How to configure a loan payment option

Summary

Learn how to create and configure a Loan payment option in OpenSolar. Manual loan options let you present financed system pricing with settings such as interest rate, loan term, payment frequency, dealer fees, down payments, promotional periods, and tax-credit prepayments. This guide covers creating a reusable loan option, applying it automatically or manually to projects, and troubleshooting common setup issues.

Manual loans vs integrated finance
Before you start
Create a Loan payment option
Configure Loan Parameters
Set up Prepayment
Add a Promotional Period
Add a Dealer Fee
Add a Down Payment
Configure Auto-apply
Advanced Settings
Apply the loan to a project
Worked example
Limits and troubleshooting
Related articles

Manual loans vs integrated finance

OpenSolar supports both manual loan payment options and financing products connected through integrated finance partners.

	Manual Loan	Integrated Finance
How it is created	You create the payment option and select Loan as the type	Products are provided through a connected finance partner
Interest rate and term	Entered manually	Provided by the lender
Customer application from the proposal	Not included by default	May include application or pre-qualification directly from the proposal
Best for	Banks, credit unions, or lenders not integrated with OpenSolar	Supported OpenSolar finance partners

Manual loans are useful when you want customers to compare financed pricing with cash or other payment options without connecting directly to a lender.

You can include multiple loan options on the same proposal.

Before you start

Before creating a loan payment option:

Make sure you have access to Control > Pricing & Payments > Payment Options.
Confirm the loan's interest rate, term, and payment frequency.
Determine whether the loan includes a dealer fee, down payment, promotional period, or prepayment.
If the prepayment amount should be based on customer incentives, make sure those incentives have Use for Loan Pay Down enabled.
Set up a Price Scheme so OpenSolar has a system price to finance.

For more information about pricing setup, see How to Set Up Pricing & Payment Options.

Create a Loan payment option

Loan payment options are created at the organization level, allowing you to configure them once and reuse them across multiple projects.

To create a loan:

Open Control from the top-left corner.
Go to Pricing & Payments > Payment Options.
Click Create or + Add Payment Option.
Enter the basic payment option details:
- Title — Give the loan a clear name, such as 20-Year Solar Loan. The title can appear to both your team and the customer.
- Type — Select Loan.
- Auto-apply — Enable this if you want the loan automatically added to eligible new projects.
- Description — Add optional information about the loan.
Complete the required Loan Parameters.
Configure any optional sections such as Prepayment, Dealer Fee, Down Payment, or Advanced Settings.
Click Save.

The loan will appear in My Payment Options List and can now be applied to projects.

Note: A payment option cannot be deleted after it has been used on a project. If you no longer want it available for new projects, archive it instead.

Configure Loan Parameters

Loan Parameters define the core financing terms shown in calculations and proposals.

Field	What to enter
Lender Name	Optional lender or finance provider name
Interest Rate	Annual interest rate as a percentage, for example `5.99`
Loan Term	Length of the loan in years, for example `20`
Reversion Rate	Optional interest rate that applies later in the loan
Start of Reversion Period	The payment period when the reversion rate begins

Loan Term

Enter the loan term in years, not the total number of monthly payments.

For example:

A 20-year loan should be entered as 20
With monthly payments, OpenSolar calculates this as 240 payment periods

The payment frequency can be changed under Advanced Settings > Payment Frequency.

Set up Prepayment

Enable Prepayment when the loan assumes the customer will make a lump-sum payment during the loan term.

This is commonly used when the customer is expected to apply a tax credit or other incentive toward the loan balance.

Choose a loan style

Solar-Style Loan

The customer receives the lower planned payment throughout the loan when the expected prepayment is made on time.

If the prepayment is not made, the remaining payments increase.

Mortgage-Style Loan

The customer begins with a higher payment.

If the prepayment is made on time, the remaining payments decrease. If it is not made, the payments remain at the higher amount.

Choose a Prepayment Formula

Available options include:

None — No automatically calculated prepayment amount.
Customer Incentives (only marked) — Uses eligible customer incentives that have Use for Loan Pay Down enabled.
Percentage of total loan amount — Calculates the prepayment using the percentage you enter.

Set the Prepayment Month

Enter the payment period when the lump-sum payment is expected.

For example, a lender may require the prepayment in month 12 or month 18.

If the loan also includes a No Payment or Interest Only promotional period, those periods must end before the prepayment month.

Add a Promotional Period

Enable Promotional Period when the loan includes special introductory payment or interest terms.

Enter promotional durations in months.

Setting	What it does
No Interest Term	No interest is charged during the specified introductory period
No Payment Term	No payments are required during the specified period, although interest may still accrue
Interest Only Term	The customer pays interest without reducing principal during the specified period

A No Payment Term must occur before an Interest Only Term.

If the loan also uses Prepayment, make sure any No Payment and Interest Only periods finish before the scheduled prepayment month.

Add a Dealer Fee

Enable Dealer Fee when the lender charges a financing fee that needs to be incorporated into the system price.

Available settings include:

Dealer Fee (%) — Percentage of the loan amount charged as a dealer fee.
Fixed Amount — Additional fixed dealer fee for the project.
Dealer Fee Adjustment (%) — Additional positive or negative adjustment applied to the customer-facing price.

You can use a percentage fee and fixed fee together.

OpenSolar can gross up the standard system price so the dealer fee does not reduce the intended project margin.

The calculation is:

Standard System Price = Base System Price ÷ (1 − Dealer Fee %)

For more information, see:

Comparing loans with different dealer fees

If a system includes cash and multiple loan options with different dealer fees, you can use:

Make Standard System Prices Consistent
Auto-discount excess dealer fees

These settings help maintain a consistent headline system price while accounting for differences between financing products.

Add a Down Payment

Enable Down Payment when the customer will pay part of the system price up front and finance the remaining amount.

You can configure:

Down Payment (%) — Percentage of the system cost paid up front
Minimum — Minimum allowed down payment
Maximum — Maximum allowed down payment

The down payment reduces the amount being financed.

Configure Auto-apply

Use Auto-apply if you want OpenSolar to automatically add the loan to eligible new projects.

To configure it:

Enable Auto-apply at the top of the payment option.
Open the Auto-apply section.
Add any restrictions you want to use.

Available conditions can include:

States
ZIP codes or postcodes
Minimum system size
Maximum system size
Project sector
Component codes

If Auto-apply is disabled, the loan remains available and can still be added manually to individual projects.

If geographic or other availability restrictions are configured, those restrictions can still control where the loan is available.

Advanced Settings

Open Advanced Settings to configure additional loan and proposal behavior.

Payment Frequency

Choose how often payments are made.

Available frequencies can include:

Weekly
Fortnightly
Bimonthly
Monthly
Quarterly
Yearly

Monthly is the default.

Utility Tariff Override

Apply a specific utility tariff when the loan is selected.

Priority

Control the order in which payment options appear.

Lower priority numbers appear first.

Collect Signature

Require the customer to provide a signature during proposal checkout when checkout is enabled.

Make Standard System Prices Consistent

Use the highest standard price across payment options on the same system.

If this setting is enabled for any applicable option on the system, it can affect the pricing shown across the available options.

Auto-discount excess dealer fees

Automatically discount loans with lower dealer fees when another payment option causes the system price to be grossed up further.

Fixed Fee Per Period

Add an extra fixed amount to each payment period.

Supplementary Terms & Conditions

Add terms that appear specifically when this loan is selected.

Additional Quote Acceptance Content

Add extra messaging that appears during quote acceptance.

You can also customize which loan details appear in the quotation table, such as:

Loan amount
Interest rate
Loan term
Prepayment
Initial payment
Final payment

Note: Payment milestones in this area are primarily used for cash payment options and CashFlow. They do not change the customer-facing loan payment schedule.

Apply the loan to a project

New projects

If Auto-apply is enabled and the project meets the configured location, system size, or other criteria, OpenSolar will automatically add the loan to the project.

Existing projects

To manually add a loan:

Complete a Design so the project has a priced system.
Open the project's Payments tab or Design > Payment Options.
Click Add Payment Options.
Select the loan you want to add.
Save your changes.

Once added, the payment option card will display the estimated loan payments.

You can also reorder payment options or remove the loan from that specific system.

Override Default Payment Options

If Override Default Payment Options is enabled for the system, OpenSolar ignores the organization's default payment options and uses only the options selected for that system.

If project pricing has been locked, you may need to unlock or override the price lock before adding payment options.

Allow project calculations to finish before opening Add Payment Options.

On the Proposal tab, customers can compare the manual loan with cash and any other available payment options.

Integrated financing products may also provide application or pre-qualification functionality directly from the proposal.

Limits and troubleshooting

Situation	What to do
The loan term was entered as 240	Loan Term is entered in years. Use `20` for a 20-year loan rather than `240`.
Prepayment shows $0	Confirm the incentive has Use for Loan Pay Down enabled, or use Percentage of total loan amount instead.
Promotional period and prepayment calculations look incorrect	Make sure No Payment and Interest Only periods finish before the Prepayment Month.
The loan is missing from a new project	Check Auto-apply and any state, ZIP, system size, sector, or other restrictions. You can also add the loan manually from Payments.
You cannot add the loan from Payments	Allow calculations to finish and check whether project pricing is locked.
You cannot delete the payment option	The option has already been used on a project. Archive it instead.
The payment option fields are locked or unavailable	The product may be an integrated financing option. Manage it through the connected finance partner instead of editing it as a manual loan.
Loan is not available as a payment type	Check that you have access to Pricing & Payments. Contact an organization Admin or OpenSolar Support if needed.
You want customers to apply directly from the proposal	Use a supported integrated finance partner rather than a manual loan.

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