In the merchant service version of our application for Openbank Pay Lending Germany, you as the merchant/seller fill out the loan application together with your customer(s).
As a salesperson, you will need a device connectable to the web (e.g. tablet, laptop, desktop computer) that ideally also works with a camera (alternatively, you can also work with a scanner).
The customer needs a smartphone with working mobile network and internet access (for the digital signing of the loan agreement). It is imperative that the customer has their cell phone with them and is prepared to provide the corresponding cell phone number - unfortunately, it is generally not possible to conclude a contract without a cell phone number.
Your way to the financing portal
Once you have logged into your payever account with your login data, you can easily access the financing portal with one click by clicking on the POS app icon:
Step 1 - Getting started
Now either add one or more products to the shopping cart (if you have added products to your terminal in our Products app) or freely enter an amount and a reference/invoice number to enter the application process.
To get to the free amount entry, please click on the pocket calculator icon (marked green in the image below).
Step 2 - Rate selection and down payment
First select an interest rate program and then the desired term within the interest rate program. You can also enter a down payment, which must then be paid directly to you on site in cash or by card (you will not receive this amount from Openbank). You will also see later in the credit response whether a down payment is available. If you do not wish to accept any down payments, you can generally deactivate this field in your payever account.
You can also enter a delivery date here on which the goods will be handed over or dispatched. If the goods are in stock in the store and the customer will take them home directly, select “this week”.
If you have set up auto-capture in your payever account, the delivery date determines when the payment is made to you and the first installment is collected from the customer. If you have deactivated auto-capture, the delivery date is relatively irrelevant for you, as the payout is then only triggered when you click on Shipping Goods in the transaction overview for this order.
Step 3 - ID photos
If your device has a camera, use it to take a picture of the ID card (passport or ID card, front and back for the latter), otherwise you can also scan the ID card with a scanner and upload the file.
The data from the photos or scans are then read out using OCR and the corresponding fields are pre-filled in the following steps.
Please also refer to our guide on how to create suitable machine-readable ID photos.
After submitting the credit application, the images are also sent to Openbank, where they are stored for the duration of the loan.
Step 4 - Data entry
Now fill in the remaining fields that are not filled in automatically by hand.
When entering the data, please ensure in particular that you enter a valid cell phone number and e-mail address for the customer (ideally also an e-mail address that the customer can call up directly on their cell phone), as otherwise it will not be possible to obtain a digital signature later.
Step 5 - Decision
After sending the request, the customer is shown a decision after a short loading time.
The request can either be directly approved, still being decided, or directly rejected.
If approval is granted, you can send an email with the link to the digital signature directly to the customer at this point. The link is also displayed as a QR code on the screen, which the customer can alternatively scan with their cell phone camera to access the eSigning.
The customer can open the link directly on their smartphone and access the page of our partner WebID. There they see the contract as a PDF and confirm that they wish to sign it using a code sent to them by text message. Once this process has been completed, the contract is legally signed and does not need to be printed out.
Please note that you should not make any more changes to the request from the start of the signature process - so if you intend to add an internal reference number, change the amount or similar, please do not click on Send link at this point, but close the terminal and switch to the Transactions app, where you first make the desired changes and then confirm the ID check and click on the Send eSign link option (steps 7 and 8).
If you only notice a need to change the request after initiating the signature process, you can view and modify the request again in the transaction overview under More > Edit - please note, however, that any contracts generated before the change and thus any signature already provided will no longer be valid (the bank always requires the signature on the latest version of the application, signatures on previous versions cannot be used). Therefore, if you have processed an application again after a signature has been provided, please click on Send eSign link again and ask the customer to digitally sign the updated contract again.
If your transaction is still being decided, you can close the terminal at this point and switch to the Transactions app, where you can nevertheless continue with step 7 (ID verification) and then check whether an authorization has been received in the meantime.
In the event of a rejection, the customer's purchase cannot be financed, and the customer should be referred to alternative payment methods. However, even in this status, you have the option of processing the application and having it scored again - but this usually only makes sense if it turns out that the customer has significant additional sources of income that you had not previously indicated, or the customer has a second person (e.g. spouse) who could act as a second borrower (this person must then appear on site with a valid identification document; providing data by telephone or similar is expressly not sufficient).
Step 6 - Check request
Switch to the Transactions app and click on the transaction of this customer to view the details and options (usually this will be one of the top transactions on the list, as these are ordered chronologically with the most recent transaction at the top - but it is also possible to filter explicitly by customer name).
Requests that have been rejected are shown in the transaction overview with the status Rejected, while those that have been approved or are still being decided on are shown as In progress.
When you call up a transaction, you will see the next actions in chronological order at the top. If you work through the actions in the order displayed, you are definitely not doing anything wrong, so feel free to use the action display in the order details as a guide through the credit application process.
You will also find a text box below the action display with a corresponding explanation that explains the next step in more detail.
Under More, you can then view all other options that are available for the current status of the transaction.
First open the credit response and check whether further documents are required. This is usually only the case for amounts over €4,000, but may also occur for smaller amounts.
- Standard case - approval without conditions: In most cases, you will read "Credit check: APPROVED Your credit application has been provisionally approved on the basis of the information provided." - This means that the automated credit check was positive and there are no other conditions (e.g. a certificate of income or similar). You can continue directly with steps 7, 8 and 9 and do not need to pay attention to anything else.
- Special case 1 - Transaction still in decision: If you read "Credit check: IN VERIFICATION Your credit application has not yet been decided, creditworthiness is still being evaluated" here, the decision is still pending - in this case you can still continue with step 7 (ID check) and then check whether the credit response has changed. If approval has then been granted, the customer can continue with step 8.
- Special case 2 - additional requirements: Proof of income is usually required for applications over €4,000. You will then see the status “APPROVED WITH REQUIREMENTS” and the note “Proof of income is required for the applicant(s)”. Please upload the relevant proof (for employed applicants, proof of income for the last 3 months - if it is August, for example, you will need proof for the months of May, June and July - and for retired applicants, a pension statement showing the amount of the pension) in the Upload tab and wait with step 9 until the response is updated and the status has changed to Accepted. However, you can already complete steps 7 and 8.
If you have not already initiated the signature, you can still make changes to the contract. If, for example, you would like to add an individual reference or invoice number, please do so now in the Edit reference tab.
If the amount is incorrect (too high or too low) or you have found an error in the name or address, for example, you can still correct this in the Edit tab. There you can generally change all the data of the application, e.g. also the selected condition/term. You can also add a second borrower or other sources of income to the application at a later date (this may be useful for rejected applications).
Please note that when processing an application, the bank may carry out a new scoring depending on what has been changed, and this may come to a different result than before. For example, a previously rejected application may still be accepted after a second borrower has been added, but conversely, a previously accepted application may still be rejected if, for example, you significantly increase the amount or choose a longer term.
If special case 2 (additional requirements) applies to your application, upload the documents in the Upload tab. As with the ID card images, you can either upload a scanned file or take a photo using the camera - but please make sure that the images or scans are clearly legible. Documents can be uploaded at any time and as often as you like, both before and after signing and the identification-process.
Step 7 - Check ID
Now click on Verify and ask the customer to show you their ID card or passport.
Check whether the name on the ID matches the name displayed here and whether the photo on the ID appears to match the customer. Also check whether the ID is still valid and whether it could be a forgery.
Now read the last 5 digits of the ID card number, enter them and click on Complete process.
Step 8 - Digital signature
If you have not already initiated the sending of the signing link in step 5, you can do this in the transaction overview by clicking on Send eSign link.
Customers are redirected to our partner WebID, where they are shown the contract as a PDF and digitally sign it with a TAN code that is sent to their cell phone number by SMS.
They can then download the signed contract and receive it again by email from WebID.
Please note that this step requires mobile phone reception (for the SMS-TAN) as well as internet access. It is also necessary that the customer has previously entered their real cell phone number correctly when applying, as otherwise they will not be able to receive an SMS with the TAN and will not be able to sign the contract.
If your customer does not currently have access to their email address, you can alternatively click on eSign-QR-generation (can be found in the More tab), in which case a QR code will appear on your screen which the customer can scan with their cell phone camera to access WebID. From here, the process is the same as when sending the eSign link by email (the QR code is merely an alternative transmission method instead of email, but the link behind it is exactly the same as the one sent by email).
Step 9 - Issue of goods and payment
Now check the transaction overview again to see if the status has changed. As a rule (approval without conditions), the status should have changed to Accepted no later than 2 minutes after the signature has been completed (if you do not want to wait, you can also force a status update at any time by reopening the transaction overview).
If you are affected by one of the special cases, it often happens that in the meantime, while you have carried out the ID check and the customer has signed the contract, the check has been carried out by Openbank and the status is now already Accepted.
This status is to be understood as a final release from Openbank and gives you the authorization to issue the goods to the customer or to order the shipment of the goods (if the goods must/should be delivered or are currently not available in the store and therefore cannot be taken away directly).
Please do not issue any goods as long as the status is not Accepted, as you do not yet have a payment guarantee from Openbank for these transactions and, in case of doubt, take a risk at your own expense if you nevertheless issue the goods even though, for example, a condition check by Openbank is still pending.
If the status is still In Progress after steps 7 and 8, please check the credit response again. If your conditions have already been checked but there was something to criticize (documents incomplete, not legible, etc.), you will find a response from the loan officer with corresponding instructions here. If the same text is still displayed here, your loan application has not yet been checked. If this is before 6 p.m. on a working day, it may be worth letting the customer browse around the store for another half hour and then checking again whether the status has now changed - on a Saturday or late in the evening, however, it can be assumed that the credit bureau is simply no longer staffed and the response will not be given until the next working day. In this case, the customer must go home without the goods for the time being and come back the next working day.
If you have set up manual capture in your account:
After you have issued the goods, please click on Shipping goods in the transaction overview. This confirms to the bank that the transaction is to be carried out - please note that no money will be paid out to the merchant and no installments will be collected from the customer until this step has been completed!
If the goods are to be collected later or delivered later, please only click this button on the relevant date - especially if it is likely to be several weeks before the goods are delivered or collected. This will prevent your customers from having to pay the first installments before you have even received the goods.
If you have set up auto-capture in your account:
In this case, it is not necessary to click on "Goods shipped" - the transaction will be automatically activated by us on the date you entered under Delivery week when submitting the request (default setting is always the current calendar week).