Pre-Offers
Use pre-offers to show merchants an indicative or preapproved funding amount based on YouLend prequalification or preapproval before they complete a full cash advance application.
Use pre-offers to show merchants an indicative funding amount before they complete a full cash advance application.
A pre-offer is generated before the merchant completes a full application. YouLend reviews anonymised payment data, such as sales, payments, or payouts, and returns either an indicative prequalified offer or a firmer preapproved offer, depending on the flow you use and the merchant's eligibility.
Pre-offers include both prequalified offers and preapproved offers. Preapproved offers are firm offers subject to credit and KYC checks, while prequalified offers are indicative.
When to use pre-offers
Use pre-offers when you want to market funding to eligible merchants before they start a full application.
Common ways to present pre-offers include:
- Surfacing the indicative funding amount in your native application environment.
- Sending scheduled or triggered email marketing, direct mail, or other merchant communications.
- Giving customer support teams a funding amount they can discuss when speaking with merchants.
Types of pre-offers
| Type | What it returns | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Prequalified offer | An indicative funding amount that can be used for merchant marketing. | Use this when you want to show an estimated funding amount before the merchant applies. |
| Preapproved offer | A firm offer generated from anonymised payment data, subject to credit and KYC checks. | Use this when you want to present a stronger offer before creating the merchant application. |
The Preapproval API can also return prequalified offers for merchants that are not eligible for preapproval by setting requestPreQualification to true.
How pre-offers are calculated
Pre-offers can be calculated by sharing anonymised payment data with YouLend. You can provide this data in these ways:
- Use the Preapproval API to request preapproved offers and, where configured, prequalified offers.
- Use the Prequalification API to request prequalified offers.
- Share a CSV file, usually through an SFTP server.
Provide at least three months of payment data for prequalification. YouLend recommends sharing at least 12 months of data for more accurate pre-offers.
Payment data should be shared as aggregated data, not transaction-level data.
Best practice
For indicative prequalified offers, use only the highest funding amount as the merchant-facing amount. Avoid showing the detailed fee or repayment percentage until the merchant receives a final offer.
Example copy:
You are prequalified for business funding of up to £27,400 based on your card sales. Apply here.
Next steps
Learn how prequalification works, including data requirements, CSV examples, and best practices.
Learn how the preapproval flow works, including offer generation, application creation, signing, and funding.
Send payment data through the API to request a prequalified offer.
Screen out merchants in industries YouLend cannot fund before sending data for prequalification. See Disallowed SIC Codes for the full list.
Updated 12 days ago