How to Adjust Credit Limits in NetSuite

📌 Managing credit risk is a key responsibility for finance and AR teams. Oracle NetSuite provides flexible options for reviewing customer credit behavior, adjusting limits, and automating credit holds based on defined rules. This helps minimize risk while supporting customer relationships.

Below is a step-by-step guide to analyze customer payment patterns and adjust credit limits accordingly in NetSuite.

Steps to Adjust Credit Limits Based on Customer Behavior 

Step 1: Analyze Customer Behavior

• Review payment history
  Navigate to Reports > Customer/Receivables > A/R Aging > Summary
  Use this to review overdue balances and the customer’s payment timeliness.
  
  
• Check transaction records
  Go to Transactions > Sales > Customer Payment History or access the Customer Dashboard
  Review aging trends, credit utilization, and delays in invoice settlement.
  
  
• Identify high-risk indicators
  Look for late payment trends, over-limit usage, returned checks, or unusually large orders without prior history.
  
  
• Consider external context
  If available, assess the customer’s industry risks, references, and financial strength. Add notes or custom fields on the customer record to track this context.

Step 2: Adjust Credit Limits

• Access the customer record
  Navigate to Lists > Relationships > Customers, and click Edit on the desired customer.
  
  
• Update the credit limit
  In the Financial subtab, locate the Credit Limit field.
  Enter the new credit limit based on your assessment.
  
  
• Configure credit hold status
  Under the same Financial subtab, locate the Credit Hold dropdown. Options include:
  
  
  1. Auto – Automatically places the customer on hold if they exceed the limit.
     
     
  2. On – Manually enforce a credit hold, regardless of balance.
     
     
  3. Off – Disables credit holds for the customer.
     
• Save the record
  Click Save to apply the changes.

Step 3: Configure Global Credit Limit Settings (Optional)

• Set company-wide credit limit behavior
  Navigate to Setup > Accounting > Accounting Preferences, then click the General subtab.
  
  
• Under Credit Limit Handling, choose one of the following:
  
  
  1. Enforce Holds – Transactions are blocked when limits are exceeded.
     
     
  2. Warn Only – System shows a warning but allows the transaction.
     
     
  3. Ignore – Credit limits are not enforced at all.=
     
• Click Save to update preferences.
  

Step 4: Monitor and Update Regularly

• Review regularly
  Set periodic reminders or reports to monitor customer credit usage.
  Use Saved Searches to flag customers nearing or exceeding their credit limits.
  
  
• Update as behavior changes
  Adjust credit limits as needed based on recent payment history, disputes, or new contracts.
  
  
• Add qualitative context
  Use custom fields or Notes on the customer record to track trade references, relationship history, or financial news impacting their business.

Pro Tip: While NetSuite offers baseline credit limit and hold capabilities, connecting a tool like Growfin gives you real-time visibility into at-risk accounts. Growfin analyzes payment behavior trends, flags credit risk anomalies, and alerts your team before customers go delinquent—helping you stay ahead of collections risk at scale.