Forum Discussion

GloriousAir's avatar
GloriousAir
Contributor 3
9 months ago

How to offer financing options to customers who can’t pay upfront?

As a HVAC Contractor, we are thinking about financing our service to our client who cant affort the Lum some of money up front, can I get some advice for the best way possible to start some kind of f...
hvac
processing payments
RCuppett-DOO's avatar
RCuppett-DOO
Contributor 2
9 days ago

KQuinn612​ I was curious, about two things.

  1. Are you required to provide Hearth with so many "guarantees" or projects per month in order to use their service.
  2. To clarify, Hearth does not pay you directly, they pay the H/O and you have to rely on the H/O to not spend what they were given. Meaning we are giving them the link directly and not applying on their behalf?

Thanks!

Becca

KQuinn612's avatar
KQuinn612
Contributor 2
7 days ago

No- there is not a number of clients you must finance per month of in any timeline. Hearth is a 3rd party personal project loan broker basically, they shop for and offer the client usually 3-6 offers through various servicers and then the client chooses a loan to secure directly with the loan servicer. Yes, their loan is deposited into the client’s bank account to use how they would like. The thought is that many contractors take a deposit and a final payment, so the funds can be disbursed according to your system.

There is no guarantee they will use the financing for a project with you as there is no verbiage saying they are obligated to do so (even though they are using your account to apply). Honestly, I have never seen this happen, where a client takes a loan and doesn’t follow through with our bid- but it’s possible.

Hearth now offers a credit type account vs a standard loan to the client if you choose to offer this new option. We have not personally upgraded our plan to include this as of yet. Any questions the client may have can be directed to Hearth Customer Support. Hearth does notify you via email if the client starts or submits an application and also the highest total they are approved for. They also inform you when a client accepts a loan proposal and the status of their disbursement. Notifying you helps you also contact the client at these times to follow up and make sure they are going to sign :) For the small annual fee, it’s a great option to be able to say Yes, we offer financing!