How to Set Up Automated Credit Limits in HubSpot

Why the credit spreadsheet stops working

At a lot of Australian businesses of 60 to 200 people, customer credit limits sit in a spreadsheet one person maintains. Get a formula wrong and a customer ends up with double the credit they should have, and nobody finds out until the invoice is overdue.

This puts three numbers on the company record instead: the limit, the credit out now, and what is left. It also alerts the deal owner when someone gets close. Nine steps, standard HubSpot, no code.

Before you start: what this data is

Part IIIA of the Privacy Act 1988 is the credit reporting regime, and it covers individuals. Trade credit you extend to a customer company is a different thing, so Part IIIA is not the regime you are in. People assume the heavier rules apply, then leave everything in the spreadsheet anyway.

What does apply is Australian Privacy Principle 11, security of personal information. Some of your customers are sole traders, so their credit data is personal information about a person. Restrict who can see these fields, and decide who may export a company list.

Tier note: calculation properties and workflows need HubSpot Professional or Enterprise. On Starter, create the credit limit property and keep the maths manual: step 5 and the workflows in steps 3, 4, 7 and 9 are out.

Steps to set it up

Step 1: create the Credit limit property

The ceiling for that customer, set by hand. The only number here a human decides.

• Click the settings gear icon > Properties > Company Properties
• Click "Create property"
• Select Number as property type with currency formatting
• Name it 'Credit limit'
• Save

If your credit limit already exists as a text field from an import, a calculation property cannot read it: start with fixing the property type before you calculate anything.

Step 2: create the Invoice paid property

A checkbox on the deal, ticked when the customer pays. It releases their credit back, so whoever raises invoices has to know it exists.

• Click the settings gear icon > Properties > Deal Properties
• Click "Create property"
• Select Single checkbox as property type
• Name it 'Invoice paid'
• Save
• Then add it to the sidebar:
  • Settings > Objects > Deals
  • Click "Record customisation" > "Left sidebar"
  • Create a new section called 'Operations'
  • Include 'Invoice paid' in this section
  • Save

Step 3: create the Credit assigned property and workflow

This marks a won deal as credit out with the customer, waits for payment, then clears the mark. Everything downstream counts these ticks.

First, create the property:

• Go to Settings > Properties > Deal properties
• Click "Create property"
• Select Single checkbox as property type
• Name it 'Credit assigned'
• Save

Now create the workflow:

• Go to Automation > Workflows
• Click "Create workflow" from scratch
• Choose Deal-based workflow
• Set enrolment triggers:
  • Deal stage is exactly Closed won
  • AND Invoice paid is unknown OR is not Yes
• Add action: Set property value
  • Property: Credit assigned = Yes
• Add action: Delay until event happens
  • Wait until: Invoice paid is Yes
• Add action: Set property value
  • Property: Credit assigned = clear (untick the checkbox)
• Review and publish

Step 4: create the Has credit assigned property and workflow

A flag saying this customer has credit out somewhere. Step 7 uses it to decide whose numbers to refresh. Check the enrolment count when you publish.

Create the property:

• From Company Properties: click "Create property"
• Select Single checkbox as property type
• Name it 'Has credit assigned'
• Save

Create the workflow:

• Go to Workflows
• Click "Create workflow" > From scratch
• Choose Company-based workflow
• Set enrolment triggers (use associated deal filters):
  • Associated deals: Credit assigned is Yes
  • AND Associated deals: Deal stage is not Closed won and is not Closed lost (that is, open deals)
• Add action: Set property value
  • Property: Has credit assigned = Yes
• In the Settings tab, enable Re-enrolment when trigger criteria is met
• Review and publish

Step 5: create the calculation properties

HubSpot does the arithmetic. One totals the credit out, the other subtracts it from the limit.

Navigate to Settings > Properties > Company Properties

First calculation property: Credit assigned (Calculation)

• Click "Create property"
• Select Calculation equation as property type
• Name it 'Credit assigned (Calculation)'
• Choose calculation type: Sum of > associated deal property values
• Select property: Amount in company currency
• Add filter: only include deals where Credit assigned is Yes
• Save

Second calculation property: Credit available (Calculation)

• Click "Create property"
• Select Calculation equation as property type
• Name it 'Credit available (Calculation)'
• Choose: Single equation
• Build equation: Credit limit minus Credit assigned (Calculation)
• Save

Use Amount in company currency if you sell in more than one, because it converts before summing. If your amounts come off line items, here is calculating custom deal amounts the same way.

Step 6: create the currency formatted display properties

Calculation properties do not always render as money. These two are what the account manager reads, and step 7 keeps them fed.

Property 1: Credit assigned

• Click "Create property"
• Select Number with currency formatting
• Name it 'Credit assigned'
• Save

Property 2: Credit available

• Click "Create property"
• Select Number with currency formatting
• Name it 'Credit available'
• Save

Step 7: build the credit formatter workflow

This copies the calculated values into the display properties whenever anything changes. The Yes OR No trigger looks unfinished and is not: it enrols every company where the property has a value either way. Note that in the workflow description, or someone will tidy it away.

• From Workflows: click "Create workflow" > From scratch
• Choose Company-based workflow
• Name it: 'Admin: Credit assigned & available formatter'
• Set enrolment triggers (use OR logic between filters):
  • Has credit assigned is Yes
  • OR Has credit assigned is No
  • OR Number of associated open deals has changed
• Add action: Copy property value
  • From: Credit assigned (Calculation)
  • To: Credit assigned
• Add action: Copy property value
  • From: Credit available (Calculation)
  • To: Credit available
• In the Settings tab, enable Re-enrolment when trigger criteria is met
• Review and publish

Step 8: add the properties to the company record sidebar

• Go to Settings > Objects > Companies
• Click "Record customisation" > "Left sidebar"
• Create a new section (click "+ Add section")
• Name it something sensible like 'Credit Management'
• Drag these properties into the section:
  • Credit limit
  • Credit assigned
  • Credit available
  • (Optional) Has credit assigned, useful when something has not updated

Save. The credit position now sits on the record they already had open.

Step 9: create the credit limit alert workflow

The early warning, while there is still time to act. Set the threshold as a percentage if your customers vary in size.

• Click "Create workflow" from scratch
• Choose Deal-based workflow
• Name it: 'Notification: Customer nearly at credit limit'
• Set enrolment triggers:
  • Deal stage is not Closed won and is not Closed lost (that is, open deals)
  • AND Associated company: Credit available is less than or equal to [your threshold, for example $5,000 or 10% of credit limit]
• Add action: Send in-app notification (or email)
  • To: Deal owner
  • Subject: "Credit alert for [Company name]"
  • Message: "[Company name] is approaching their credit limit. Available credit: [Credit available]. Check with finance before raising another order."
• In the Settings tab, set Re-enrolment: allow after 7 days, so one slow payer does not generate a daily alert
• Review and publish

The step that fails silently

Credit assigned is only ticked on a Closed won deal, so the step 4 trigger, which also demands an open deal, can have nothing to enrol, and an empty workflow looks like a working one. If the enrolment count is zero, drop the deal stage condition and trigger on Associated deals: Credit assigned is Yes alone.

What happens once it runs

Finance stops being the department that says no after the order was taken. The next build acts on the alert automatically, which is the AI credit saver workflow that builds on this. Or have it built for you: our RevOps and HubSpot work.

What the build cannot decide is what happens when the alert arrives. Hold the order, ask for a deposit, or ring them about the overdue invoice? Worth agreeing before the first one shows up at 4pm on a Friday.