AI agents for business finance: what they can and can't do
What AI agents can do in bookkeeping, close, collections and compliance today, where a person must stay in charge, and how to judge a product.
Part of the guideOffer pay-later in Nigeria: get paid today, customers pay later
The short answer
Running your own store credit costs nothing upfront but leaves you carrying bad debts, chasing payments and tying up cash that could buy stock. A pay-later provider charges a fee on each sale but pays you upfront and takes the repayment risk. For most businesses the provider is cheaper once bad debts and collection time are counted, but a small book of long-trusted customers can still make sense alongside it.
Almost every Nigerian trader knows the credit book: the exercise book or phone notes listing customers who took goods and will "pay small small". It keeps loyal customers buying and it is how many businesses compete. It also quietly costs money. This article compares that informal store credit with using a pay-later provider, using numbers rather than habit. It sits under our guide to offering pay-later in Nigeria.
Why businesses give credit in the first place
Formal credit is still rare. EFInA's 2026 access to finance survey found about 10% of Nigerian adults use formal credit, up from 6% in 2023, and that borrowing for coping and consumption has grown to 40.8% of formal borrowing. Most customers who cannot pay in full today have no card or credit line to fall back on, so the shop becomes the lender. Shops that refuse lose the sale; shops that agree take on the risk.
The real cost of a credit book
Informal credit has no fee, so it feels free. It is not. Its costs are spread across four places:
- Bad debts. Some customers never pay, move away or pay only part. Few traders total this up, so it is usually underestimated.
- Cash tied up. Every naira owed by a customer is a naira not available to buy stock. In a high-inflation period, stock bought later costs more.
- Collection time. Calls, visits and WhatsApp reminders take time from the owner or staff that could go into selling.
- Relationships. Chasing a debt can lose a customer, and sometimes their family and friends too.
There is also a legal point. Selling goods and agreeing to be paid later is ordinary trade credit. Charging interest on it, or lending cash, can move a business into money lending, which may require a licence under state moneylending laws or, for digital lending, approval from the FCCPC under its 2025 regulations. If you add charges for paying late, take advice first.
Worked comparison
A provisions shop extends ₦1,500,000 a month in informal credit. The figures below are illustrative; replace them with your own.
| Cost | Own credit book | Pay-later provider |
|---|---|---|
| Bad debts (illustrative 8% never paid) | ₦120,000 a month | None to you on a non-recourse agreement |
| Cash tied up | About ₦1,500,000 outstanding at any time | Little, depending on settlement speed |
| Cost of that cash (illustrative 30% a year overdraft) | About ₦37,500 a month | About ₦1,250 a month on next-day settlement |
| Collection time (8 hours a week at ₦1,500 an hour) | About ₦52,000 a month | None |
| Fee (illustrative 3%) | None | ₦45,000 a month |
| Total monthly cost | About ₦209,500 | About ₦46,250 |
On these numbers the provider costs less than a quarter of the credit book. The biggest item is bad debt: if your customers really do pay 98% of what they owe, the credit book costs about ₦120,000 a month instead, which is still more than the provider. The provider only loses when bad debts and collection time are very low, which in practice means a small book of customers you have known for years. The fee side of the table is covered in more depth in pay-later merchant fees in Nigeria, and the cost of waiting for money in how merchant settlement works.
Run the same table with your own figures before deciding. Go through the credit book for the past twelve months and mark every debt as paid in full, paid late, part-paid or never paid. Most owners who do this find the never-paid share is higher than they guessed, because small unpaid sums are easy to forget.
What each option does better
| Own credit book | Pay-later provider | |
|---|---|---|
| Who decides who gets credit | You, based on knowing the customer | The provider, based on data |
| Who chases late payers | You | The provider |
| When you are paid | Whenever the customer pays | On the provider's schedule |
| Flexibility | High: you can extend terms for a customer in trouble | Set by the provider's terms |
| Paperwork for the customer | None | The customer sees and accepts the lender's terms |
| Effect on the relationship | Debt sits between you and the customer | The debt is with the provider |
The credit book's strength is judgement and flexibility. The provider's strength is that the debt, the risk and the awkward conversations are no longer yours.
Switching over without losing customers
- Total what is owed today, by customer, and how old each debt is.
- Stop extending new informal credit to new customers once the provider option is live.
- Keep a small book for a handful of long-trusted customers if you want to, with a firm limit.
- Tell regular credit customers about the new option in person, and leave the choice to them.
- Agree a plan with each customer to clear what they already owe; do not move old debts onto a provider.
- Put collected money back into stock, and track whether total sales hold up over the next 90 days.
Customers who are used to your book may need time. Explain that the provider will show them its terms before they accept, and that the shop will be paid either way. How to tell customers you offer pay-later has wording for that conversation.
Where Pryme fits
Spaces is Pryme's merchant network for pay-later in Nigeria only. Customers with a Pryme account may be offered a naira spending limit based on how they run their account, and they see and accept the full agreement before anything is drawn. The credit is lent to the customer by Solid Allianze Microfinance Bank Ltd, a CBN-licensed microfinance bank; Pryme Financial provides the technology. Unlike your credit book, the debt sits with a licensed lender rather than with you, and credit decisions draw on Nigeria's licensed credit bureaus. A Spaces limit can be spent only with businesses that have joined Spaces, Pryme's merchant network, so a customer holding that credit can use it only inside the network. Ask in writing for the merchant fee, settlement timing and whether the agreement is non-recourse, at support@mypryme.com, and run the answers through the comparison table above.
If you keep a small in-house book alongside it, Multi-Account is one way to keep collected credit payments apart from daily takings. The parent guide covers the full set of options for customers who cannot pay in full.
Questions people ask
Is it better to give customers credit myself or use a BNPL provider?
For most businesses a provider is cheaper once bad debts, collection time and tied-up cash are counted. A small book for long-trusted customers can still make sense alongside it.
How do I work out what my credit book costs?
Add up debts never paid, the cost of the cash tied up in money owed, and the time spent chasing. Compare that monthly total with what a provider's fee would cost on the same sales.
Can I charge interest on store credit in Nigeria?
Charging interest or lending cash can bring you under moneylending or digital lending rules that require a licence or approval. Take advice before adding interest or late charges.
Should I move old customer debts to a pay-later provider?
No. Agree a repayment plan for existing debts directly with each customer, and use the provider only for new purchases the customer chooses to make on credit.
Will customers stop coming if I end my credit book?
Some may if they are left with no option. Introducing a provider before you stop new informal credit gives them another way to spread the cost.
Sources
- ThisDay: Nigerians turning to survival loans as consumption borrowing jumps (EFInA A2F 2026) · accessed Oct 2026
- FCCPC: Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations, 2025 · accessed Oct 2026
- Templars: The FCCPC sets deadline for registration of digital lenders (Nov 2025) · accessed Oct 2026
- Berg, Burg, Keil and Puri: The Economics of Buy Now, Pay Later: A Merchant's Perspective (NBER w33152; Journal of Financial Economics, 2025) · accessed Oct 2026
- Voice of Nigeria: Nigeria's headline inflation eases to 15.39% in August (NBS) · accessed Oct 2026
This article is general information, not financial, legal or tax advice. Products described are provided under the terms on this site and are subject to regulation and eligibility.