Paying bills with installments helps small businesses have more control over their cash flow. Melio lets them buy what they need now and pay for it over time.
We’re always working to protect our users from fraud. As a result, not every business or bill payment is eligible for installments.
There are 2 types of eligibility checks:
1. Business account eligibility
When a business account is applying for installments, it goes through an eligibility check. After it is found eligible, every payment is reviewed individually.
Business account eligibility
A business that wants to start splitting its bill payments needs to apply for installments with Melio.
Applying is done once the first time a business owner wants to make a bill payment with installments.
The business account eligibility is checked in 2 steps:
2. Soft credit pull by Credit Key, our financing partner.
Preliminary eligibility check
Businesses who meet the eligibility criteria, which includes, among other things, previous payment history and other credit and risk factors, will be presented with the option to pay bills with installments.
Soft credit pull by Credit Key
The next step is an eligibility check run by Credit Key, our financing partner. This comes once a business meets the preliminary criteria and selected the option to make a bill payment with installments.
Eligible businesses for installments must meet the following criteria:
a. Have a FICO®/credit score of 600 or above.
b. Have a total gross annual business revenue of $40,000 or more.
To check this information, Credit Key runs a soft credit pull on the owner who is applying. Once a business meets all these requirements, it is approved to pay bills with installments.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Soft credit pull doesn't affect the applying owner's credit score.
There’s no need to reapply every time you make a bill payment with installments. Eligibility is maintained as long as the financial status of the business hasn't changed (for example, all repayments are paid on time).
Payment eligibility
After a business is approved for installments, Melio only checks the eligibility of each bill payment to offer the best installment terms.
A bill payment is eligible when:
- 1 successful payment was made to this vendor before.
- Every repayment was made on time in the past.
- The credit score hasn’t changed.