House Accounts and Store Credit: Selling on Account Without Losing Track of Who Owes What

A house account lets a trusted customer or contractor buy now and pay later, off a running balance instead of a card swipe every visit. It works when three things are in place: a credit limit you set up front, a statement that shows every charge and payment, and an accounts receivable (AR) view that tells you who's current and who's overdue. Skip any one of those and a house account turns into an IOU you can't collect.

What Is a House Account, and Who Actually Needs One?

A house account is a store-extended line of credit that lets a customer charge purchases to a running balance and settle it later on a statement, instead of paying at the register every time. It's not a discount program — the customer still pays full price, just on a delay. The value is convenience and trust: a contractor doesn't want to pull out a card for every trip to buy fittings, and a repeat customer with a standing relationship with the store shouldn't have to.

• Contractors and trade customers who make frequent small purchases and settle monthly
• Business or institutional accounts — schools, restaurants, offices — that need one monthly invoice instead of dozens of receipts
• Long-time regulars the owner trusts to pay reliably
• Wholesale or B2B buyers on negotiated terms, sometimes tied to contract pricing and sales reps

The risk is obvious: unlike a card sale, you're not guaranteed payment at the time of sale. That's why a house account needs limits and a process, not just a handshake.

How Do You Set Up a House Account, Step by Step?

Setting one up right takes ten minutes and saves you a collections headache later.

• 1. Decide on terms before you approve anyone. Net 15, net 30, or due on statement — pick a standard and stick to it so you're not negotiating case by case.
• 2. Set a credit limit. A cap protects you from one customer running up a balance that outpaces what they're likely to pay back in a cycle.
• 3. Create the customer profile with real contact details. You need a billing address and an email or phone that actually gets checked, because that's where the statement goes.
• 4. Get a signature or verbal agreement on terms. Even a simple line — "charges are due within 30 days of the statement" — gives you something to point to later.
• 5. Ring sales to the account, not to cash or card. At checkout, the customer account should be its own tender type, separate from cash, card, gift card, or store credit, so every charge lands on their balance automatically.
• 6. Review new accounts after 60–90 days. Confirm the limit and terms are still right once you've seen a full billing cycle of actual behavior.

What Should Go on a Customer Statement?

A statement is the customer's proof of what they owe and why. If it's missing detail, expect phone calls and disputed charges instead of payments.

• Opening balance carried from the last statement
• Every charge in the period, with date, amount, and what was purchased
• Every payment or credit applied, with date and method
• Closing balance — what's actually owed right now
• Aging — how much of that balance is current versus overdue, and by how long
• Terms and due date printed clearly, not just implied

Send statements on a fixed schedule — monthly is standard for most house accounts — so customers learn to expect them and budget around them.

How Do You Actually Collect Payment on a House Account?

Collecting on a house account works best when you give the customer more than one easy way to pay and you follow up before the balance gets stale, not after.

• Accept payment against the balance at the register — cash, check, or card, same as any end-of-day drawer close would record
• Let the customer pay by card at the counter using a card reader (in-store card payments generally run through Stripe Terminal)
• Apply the payment to the customer's account so the balance and aging update immediately, not on the next statement cycle
• Set a soft reminder point — a few days before the due date is far more effective than a call after it's 60 days late

Store Credit vs. a Refund: Which One Should You Use?

These get mixed up constantly, and the difference matters for your books. A refund returns money the customer already paid. Store credit issues a balance the customer can spend later — no cash leaves the register. Neither one is the same as a house account balance, which is money the store is still owed, not money it owes back.

• Use a refund when the customer paid by card or cash and wants their money back, and you're not trying to keep them shopping with you
• Use store credit for returns without a receipt, exchanges where the new item costs less, or as a goodwill gesture that keeps the sale in the store instead of sending cash out the door
• Never apply a refund to a house account balance as if it were a payment — if a customer returns something they charged to their account, credit the account, don't cut a cash refund for a charge that was never paid in cash
• Track store credit separately from AR — one is a liability you owe the customer, the other is an asset the customer owes you

How Do You Track Who Owes What? The AR Aging View

An AR aging report groups every open balance by how long it's been outstanding — typically current, 1–30 days, 31–60 days, 61–90 days, and 90+ days. It's the single fastest way to see which accounts need a phone call this week versus which ones are just running normal terms. A simple health check worth watching: Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) = (Total Receivables ÷ Total Credit Sales) × Number of Days in the Period. If your DSO is creeping past your stated terms — say, 45 days on a net-30 account — that's a sign your collections process, not just one customer, needs attention.

• Review the aging report at the same time every week, not just when a customer complains
• Flag any balance that crosses into the 60+ day bucket for a direct call, not just another statement
• Cap new charges automatically once an account is past due, so the balance doesn't grow while it's already overdue

How Does Retailer OS Handle House Accounts, Statements, and AR?

Retailer OS runs customer accounts as a native tender type at checkout, alongside cash, card, gift card, and store credit — so a charge to a regular's or contractor's account is rung up the same way as any other sale, on the same register, without a side ledger or a separate app. Because it's part of retail operations management, the balance updates the moment the sale is rung, not at end of day.