Pulling credit information can be a hassle for everyone involved. As a consumer, it can be incredibly frustrating to have to go through many questions, fear identity theft, or even deal with loopholes to jump through. As a business, it can be equally frustrating to either attempt to process a large volume of credit report requests every day, to lose customers due to complex user interfaces, or even lose prospective purchasers to wait times. This is where credit report services come in, supplying businesses and consumers alike with simple reporting solutions.
Why do I Need a Credit Report Service?
Credit report services are the secret backbone to big purchases, loans, and modern eCommerce. With the growth of micro-loan services such as Affirm and pay-over-time methods, businesses and consumers take out loans online more frequently than ever before.
Let’s examine a hypothetical eCommerce business to understand why you might need a credit reporting service.
Take a small business owner who builds custom instruments. After an eight-month build time, he produces an entirely hand-built guitar. A customer contacts him about a purchase but cannot afford to pay the $5,000 cost of the instrument upfront and would like to pay over time.
The business owner needs to work with a bank or loan servicer to pay themselves and allow the client to pay over time. Next, they need to process a credit report. Additionally, more of their products have just received offers of the same kind. Your small business owner now needs to pull the credit information of multiple individuals, safely supply loans, maintain their business data, and ensure that they are avoiding fraud.
This can prove a significantly difficult and daunting task for several business owners, but with a credit reporting service, it is made considerably easier.
Credit reporting services allow businesses to utilize a third party to integrate with banks, loan services, and their own accounts and easily pull credit information in bulk.
What is a Credit Report Service API?
APIs are among the most important and sought-after features of any service in the eCommerce industry. What is an API, you may ask?
API stands for Application Programming Interface. Essentially, it is a software tool that allows different applications to communicate and integrate.
When it comes to credit report services and processing or pulling credit information as an eCommerce business, an API is the most useful tool.
For many businesses working with credit, credit reports, and loans, there is a need for a high quantity of credit reports to be pulled every day. When done by an employee, this can take hours out of the day and quickly test prospective customers’ patience, potentially causing severe hurt to your business.
A credit reporting API, such as CRS eCredit Data API, supplies a doorway for credit processing on your website. Rather than having to go through a confusing integration process, your website already holds the gateway to credit report processing. It will do so in the manner that you, as a business owner, direct it to be done.
This system will also ensure that fraud is prevented, integrate with bank systems and your accounts, monitor your business credit, and allow you to skip the consumer wait and quickly pull credit reports.
On the customer side, these systems also allow you to pull soft credit reports, meaning that they will not negatively affect your customers’ credit scores. Although for many, a large deterrent to accepting a credit check can come with a fear that it will hurt their credit score, the ability to assure your customer that it will not significantly help your sales.
Automation, Customization, Ease of Use
If you own or run a business that needs to process anywhere between ten and 1000 credit reports a day, you need a credit report service that can be automated, customized, and is easily taken advantage of. As you seek a solution, look for APIs that will integrate with your website and loan services easily and that you can customize to the point that you feel comfortable allowing your business to—in a way—run itself.
These services are made to make your life as a business owner easier. So take advantage of them and leave behind the worry and stress of pulling large numbers of credit reports every day.
Don’t Lose Sleep
You should not have to lose sleep over pulling credit reports, especially in today’s commerce world. Instead, spend time intentionally finding the exemplary credit report service and credit report API for you and your business. But the time to integrate it and then focus on the critical part: running your business.
