Share the borrower payment portal
Let BHPH borrowers sign in on your website with their account number, birth date and an emailed code, or send one private link to their loan.
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The borrower portal shows a borrower their loan: balance, payoff, next payment, schedule and payment history. With your own Stripe account connected, they pay there too. There are two ways in:
- Sign in on your website. When you turn it on, your website gets a My account link where borrowers sign in with their account number, date of birth and a one-time code emailed to them. No password.
- A private link to one loan. Generate it from the loan and send it. Whoever has the link can view that one loan, with no sign-in.
Let borrowers sign in on your website
- Go to Settings, In-house financing, and find the customer portal.
- Turn on Let customers sign in on your website. Your website's header gets a My account link, and new BHPH buyers get an invitation automatically.
- Optionally turn on Also require their ZIP code to sign in, and Keep account access after a charge-off.
On My account, a borrower enters their Account number (it is on the contract and on every reminder) and Date of birth, then Continue. A 6-digit code goes to the email address already on their account and expires in 10 minutes; they enter it and Sign in. The portal is off until you turn it on.
Get the link
- Go to Loans and open the borrower's loan.
- Find the Customer portal card near the top of the loan page (just under the KPI cards).
- Click Get borrower link.
- The full link appears in the box and is copied to your clipboard (you'll see "Borrower link copied"). The button now reads Copy link for next time.
- Send it to the borrower however you like: text, email, or print.
The same link is also folded into your BHPH payment-reminder emails. If you've turned payment reminders on (in Settings → In-house financing) and the borrower has an email on file, the upcoming-payment and past-due notices the daily job sends already carry a working "View your account online" link. You don't have to send one manually.
What the borrower sees
The page greets the borrower by first name and shows:
- The vehicle (year / make / model), the account number, and a status badge (Active, Past due, Paid off, etc.).
- Payoff today, principal balance, and the next payment (amount and due date). When every scheduled payment is made but a balance remains, Final balance takes the next payment's place, with a note to pay it to close the account.
- A past-due banner with the amount owed and days behind if the account is late.
- A note of any outstanding fees included in the payoff (only when there are fees).
- The full payment schedule with each installment's status.
- The payment history (real payments only). A payment you marked returned (NSF) stays on the list marked returned, not received, and it is not counted in the total.
- A Make a payment card. With your Stripe account connected, borrowers pay right there by card or bank account (whichever you turned on), and each payment posts to the loan by itself. Without Stripe, a Pay button opens your own payment page in a new tab, or the card asks them to contact you. Any payment notes you wrote show under it, and a tap-to-call button shows when your dealership phone is on file.
- An Automatic payments card, when you offer them (see below).
The money always goes straight to you. With Stripe connected, payments are made on your own Stripe account and settle to your bank; we never hold them, and Stripe fees, refunds and disputes are handled in your Stripe Dashboard. Without Stripe, paste your own payment page under Settings, Customer payments, Your own payment link (owners and admin managers); a payment made there is not recorded on the loan by itself, so record it under Loans as usual. A paid-off loan shows no payment button.
Automatic payments
With Stripe connected, the owner can offer automatic payments under Settings, Customer payments, Customer payments with Stripe, Automatic payments. Borrowers then turn them on from their account page:
- The borrower signs in (account number, date of birth and an emailed code). The private link alone cannot turn automatic payments on.
- They read the authorization in full and tick I have read this authorization and I agree to it.
- They choose a card or bank account on your secure Stripe page.
- They get a copy of the authorization by email, and the loan page shows Automatic payments: Turned on with the card or bank account.
Each automatic payment is taken on its due date, for the payment due, never more than the loan's regular payment and less if part is already paid. The last balance on a loan is never taken automatically. A late fee or other charge is never added to an automatic payment. Every payment pays fees first, automatic ones included, so when a fee is due the installment comes up short by that amount: ask the borrower to pay the fee separately. A bank payment counts from the day it was taken, so no late fee lands while it clears. If a payment fails, the borrower is emailed and you get a notification; nothing is retried automatically. Only installments due after the borrower turns automatic payments on are taken, and a bank account verified with small deposits starts once the borrower confirms them.
If you turn off the payment method a borrower saved, disconnect Stripe, or switch the customer portal off, that borrower's automatic payments are turned off and they are emailed. If Stripe pauses your account, automatic payments show as Paused: nothing is taken, and the borrower is emailed to pay another way for each payment that is missed. The nightly run also turns automatic payments off for anyone left on after one of these changes, and Settings asks you to confirm before a change that turns them off.
Automatic payments are always the borrower's choice: never make them a condition of the loan. Borrowers can turn them off any time from their account page; owners and managers can turn a borrower off from the loan page. Turning the offer off in Settings turns every borrower's automatic payments off and emails each of them.
What's hidden (it's safe to share)
The portal shows a loan financial summary plus the borrower's first name and your dealership's name and (if set) phone. It never exposes the borrower's date of birth, driver's license, SSN, home address, the VIN, or any internal notes. Voided payments, NSF reversals, and other reversal rows are filtered out, so the history reads cleanly.
Replace a link (Rotate)
If a link was shared with the wrong person, or you just want a fresh one, rotate it. Rotating mints a new link and immediately kills the old one.
- On the loan's Customer portal card, click Rotate.
- You'll see "Link rotated. The old link no longer works", and the new URL appears in the box.
- Click Copy link to grab the new URL, then send it again.
Rotate is Owner or Manager only. Accounting can issue and copy a link but won't see the Rotate button. Once you rotate, any link you sent before stops working, including ones already inside past reminder emails. Resend the new link.
The Customer portal card only appears for Owner, Manager, or Accounting roles (the same roles that can book money on a loan). Salespeople won't see it. Also, simply opening a loan never creates a link; a token is only minted when someone clicks Get borrower link or Rotate (or when the reminder job sends a notice).
FAQ
Do borrowers need a password or account?
No password either way. With sign-in turned on, they use their account number, date of birth and a code emailed to them. A private link needs nothing at all: the link itself is the key, so anyone with it can view that one loan. Treat it like a private link.
How long does the link last?
About a year (365 days). It's long-lived so it can sit in repeat statements and reminders. If you ever need to cut it off sooner, use Rotate to invalidate it.
Can the borrower pay through the portal?
Yes. With your Stripe account connected (Max plan), borrowers pay on the portal by card or bank account, and the payment posts to the loan by itself. Without Stripe, the Pay button opens your own payment page and you record the payment on the loan. Without either, the portal shows your dealership name and phone so they can call to pay.
Can the borrower see their other loans or personal info?
No. Each link is scoped to one loan and shows only that loan's financials, the vehicle's year/make/model, the borrower's first name, and your dealership's name and phone. No DOB, license, SSN, address, VIN, or notes.
I shared a link to the wrong person. What do I do?
Click Rotate on the Customer portal card. The old link dies instantly. Then click Copy link and send the new one.
Why don't I see the Customer portal card?
It's limited to Owner, Manager, and Accounting roles. If you're a salesperson, ask an owner or manager to share the link.