Trade Shield needs to know the terms under which the trade will occur — typically expressed as a number of days (e.g. 30 days, 60 days, net 30 EOM).

Why does this matter? Without a time period, there is no baseline to measure payment behaviour against. If a customer has no agreed terms on file, Trade Shield cannot determine whether they are paying on time, early, or late — because there is no "on time" to compare against. The terms are the benchmark that makes the behavioural data meaningful.

WHY TERMS MATTER

ⓘ Tip: If terms are missing or incorrect, update them in your ageing/ERP system first — this feeds through to Trade Shield and unlocks the Limit Review.

A credit limit is the maximum amount of credit extended to the customer. This must be on file before Trade Shield can assess their eligibility for a recommendation.

Why does this matter? Without a limit, Trade Shield has no way to detect overtrading. If a customer is consistently buying more than their approved limit, that is a significant credit risk signal — but you can only see it if a limit exists in the first place. The limit is the line in the sand that makes the exposure visible.

OVERTRADING — ONLY VISIBLE WITH A LIMIT

ⓘ Tip: If no limit is recorded, send a new application to the customer or update the credit limit in your ageing system so it reflects correctly in Trade Shield.

Trade Shield looks for a trading history of at least 6 months — this is the minimum period needed to identify payment behaviour patterns rather than one-off transactions.

Why does this matter? Patterns take time to emerge. A customer who paid on time twice tells you very little — but a customer with 6+ months of consistent, on-time payments tells you a great deal about how they will likely behave going forward. The goal is to assess established behaviour, not isolated data points.

⚠ Note: Trading history is preferred but not always required. If no history exists, Trade Shield can still generate a recommendation — but it will be based on statutory/bureau information only, not behavioural data. This means the recommendation carries less predictive weight than one supported by actual trading history.

If Terms or Credit Limit are missing, Trade Shield cannot provide a Limit Recommendation. These two are non-negotiable. There are two practical ways to resolve this:

Once terms and limit are correct, you can proceed with initiating the Limit Review — Trade Shield will evaluate the customer's eligibility based on the updated, accurate information.