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Explore financing as a service for B2B companies in the U.S. and Canada, including customer payments, provider costs, funding and compliance.
Your company should not need to build a lending operation every time a customer asks for payment terms.
The harder question is what to outsource. An application form alone does not resolve lender matching, missing documents, payment questions or the conditions that must be satisfied before your business gets paid.
Financing as a service brings those responsibilities into a coordinated customer-financing process. For B2B companies serving the United States and Canada, the opportunity is to make financing easier to access without obscuring the customer’s obligations.
Quick Answer: Financing as a service lets B2B companies offer customer financing through an outside provider instead of building a lending operation. The service may combine applications, financing-source matching, documentation and funding support. Customers still need approval, and responsibilities for pricing, servicing, data protection and seller risk must be defined. (BCG Platinion)
It means using outside financing capabilities to support your customer relationships—not automatically receiving financing yourself.
In this guide, financing as a service describes a managed customer-financing arrangement. It is not outsourced bookkeeping or a fractional chief financial officer service.
The terminology overlaps with embedded financing, but the emphasis differs. Embedded financing describes where financing appears in the customer journey. White label describes the branding. Financing as a service emphasizes the capabilities supplied behind that experience.
BCG Platinion uses the term to describe bringing financing partners into a purchasing process, including application processing, credit assessment and ongoing loan-management capabilities. The actual scope depends on the provider. (BCG Platinion)
For Canadian vendors, Mehmi’s guide to offering financing without becoming a bank explains the separation between selling a product and providing the underlying credit.
Start with whether financing regularly affects your customers’ purchasing decisions.
Consider a program when your business sells equipment, commercial systems, technology or other substantial purchases and customers repeatedly ask about payment options. A software platform or marketplace can evaluate the same opportunity when its users encounter financing needs within an existing workflow.
Define the transaction before evaluating providers. Establish what customers buy, which legal entity borrows, how repayment will be supported and whether your company needs direct payment.
Then compare a single financing source with a broker-backed arrangement.
A narrow product range and similar customer profiles may suit one financing relationship. Varied assets and borrowing requirements justify asking how a provider selects among financing sources. Canadian dealers can use the single-funder versus broker-backed program comparison to organize that decision.
More financing sources are useful only when they produce appropriate options and a manageable process.
Ask for a written division of responsibilities covering the entire relationship.
These functions need not sit within one company. A broker can coordinate an application while an independent lender underwrites and funds it, and a designated servicer handles repayment.
For example, Stripe Capital for platforms describes underwriting, funds disbursement, automated payments and servicing within its offering. That is a provider-specific service model, not a feature list that applies to every financing partner. (Stripe)
Require a clear escalation contact. A customer should not be passed between the vendor, platform and creditor without anyone owning the next step.
Select the product according to the purchase and repayment need—not according to the platform’s default offer.
For equipment, compare loans and leases. An ownership-focused loan finances an acquisition, while a lease requires separate attention to ownership, purchase options, returns and renewal provisions. BDC recommends considering upfront costs, periodic payments, end-of-lease purchase costs and operating expenses together. (BDC.ca)
Canadian buyers can use Mehmi’s loan-versus-lease quote comparison to examine those differences.
For operating needs, distinguish a fixed term loan from revolving credit. Ask whether the business needs one defined amount or repeated access as purchases and collections fluctuate. A temporary gap should have an identifiable repayment source; ongoing losses need more than another payment obligation.
Factoring addresses another need: selling eligible accounts receivable. It is not simply another name for a business loan. The CFPB distinguishes factoring from credit, while recognizing that related arrangements can include a separate credit extension. (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
Where sales-based financing is offered, require a separate explanation of remittances, fees and repayment conditions. Do not describe a factor rate as an interest rate or APR.
The service should make the business and transaction easier to assess—not remove underwriting.
BDC’s lending guidance identifies cash flow, existing debt, financial strength, management credibility and credit history as important assessment factors. It also describes financial statements, bank information and purchase documents among the records a lender may request. (BDC.ca)
Prepare customers to explain the amount requested, operating history, existing obligations and intended use of funds. For equipment, document age, condition, identifying numbers, purchase price and expected use.
Consider collateral value and remaining useful life alongside the repayment period. BDC’s equipment-financing guidance explains why equipment characteristics and expected lifespan matter to the structure. (BDC.ca)
For a Canadian equipment workflow, the online credit application guide provides intake questions to consider.
Avoid universal approval thresholds. A business with substantial revenue can still have little capacity for another payment after expenses and existing debt.
Treat approval, signed documents and completed funding as different milestones.
Before committing to a delivery date, obtain the required closing sequence. Confirm the final invoice, customer contribution, insurance where applicable, equipment identifiers and any delivery or acceptance evidence.
For Canadian transactions, the vendor payout guide explains why payment may depend on delivery, acceptance or specifically approved progress payments.
Custom projects need particular attention. Your manufacturing deposit may be payable before the finished equipment exists. The U.S. palletizer vendor financing example illustrates why those milestones should be addressed before fabrication begins.
Review retained seller obligations separately. Ask what happens after non-delivery, cancellation, inaccurate invoicing, fraud or a product dispute. Do not assume that outsourcing customer repayment eliminates every contractual exposure.
Never ask a customer to confirm delivery or acceptance before it actually occurs.
Separate your program costs from the customer’s borrowing costs.
For your company, request written terms for setup, subscriptions, integrations, transaction charges, promotional subsidies and any referral compensation. Clarify whether a fee is based on the invoice price or the financed amount.
For the customer, review usable proceeds, payment frequency, total repayment, fees, early-payoff provisions and any final obligation. A smaller payment can result from a longer term or an amount deferred until maturity—not a cheaper transaction.
Also establish when compensation is earned and when it can be reversed. Do not select financing primarily because it pays your company a larger commission.
The business case should rest on additional profitable sales and a workable customer experience, after the program’s full costs.
Assume a Canadian vendor sells a machine for CAD $120,000 before taxes. The customer contributes CAD $24,000, leaving CAD $96,000 financed.
For this mathematical illustration, assume:
The calculated customer payment is approximately CAD $2,411.82 per month.
Total loan repayment is approximately CAD $115,767.41, including CAD $19,767.41 in interest. Including the CAD $24,000 contribution, total customer cash outlay is approximately CAD $139,767.41, before excluded costs. The final payment may be adjusted for rounding.
For the vendor, the assumed fee is CAD $1,920. The vendor receives CAD $24,000 from the customer and CAD $94,080 from the financing proceeds, for CAD $118,080 in total, under the assumed closing instructions.
That fee reduces the seller’s proceeds without reducing the buyer’s loan principal.
Now test customer affordability. If a slower month leaves CAD $4,000 after operating expenses and existing debt payments, the new payment reduces that remaining cash to approximately CAD $1,588.18.
Use the loan section of Mehmi’s Canadian equipment financing calculator to test different contributions and terms. Calculate vendor fees separately.
This is not a Mehmi offer, available rate, vendor-fee schedule or customer result. The calculator provides CAD estimates and excludes sales taxes. (Mehmi Group)
Not necessarily. Start with the least complicated implementation that supports your sales process.
Stripe’s published options distinguish hosted applications, embedded components and custom API integration. Those options illustrate different implementation levels; they do not establish what another provider includes. (Stripe)
Require a demonstration of the proposed setup. Test mobile completion, document submission, changed invoices, status updates and manual fallback.
Branding is a separate decision. Canadian sellers can review dealer-branded financing, but a branded application should not be assumed to include custom software, accounting integration or servicing under the seller’s name.
A consistent customer experience still needs country-specific implementation.
Regulation B covers business credit. Certain anti-discrimination and anti-discouragement provisions also reach businesses that regularly refer applicants or select creditors, even when they do not fund the transaction. Required business-credit notifications need an assigned owner within the process. (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
State requirements need separate review. New York, for example, requires covered closed-end commercial financing offers to disclose specified amounts, costs, APR, repayment information and collateral requirements. Do not generalize that rule to every financing product or jurisdiction. (New York State Senate)
For secured transactions, use the applicable state’s UCC framework and asset-specific rules. Washington’s enacted Article 9 provision establishes filing as a general method of perfection, subject to exceptions. (Washington State Legislature)
Canadian privacy guidance emphasizes meaningful consent, including what personal information is collected, its purpose and the parties receiving it. Federal and provincial requirements differ, so an owner’s or guarantor’s information needs an appropriate process. (Office of the Privacy Commissioner)
Secured transactions require provincial analysis. British Columbia uses its Personal Property Security Act; Quebec uses its civil-law framework and the RDPRM. Do not substitute U.S. UCC terminology for those processes. (BCLaws)
Keep taxes visible in Canadian quotes. GST/HST input tax credits depend on conditions including registration, commercial use and documentation; do not promise every buyer a full or immediate recovery. (Canada)
Limit staff access to the records needed for their work. The FTC’s business-security guidance recommends limiting collection, protecting retained information, controlling access and preparing for incidents. (Federal Trade Commission)
Review personal guarantees separately from collateral. Ask who signs, which obligations are covered, whether liability is limited and how a release works. Obtain qualified legal review for material commitments.
Pilot one product category before building a large integration.
Assign an internal coordinator, standardize quotes and use anonymized examples to test the proposed process. Canadian vendors can adapt the vendor-program setup checklist to their implementation.
Measure completed financed sales, net seller proceeds, customer acceptance of offers and outstanding funding conditions. Distinguish lender declines from customers rejecting unattractive terms.
Pause transactions that depend on speculative revenue or leave inadequate reserves. A smaller purchase, temporary rental, existing bank facility or delayed expansion may serve the customer better than additional debt.
Mehmi’s vendor financing program describes branded applications, document uploads, application tracking, comparison of available approvals and specialist support through funding. Confirm the technical and service scope for your business. (Mehmi Group)
Mehmi operates as a financing brokerage and intermediary, not a direct lender. Independent financing providers control final approvals, terms and funding.
U.S. availability is restricted. Unless an applicable authorization or exemption is confirmed, Mehmi’s published policy excludes general commercial loan-broker applications involving borrowers principally in California, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota and Vermont. Separate restrictions concern covered sales-based financing requiring broker registration in jurisdictions including Connecticut, Virginia and Texas.
These are Mehmi’s operating restrictions, not a prohibition on financing in those states. Check the current geographic-availability policy before accepting applications. (Mehmi Group)
No. Evaluate it wherever customer financing is part of the sales process. Mehmi’s published program includes applications connected to websites, equipment listings and sales quotes—not only software platforms. (Mehmi Group)
It should not obscure the relevant parties or required disclosures. Agree on branding, customer communications and provider identification before launch. Treat white labelling as presentation, not a way to remove legal obligations.
No. Financing a vendor’s subscription business is a separate use case. Mitsubishi HC Capital describes arrangements in which vendors receive cash against established service-contract payment streams. Confirm who owes the financing obligation rather than assuming the end customer is the borrower. (Mitsubishi HC Capital America)
No. Request a documented assessment of why the original application failed. Another financing source does not solve insufficient repayment capacity, inaccurate information or an unsuitable purchase.
Name that party in the program agreement and customer communications. Confirm the handoff before funding, including who handles complaints and requests for changes to the repayment arrangement.
Review termination, data access, open applications and support for existing customers before signing. Do not assume ending a software or referral relationship cancels separate financing agreements.
Start with the customers and transactions you already serve, then determine which financing responsibilities an outside partner should handle.
To discuss a program with Mehmi Financial Group, share your typical financing amount, U.S. or Canadian customer location, states or provinces served, products sold or use of funds, expected application volume and desired launch timing.
Call 833-863-4644 or contact Mehmi Financial Group to review a customer-financing process suited to your business. (Mehmi Group)
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