Buy Here, Pay Here overview
Set up Buy Here, Pay Here financing, originate an in-house loan from a sold deal, then service balances, payoffs, schedules, and payments under Loans.
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Buy Here, Pay Here (BHPH) means you are the lender. The dealership carries the note and the customer pays you directly over time. AutoDealer.io has a full loan-servicing layer for this: originate a loan from a sold deal, then track the balance, schedule, and payments under Loans.
BHPH is different from a Finance deal. On a Finance deal an outside bank pays you at signing. On a BHPH deal you keep the note and collect the payments yourself. Pick the right deal type up front (see Deal types).
What you get
- An in-house loan originated from a sold BHPH deal: amount financed, APR, term, and a full payment schedule.
- A Loans list of every loan you carry, with balances and status.
- A per-loan page with a payoff quote, next-due, the amortization schedule, and a payment ledger.
- A Collections view with portfolio aging and your most-delinquent loans.
- Optional, opt-in automation: late fees, NSF (returned payment) handling, and email payment reminders.
How a BHPH loan starts
A loan is not created automatically. It's an explicit step after the sale.
- Create a deal and set the deal type to In-house (BHPH).
- Close the deal and mark it sold (this sells the vehicle and creates the title work).
- On the deal page, find the In-house financing card and click Originate in-house loan.
- On the Originate in-house loan screen, the amounts start from what the buyer still owes on the deal: Cash down already includes any money recorded under Payments on the deal, Trade allowance is the trade-in's equity, and Taxes & fees financed includes tax, fees and any F&I products. Change them if your paperwork says otherwise, then set the loan terms: sale price, taxes & fees financed, cash down, trade allowance, interest rate, number of payments, frequency, interest method, day count, contract date, first payment date, grace period, and any flat late-fee or pickup (deferred-down) terms.
- Watch the live Loan preview (payment amount, amount financed, finance charge, total of payments, maturity, and the full schedule), then click Originate loan.
You land on the loan's page, and the loan now appears under Loans.
At origination the late-fee type is None or Flat amount only. A Percent of payment option exists in Settings → In-house financing (BHPH) for future use or API-direct calls, but the loan origination calculator does not support selecting it. The loan is signed with whatever late-fee terms you set on the origination screen.
You can only originate a loan when the deal type is In-house (BHPH) and the deal is sold. If the deal isn't sold yet, the card says "Mark this deal sold to originate the in-house loan." Each BHPH deal can have only one loan. If it already has one, opening the calculator sends you to the existing loan instead.
A loan can never be for more than the buyer still owes on the deal, the Balance the deal page shows. If you try, the preview says so and Originate loan stays off. A deal the buyer has paid in full needs no loan: the card says so, and the deal's In-house loan step reads done. If a payment was recorded on the deal by mistake, void it under Payments, and the loan screen comes back.
Where loans are serviced: Loans
Loans (in the Money group of the left sidebar) lists every in-house loan you originate and service. From here you can:
- Open any loan to see its balance, payoff, schedule, and payment history.
- Open Collections (top-right button) for portfolio aging and delinquency.
On a single loan's page you can:
- See Principal balance, Next due, and Payoff today (interest accrues on actual days, so the payoff reflects exactly when you pull it up).
- Review the Loan terms (amount financed, finance charge, APR, total of payments, payment, term, first payment, maturity, and the interest rate when it differs from the APR).
- Record payment (the dialog has a one-click Payoff fill), pull a Payoff quote good through a chosen date, and collect any pickup (deferred-down) payments.
- Assess late fee, mark a payment returned (NSF), or void a payment.
- Share a Customer portal link so the borrower can check their own balance and pay. With your own Stripe account connected, the borrower pays there by bank account, or by card when you turn cards on, and the payment posts to the loan by itself (see Take payments with Stripe). Without Stripe, if you set your own payment link under Settings, Customer payments, the portal shows a Pay button that opens it, and you record that payment on the loan.
Some controls only appear in context. The Assess late fee button shows only when the loan carries late-fee terms; the NSF and void buttons appear per non-voided payment row; and the Pickup payments table appears only when the loan has pickups.
Who can do what
- Opening the Loans pages: Owner, Admin manager, or Accounting. Sales cannot open Loans, and the link is not in their sidebar.
- Recording money (originating loans, recording payments, payoff quotes, late fees): Owner, Admin manager, or Accounting.
- Marking a payment returned (NSF), voiding a payment, waiving a charge, changing the terms, and changing loan status (e.g. defaulted, charged off): Owner or Admin manager only.
- Saving BHPH settings: Owner or Manager only.
Turning on BHPH automation (optional)
Everything below is off by default and dealer-configurable. Nothing is charged or emailed until you turn it on.
- Go to Settings → In-house financing (BHPH).
- Set your Late fees defaults: grace period, default late-fee type (None / Flat amount / Percent of payment), and the amount. These prefill the calculator when you originate a loan.
- Turn on Auto-assess late fees daily if you want the daily servicing run to charge a late fee on each overdue installment automatically (otherwise you assess them manually per loan).
- Set an NSF fee if you want the option to charge one when you mark a payment returned.
- Turn on Email borrowers about payments to send upcoming-due and past-due reminders, plus a daily summary to your team.
- Click Save changes.
A late fee only ever fires when both are true: you've enabled it in settings and the loan was originated with late-fee terms. The fee charged always uses that loan's own signed terms, not whatever the settings say now. Set your state's legal amounts yourself, because the system enforces no caps and invents no legal amounts.
What BHPH does not do (yet)
Be aware of these limits so you don't expect features that aren't built:
- Interest methods: only Simple interest and Zero interest are available. Rule-of-78 / precomputed is intentionally blocked.
- Payment frequency: Weekly, Bi-weekly, or Monthly only (no semi-monthly).
- The contract is a template, not legal advice. The default Retail Installment Contract (BHPH) form prints the loan's APR, finance charge, amount financed, total of payments and payment amount; add it to a financing pack to use it. Have counsel review it for your state before you rely on it.
- No usury / APR cap checks. Any APR is accepted with no warning. You are responsible for staying within your state's legal rate.
- Payment allocation is fee → interest → principal, and is not configurable per state. Confirm this matches your state's contracts.
- Online payments need your own Stripe account. With it connected (the owner connects it under Settings, Customer payments), borrowers pay on the customer portal and each payment posts to the loan by itself; the money goes to your bank and AutoDealer.io never holds it. Without Stripe, the portal's Pay button only opens your own payment page when you have set one, and you record those payments on the loan.
FAQ
Why don't I see my BHPH loan under Loans?
The loan isn't created automatically. The deal must be type In-house (BHPH) and marked sold, and then you must click Originate in-house loan on the deal page. Until you originate it, there's nothing to service.
Can a salesperson record a payment?
No. Salespeople cannot open the Loans pages. Recording payments and other money actions require the Owner, Admin manager, or Accounting role.
Why isn't a late fee being charged?
Two things must both be set: late fees must be enabled in Settings → In-house financing (BHPH), and the loan must have been originated with late-fee terms. A loan with no late-fee terms is never charged a fee, even with automation on.
Is the customer portal where borrowers pay?
Yes, once your own Stripe account is connected. The borrower sees their payoff, balance, next due date, schedule and payment history, and pays by bank account or card (whichever you turned on). Each payment posts to the loan by itself, and a bank payment counts from the day the borrower paid. A signed-in borrower can also turn on automatic payments when you offer them. Without Stripe, the portal can open your own payment page, and you record those payments on the account. See Take payments with Stripe and Share the borrower payment portal.
Which plan includes BHPH?
BHPH is on the Max plan: loan origination, servicing, collections and the borrower portal. It is not a paid add-on, and Basic and Pro do not include it.