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Credit terms

Your client approves today and pays on the agreed date. Cord separates approval from payment and opens payment when the due date arrives.

What they are

A credit term is the time you give your client to pay after approving. In Cord it’s expressed as Net N: N calendar days counted from approval. With Due on receipt, payment is available as soon as the client approves.

When a quote carries a credit term, the public link doesn’t offer to pay upfront: the client approves, sees the date their payment is due, and the pay button only appears when that date arrives.

Available terms

Term Days Where it appears when quoting (editor step 1)
Due on receipt 0 Visible chip
Net 15 15 Visible chip
Net 30 30 Visible chip
Net 60 60 Visible chip
Net 7 7 Under the Other term chip
Net 45 45 Under the Other term chip
Net 90 90 Under the Other term chip

They’re the same seven terms in the app, the API (contado, net7, net15, net30, net45, net60, net90), the MCP server, and the integrations. In a Spanish-language account, Due on receipt is called Contado.

Where the term is set

Cord picks the term for a new quote in this order:

  1. The one you choose when quoting, in Who are you quoting?. It always wins.
  2. The one on the client’s profile (the Terms field), which Cord preselects when you pick them. See Clients.
  3. Your account’s, in Settings › Quotes › Numbering & tax, field Default payment terms.

If the client has no term of their own and you change nothing, the quote starts with your account’s default term.

How the due date is calculated

The due date is the approval date plus the term’s days. If the quote isn’t approved yet, Cord counts from its creation date. The same calculation is used by the public link, receivables and collections, the reminders, so they all see the same day.

Example: your client approves with Net 30 on October 12, 2026; payment is due on November 11, 2026.

What your client sees

  1. You send the quote with, for example, Net 30.
  2. Your client opens the link and sees the Approve quote button, the same as with Due on receipt.
  3. On approval, the link shows Quote approved and, instead of the payment form, the notice Order confirmed with Net 30 credit with the line “The payment of [total] is due on [date]”.
  4. Below it, Cord tells them how they’ll pay:
    • if you collect online, “Once the date arrives you’ll be able to pay online from this same link”;
    • if not, “Coordinate payment directly with the seller”.

The quote becomes Approved and you can deliver the product or service.

When the due date arrives

On the due date, the same link stops showing the credit notice and shows the pay button with the methods you have active (see Payment methods). Before that date, the quote’s payment page sends the client back to the link, which explains when it’s due.

With a deposit

If the quote asks for a deposit, your client pays it on approval and the balance is due on the term’s date. The link shows the payment plan with the balance marked “Due on [date]” until the day comes.

Invoices

An invoice can be paid as soon as you issue it: its due date marks when reminders and collections start, not when payment opens. The invoice for a quote on credit is born with the same due date (approval plus the term’s days; with a milestone plan where every payment has a date, the last one’s) and, from then on, that due date lives on the invoice. The invoice of a milestone plan, though, isn’t paid from its link: it’s collected milestone by milestone in the quote link. A new invoice without a quote proposes the due date from the term you choose when creating it. In Mexico, an invoice on credit that isn’t paid yet is stamped as PPD (see Invoicing and CFDI).

Follow-up at the due date

  • Automatic reminders, on every plan: for a quote, your client gets a notice three days before the due date and another on the day it’s due; for an invoice, the ones on the schedule you choose in Settings › Invoicing › Reminders (by default, 7 and 1 days before, and 3, 7, 14, and 30 days after). You can turn them off or pause a client. See Reminders.
  • Notice to your team: the day after the due date, if it’s still unpaid, Cord alerts you with the payment overdue notification. See Notifications.
  • AI collections, from the Professional plan: if you turn it on, the agent includes the overdue account in its daily review and drafts the email with the payment link.
  • Late interest: automatic application is suspended while the legal review by country concludes and generates no charges today. See Receivables and follow-up.

Credit limit

Each client can have a credit limit. It’s a signal, not a block: Cord shows you how much open balance they carry against that limit on their profile and in Collections, but it doesn’t stop you from quoting them more.

Limits

  • The term counts calendar days, not business days.
  • A recurring retainer only exists with Due on receipt: with a credit term, the retainer switch disappears.
  • Online payment on the due date depends on your country and on your Cord Payments or Mercado Pago account being active.

Troubleshooting

My client approved and doesn’t see the pay button. That’s expected with a credit term: the button appears on the due date. If you need to collect sooner, issue them an invoice or switch the quote to Due on receipt before sending it.

The due date landed on a different day than I expected. It’s counted from the approval date, not from when you sent it. Check the approval date in the quote’s timeline.

I want a term that isn’t on the list, like Net 120. Today the terms are the seven on this page. For a different arrangement, use installments or set the due date directly on the invoice.