Step 1.3a — Self-Finance Decision Path (Tier 3 Declines)
Phase: Phase 1 — New Shipper Onboarding Owner: Founder-CEO (decision) · Accounting (documentation) Trigger: HaulPay returns a Tier 3 (Declined) result in Step-1.3-HaulPay-Shipper-Profile-Credit-Check and Forza is considering moving freight for the Shipper without HaulPay factoring support.
Self-financing is an exception path, not the standard. This step is triggered only on Tier 3 declines.
🎯 Ideal State
Two self-finance paths:
Path Description Default? Path A — HaulPay In-Platform HaulPay manages invoicing and collection lifecycle but does not advance funds. Charges $10/invoice. ✅ Default for nearly all self-financed deals Path B — Fully Off-Platform Forza bills Shipper directly, collects payment directly, manages AR aging in-house. No HaulPay involvement. ❌ Rare exception only Decision owner: Founder-CEO. Self-finance approval cannot be granted by Accounting unilaterally. This is a financial risk decision.
Four questions answered and documented before any self-financed load moves:
Question 1 — Why did HaulPay decline? Accounting requests a credit score from HaulPay as decision support (HaulPay returns yes/no by default — no reason given). Credit score plus known context (brand-new entity? temporary credit issue?) informs whether self-financing is reasonable risk.
Question 2 — What is the maximum per-Shipper exposure? The per-Shipper self-financed credit limit. Lower than a factored Shipper’s limit because Forza carries full risk with no backstop.
⚠️ Decision Required — Founder-CEO: Set a standard per-Shipper self-financed credit limit policy. Industry guidance for conservative brokerages at Forza’s stage typically caps at 15K.
Question 3 — What are the payment terms? Recommended default for self-financed Shippers: net 15 or prepay. (Factored Shippers are typically net 30 because HaulPay advances funds. For self-financed, Forza is the float.)
Question 4 — What is total self-financed portfolio exposure? Check current total outstanding self-financed AR across all self-financed Shippers (Path A + Path B combined) before approving a new one.
⚠️ Decision Required — Founder-CEO: Set a total self-financed portfolio exposure ceiling — the aggregate maximum across all self-financed Shippers combined.
Path A vs. Path B decision guide:
Default to Path A when:
- HaulPay supports the Shipper in their system
- The Shipper is willing to work with HaulPay’s billing platform
- Forza wants HaulPay to manage invoice sending and collection
- The $10/invoice fee is acceptable relative to margin on expected volume
Use Path B only when:
- HaulPay will not support the Shipper even for in-platform self-finance
- The Shipper’s billing requirements cannot be met through HaulPay’s system
- Forza explicitly wants to retain the entire billing and collection relationship
- There is a compelling business reason documented by Founder-CEO
EZ Loader documentation — note format: “Self-Finance Approved by Founder/CEO on [date]. Path: [A — HaulPay In-Platform / B — Fully Off-Platform]. Reason for HaulPay decline: [reason]. Credit score: [score if obtained]. Approved credit limit: $[X]. Payment terms: [Net 15 / Prepay / Other]. Review date: [90 days from approval].”
Downstream impact by path:
Step Factored (Tier 1/2) Path A Path B 1.5 Billing Config Factor flag = Yes Factor flag = Yes Factor flag = No 1.7 Credit Limit HaulPay-approved default ($50K) Founder/CEO-approved (lower) Founder/CEO-approved (lower) 1.8 NOA Required Required Skipped 1.9 NOA Follow-Up Required Required Skipped 1.11 Greenlight Standard format Self-Finance A format Self-Finance B format
🤖 SYSTEM AUTOMATION
The decision itself is human judgment requiring Founder-CEO sign-off. Documentation in EZ-Loader notes is manual. Once configured, EZ Loader enforces the chosen path automatically for every load.
🛑 HARD GATE
No self-financed load moves without all four conditions met:
- Founder-CEO approval documented in EZ-Loader Shipper notes
- Appropriate “Factor This Customer” flag per chosen path
- Credit limit set to Founder/CEO-approved amount
- Remit-to information correct per path (HaulPay for Path A, Fifth-Third-Bank details for Path B)
Any load booked for a self-financed Shipper without all four conditions is a process violation.
📍 Current State
- No formal self-finance approval process exists.
- Self-financed deals happen on rare occasion. When they happen, they are typically Path A by default — HaulPay offers it as the easier, more obvious path.
- Path B off-platform self-financing has happened but is undocumented — no written approval, no tracked exposure, no review date.
- No per-Shipper self-financed credit limit policy. No total portfolio exposure ceiling.
- Founder-CEO has made self-finance decisions informally. They are not recorded in a retrievable way.
- Total self-financed AR exposure is not monitored systematically.
Who does this today: Founder-CEO makes the call informally. Accounting configures HaulPay / EZ-Loader based on informal direction.
🚧 Gap
- No written self-finance policy (per-Shipper cap, portfolio cap, approval authority, documentation requirements).
- Path A and Path B are conflated in practice — no standard distinction in how they are handled.
- No systematic tracking of self-financed AR exposure.
- No documented approval trail for audit or review purposes.
- No 90-day review process to reconsider self-financed Shippers for re-submission to HaulPay credit check.
🛠️ Gap Closure Actions
- Action 1 — Draft self-finance policy document: per-Shipper cap, portfolio cap, approval authority (Founder/CEO), documentation requirements, review cadence (Owner: Casey + Founder/CEO | Effort: Medium)
- Action 2 — ⚠️ Founder/CEO decision: Set per-Shipper self-financed credit limit policy number (Owner: Founder-CEO | Dependency: Policy draft reviewed)
- Action 3 — ⚠️ Founder/CEO decision: Set total self-financed portfolio exposure ceiling (Owner: Founder-CEO | Dependency: Policy draft reviewed)
- Action 4 — Establish EZ-Loader Shipper notes template for self-finance approval documentation (Owner: Casey + Accounting | Dependency: Policy approved | Effort: Low)
- Action 5 — Build self-financed exposure monitoring report: pull all Shippers with Factor flag = No (or Path A self-finance note) from EZ-Loader, cross-reference against QuickBooks-Online AR aging for outstanding balance (Owner: Casey + Accounting | Dependency: QBO sync working | Effort: Medium)
- Action 6 — Add to Phase 7 monthly cadence: Accounting reviews total self-financed exposure against portfolio cap and flags to Founder-CEO if approaching (Owner: Casey + Accounting | Dependency: Monitoring report built | Effort: Low)
- Action 7 — Document the Path A vs. Path B decision playbook for Accounting (Owner: Casey + Accounting | Dependency: Policy approved | Effort: Low)
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