Automated Credit Application Processing: How Construction Suppliers Approve New Customers Faster
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Tara Porter
By Tara Porter, Product Marketing Manager at Dill. Tara regularly interviews AR and finance teams at construction suppliers. Updated November 2026.
A new customer wants to open an account, and your credit application is a PDF. It comes back missing a reference, and once it’s complete, someone retypes it into your ERP before your credit team can start checking that the business exists. By the time the account is approved, the customer may have already bought from another supplier. Automated credit application processing moves that work online, so your team spends less time chasing paperwork and new accounts open sooner.
Paper is still common. In an NACM eNews poll, more than half of credit professionals said a quarter or fewer of the credit applications they receive come in online, and 18% said they had fully digitized. We work with a lot of construction suppliers, and credit applications are often the first process they want to fix. Below we walk through what automation handles at each step, with examples from suppliers who’ve made the switch.
The short answer: automated credit application processing is software that collects a customer’s credit application online, checks it, and sends it to the right person for approval. It takes over the follow-up work around each application, like chasing references and missing documents, running fraud checks, and opening the approved account in your ERP. Your credit team keeps the decisions.
What comes off your team’s plate
Done by hand, each of these tasks waits on a person, and Builders Merchants Journal reports that checking an application can stretch to hours or days when the details live in several systems. Here’s how the work shifts once the application is automated:
Task | By hand | Automated |
|---|---|---|
Getting a complete application | Calling the customer back for missing pages, references, or tax certificates | Required fields and uploads hold the application until it’s complete |
Reaching trade references | Emailing a PDF form to whoever the customer wrote down, often a sales rep, and waiting for it to come back | Requests and reminders go out on their own, and references answer through an online form |
Checking for fraud | Looking up EIN and Secretary of State records in separate systems | Checks run as soon as the application is submitted |
Pulling credit reports | Logging in to each bureau separately | Bureau reports land in the same file |
Routing for approval | Forwarding the file to the right credit manager | Rules send each file to the right approver |
Answering sales | Fielding “where is this application?” calls | Reps check the status themselves |
Opening the account | Retyping the customer into your ERP and writing a welcome letter | The approved account is created in your ERP |
Trade references that reach the right person
Trade references are where many applications stall. Customers often write down the sales rep they deal with at another supplier, and that rep has to pass your request to their AR team before anyone answers it. The request itself is usually a PDF form sent by email, which the reference has to download, print, fill out, scan, and send back. That’s tedious enough that many references never respond, and each handoff adds another round of follow-up emails for your team.
Automation sends reference requests and reminders on a schedule, so nobody on your team has to remember to follow up. References answer through a short online form instead of a PDF they have to print and scan. A system can also screen the references a customer enters, rejecting the applicant’s own email address or an address on your company’s domain. Customers who keep a trade reference sheet can upload it instead of retyping it.
Credit platforms purpose-built for construction suppliers go a step further. They keep a database of verified trade reference contacts, so when a customer lists another supplier, the system suggests the credit contact to send the request to.
Complete applications the first time
Most callbacks to customers come from missing information. An online application lets you decide which steps are required and which are optional, so a customer can’t submit until the items you need are in. A customer who marks the business as tax exempt has to upload the certificate before moving on, instead of promising to send it later.
The application can also change with the customer:
An LLC can be asked for a personal guarantee while a corporation skips that step.
Bank verification can be required for newer businesses or large credit lines, and waived for a specific customer.
Required licenses can be collected as part of the application.
When one item needs fixing, your team can send the customer a link to that section instead of the whole application.
Licenses are a common gap. Before going digital, Star AC Supply, an HVAC distributor in North Texas, often received applications missing EPA or TACL licenses, and its Director of Finance chased them down after submission across multiple calls and emails. Those licenses are now collected as part of the application.
Fraud checks that run on their own
Fraud is a growing concern for suppliers. Builders Merchants Journal reports a rise in fake companies and in sole traders who take goods and disappear. Warning signs include a company website created only days before the application or contact details that look off. Catching these by hand means looking up each applicant in several outside systems.
An automated application runs its checks as soon as the customer submits. Common checks include:
Verifying the company’s EIN
Checking Secretary of State records
Confirming the applicant owns their email
Confirming a deliverable USPS address
Flagging email domains that don’t match the company
Flagging applications sent from out of state
Credit bureau reports can be pulled into the same file, so your team stops logging in to each bureau separately. Applications that pass every check move ahead, and anything flagged goes to your credit team for a closer look. For more on the schemes suppliers are seeing, read our guide to protecting your construction supply business from credit and AR fraud.
Applications routed to the right credit manager
Forwarding applications by hand gets harder as you add branches. Approval rules can send each application to the right credit manager by branch, region, or credit limit. A supplier with 50 branches and seven credit managers split by region, for example, can have every application land with the manager who covers it.
That manager sees the check results and credit reports in one place and decides to approve or decline. Your credit team still makes every approval.
Sales reps who can check status themselves
Once sales can see the application, the “where is it?” calls to credit stop. Each sales rep can share their own application link, so every application is tied to the rep who sent it and the right branch. Reps can see whether each application is in draft or submitted and follow up on missing items themselves.
Sensitive details kept in one secure place
Paper applications carry Social Security numbers and EINs, and copies end up in branch files where more employees can see them than need to. A digital application keeps that information in one system with controlled access, along with a full history of who changed the application and who made each credit decision.
New accounts that open in your ERP
After approval, an integration with your ERP’s API can create the customer account and send the customer a welcome email, so nobody retypes the application or writes the letter. Without API access, your team adds approved accounts to the ERP by hand, and the rest of the process stays automated.
An application customers can finish anywhere
A customer is more likely to finish an application that’s easy to open and easy to fix. Customers can start one from a link on your website, a QR code at your counter, or a link a sales rep sends, and complete it from a phone on a job site or a computer in the office.
Customers can save an application partway through and finish it later, which helps when they need to track down a license or bank details. When something needs a second look, your team can message the customer or send a link to the one section that needs fixing, so the customer doesn’t fill out the whole application again.
After the account is open
A customer’s risk can change after you extend terms, and a good customer will eventually need a higher limit. Monitoring accounts after approval helps your credit team spot changes before they turn into past-due balances. When a customer asks for more credit, you can send them back to the same application to update the amount they’re requesting, or give them a separate credit increase form, so the request lands in the same system as the original application.
Credit limits for big projects
A large job can put far more on one account than a customer’s everyday orders. Project-level credit lets you set a limit for a single job and review everyone tied to it, from the general contractor to the property owner, instead of raising the customer’s overall limit to cover one project.
Rolling it out
Most of the setup work is deciding what your application asks for and who approves it. Before going live, list the documents and licenses you need from every customer, noting which ones depend on the customer’s business type or credit request. Then write down your approval rules by branch, region, or credit limit, and decide which sales reps and counter staff will send application links.
Connecting the ERP is the longest step for most suppliers. Central Pipe, a PVF distributor across four Southern states, went live on Epicor Eclipse in under four weeks. Training your sales and counter staff matters too, since they’re the ones handing customers the link.
How Dill automates credit applications
Dill builds credit applications for construction suppliers. On top of the steps above, Dill adds:
10+ fraud and identity checks on every application, with the results in one summary
Suggested trade reference contacts from Dill’s database of verified contacts
Automated bank references, backed by a network of 12,000+ bank institutions
Plaid bank verification, including historical balances and NSF fee history
Reports from NACM (including NTCR), Creditsafe, Experian, Dun & Bradstreet, and the other major bureaus, all inside Dill
Job sheets for project-level credit limits
A full history of who changed each application and who made each decision
Monitoring after approval, plus credit limit increase requests
Dill syncs in real time with all the major ERPs suppliers use, including Epicor Eclipse, Epicor P21, Infor CSD, Infor FACTS, Advantive DDI, Advantive Distribution One, NetSuite, Sage, Acumatica, Agility DMSi, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and QuickBooks.
Our team handles the ERP setup and trains your sales and credit teams. Most suppliers are live in 2 to 6 weeks.
Frequently asked questions
What is automated credit application processing? Automated credit application processing is software that collects a customer’s credit application online and runs verification and fraud checks automatically before your credit team decides on the account.
How long does approval take? Timing depends on your approval rules and how complete the application is. Checks run the moment an application is submitted, so a complete application can be approved in minutes instead of days.
Can customers apply from their phone? Yes. Customers can open the application from a link on your website or a QR code at your counter and finish it on a phone or a computer.
Does automation make the credit decision? No. The checks run automatically, and your credit managers approve or decline each application based on the rules you set.
Can customers save an application and finish it later? Yes. Customers can save their progress and come back to finish, so a missing document doesn’t mean starting over.
How do customers request a credit limit increase? With Dill, a customer can update the credit amount requested on their existing application, or you can set up a separate credit increase form. Either way, the request goes to your credit team for approval.
What’s the difference between a credit application and credit scoring? A credit application collects the customer’s information, documents, and references. Credit scoring rates how risky the customer is, using bureau data and payment history. An automated credit application brings the scoring data into the same file, so your team reviews both in one place.
What if we don’t have access to our ERP’s API? You can still automate the application, checks, references, and routing. Your team adds approved accounts to the ERP by hand.
How long does setup take? Most Dill customers are live in 2 to 6 weeks, and Central Pipe went live on Epicor Eclipse in under four weeks.
Can we use Dill Credit Applications on its own? Yes. Each Dill product can be bought on its own, and there are benefits to using them together.
Talk it through with us
We’d be glad to walk you through how suppliers on your ERP set up their credit applications. Members of AD, BLUE HAWK, IMARK, and NACM already use Dill, and we’re happy to introduce you to one. Book a demo.
Comparing tools? Read how to choose a credit application vendor.