to both sides (GOV.UK). Once a payment is late you can claim statutory interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate, which is 11.75% while base rate is 3.75%, plus a fixed sum of £40, £70 or £100 depending on the size of the debt (GOV.UK). Those rights exist whether or not your form mentions them; referring to them in the declaration simply puts the customer on notice from day one. The late payment interest calculator works out the amount on a single invoice.

Three legal points to get right

• Privacy information. The form collects personal data about sole traders, partners and directors, and you will pass some of it to credit reference agencies. Under UK GDPR you must give people privacy information at the time you collect their data from them (ICO). Linking to your privacy notice in the declaration is the simple way to do that.
• Sole traders and small partnerships. Consumer credit rules can apply to credit given to individuals, including sole traders, and to partnerships of two or three persons not all of whom are companies (Regulated Activities Order, article 60L). Normal trade terms are usually exempt: article 60F covers running-account credit where the customer makes one payment for each period of three months or less, and the credit comes without interest or other significant charges (article 60F). Charging for credit or taking instalments can take you outside that exemption, so get advice first.
• Personal guarantees. A promise to answer for someone else's debt is only enforceable if it is in writing and signed by the person giving it (Statute of Frauds 1677, section 4). A director signing the company's application is signing for the company. If you want them personally on the hook, use a separate guarantee they sign in their own name, drafted by a solicitor.

Credit applications and invoice finance

If you use factoring or invoice discounting, your funder runs its own version of this check on each of your customers and sets a limit on how much it will fund against them. Our note on credit limits in factoring explains how that works. Where your own limit on a customer is higher than the funder's, invoices above the funder's limit still have to be collected, but you get no advance against them.

A signed application on file for every account, with the office-use section filled in, also answers questions a funder asks at underwriting: who your customers are as legal entities, what terms you give them, and how you decide who gets credit. See what happens during underwriting for the rest of that process, and how credit control works with factoring if the funder will be collecting for you.

Companion templates and tools

• Invoice template: once the account is open, the invoice with the fields HMRC requires.
• Statement of account template: the monthly running balance to send each account customer.
• Aged debtors template: shows which accounts are paying within the terms you approved.
• Debtor concentration checker: whether one account has grown too large a share of your ledger.
• Chase letter pack and letter before action: when an account stops paying.