Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Floatra’s platform, compliance, and operations.
- Is Floatra a lender?
- No. Floatra is a technology and orchestration platform. Every loan is funded and held by a licensed lending partner, which is the lender of record and bears the credit risk. Floatra provides no capital, holds no customer funds, and takes no credit risk.
- Who provides the loan capital?
- Loan capital is provided entirely by licensed lenders partnered with Floatra. Floatra does not pool, hold, or manage any lending capital.
- Who decides whether a vendor gets credit?
- Floatra's engine approves or rejects each request automatically, at the point of order, against the criteria the lender sets — accepted risk bands and credit tiers, minimum and maximum loan sizes, daily and aggregate exposure caps, concentration limits by merchant, category and state, and which merchant segments it will take. A request that no lender's criteria accept is rejected. Lenders also set their own interest rate within published policy bands and can pause funding at any time. The lender provides all capital, holds every loan, and bears every loss. Floatra does not act as an agent or representative of any lender.
- Who is responsible for collections?
- Floatra automates the repayment reminder cadence — starting three days before the due date and continuing after it — and enforces the reorder lock, so a vendor who hasn't repaid can't buy on credit again. Recovery beyond that, along with restructuring and write-off decisions, belongs to the licensed lender. Floatra never takes title to a debt.
- Does Floatra hold or move money?
- No. Floatra does not hold, custody, or manage customer funds or settlement balances at any point. Loan proceeds are paid by the licensed lender directly to the merchant or supplier.
- Do vendors receive cash?
- No. Vendors do not receive cash. Loan proceeds are used exclusively to pay for inventory purchases on the partner platform. Funds are paid directly to the merchant or supplier.
- Who applies for the loan?
- Vendors on integrated partner platforms may be presented with an inventory purchasing option at checkout, subject to eligibility. There is no separate loan application process outside the platform.
- What happens if a vendor doesn’t pay?
- Reminders go out by SMS and WhatsApp from three days before the due date and continue past it. Once the loan is overdue, Floatra sends the partner a reorder-lock webhook — the vendor can’t purchase on credit again until they repay. Because the vendor needs stock to keep trading, inventory access is the leverage. Any recovery action beyond that is the lender’s decision.
- Are loan approvals guaranteed?
- No. Every request is subject to eligibility, fraud and identity checks, and to a lender having appetite and available capacity at that moment. If no lender can fund it, the request is declined or waitlisted. Floatra does not guarantee approvals. Terms and eligibility apply.
- Is Floatra regulated?
- Floatra Technology Solutions Limited is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) as a technology company. Floatra is not a lender, does not hold deposits, and does not require a banking or lending license. All lending is conducted by CBN-licensed financial institutions that are the lenders of record. Floatra complies with the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) for data handling and follows CBN guidelines for technology service providers in the financial sector.
- What types of businesses can use Floatra?
- Floatra integrates with B2B trade platforms, distributors, and marketplaces serving SMEs. It is not designed for consumer checkout or direct-to-consumer use cases.
- How is data handled?
- Vendor and partner data is processed in accordance with the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) and applicable data protection laws. Data is shared with licensed lenders and integrated platforms strictly on a need-to-know basis.
- Do vendors need to download an app to use Floatra?
- No app download, but not zero effort either. Before a vendor's first loan, Nigerian regulation requires us to verify them: BVN or NIN plus a selfie for biometric matching, with explicit consent. That is a one-time step of a few minutes, done on the vendor's own phone via an SMS link or with an agent's help, and the result is reused for every later order. After that first verification, ordering stays entirely within your platform or your agent's flow.
- What if we don’t have a digital checkout flow?
- That’s fine. Floatra integrates with field sales apps, distributor ERPs, and even WhatsApp-based ordering via API. If you can send us an order, we can return an eligibility decision.
- How does repayment work without an online payment system?
- Repayment can happen in three ways: (1) Settlement deduction — if you settle with vendors (pay them for their sales), you deduct repayment and report to Floatra. (2) Direct bank transfer — vendor transfers directly to the lender’s collection account. (3) Agent cash collection — your agent collects cash and deposits it, and Floatra reconciles with the lender. We support all three — use what works for your operation.
- What if a vendor says they didn’t receive the goods?
- On distributor orders, delivery must be confirmed — by agent app, OTP, or your own tracking — before the repayment clock starts, so an undelivered order never begins accruing. If a delivery dispute is raised and upheld before repayment, the loan is cancelled outright and the vendor owes nothing on it. (On online checkout orders the clock starts when the supplier is paid, since fulfilment happens on your side.)
- How do you make credit decisions with limited data?
- We underwrite on the data you already hold — tenure with you, recent order history, refusal rates, agent assignment — rather than requiring a bureau file. There are floors: a vendor generally needs roughly 90 days of history and a handful of recent orders before a first loan, and must have no active, overdue, or defaulted loan. Limits start small (the entry tier is ₦50,000–₦150,000) and grow tier by tier as repayment history builds.
- Do you track our field agents?
- Yes — with your permission. We compute per-agent exposure, delivery rate, dispute rate, and fallback rate, and we run network analysis that flags clusters of vendors sharing an address, device, phone, or identity. Agents can be given hard exposure caps. This surfaces internal collusion before it becomes a major loss.
- What if a vendor wants to return goods?
- Returns are handled between you and the vendor. If a return is processed, you report it via our API, and we adjust the loan accordingly. Floatra doesn’t adjudicate returns — you do. We just update the financial record.
- What systems do you integrate with?
- Floatra is API-first. We ship connectors for Odoo and ERPNext, a WhatsApp ordering gateway, and a generic REST adapter for systems without a purpose-built module — plus direct REST integration for custom platforms, marketplaces, field sales apps, and order management systems. If your system can make an API call, we can integrate. We don’t claim pre-built connectors we haven’t written.
- How long does integration take?
- We’re pre-launch, so we won’t quote you a number we haven’t earned. What we can say: the surface is small — an eligibility call, an order call, and optionally a webhook listener — and the sandbox is open, so you can find out for yourself before committing. Timelines depend on your infrastructure, lender setup, and compliance requirements.
- How fast is loan approval and funding?
- Eligibility and the credit decision are automated and return within the request — there is no manual review queue and no next-day callback. Once approved, disbursement to the platform or distributor is initiated immediately via Paystack; settlement timing then depends on the lender’s Paystack configuration and banking rails. Two things can delay an answer: a lender being at capacity (the request may be waitlisted) and a vendor who hasn’t completed identity verification yet.
- Does Floatra charge platforms or lenders a fee?
- Floatra does not charge platforms any fees. There is no integration cost, no per-transaction fee, and no subscription. Floatra earns a small agreed percentage from the interest on each merchant repayment, negotiated per-lender via a technology agreement. Merchants pay only principal, interest, and any applicable penalties — no additional platform fee is added to their cost.
- Is this available outside Lagos?
- Yes. Floatra works anywhere your distribution network operates. Credit decisions are made in real time via API — no geographic limitations. Lender appetite may vary by region, but the infrastructure works nationwide.
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