Desk note
Cooling-off, cancellation, and the application record
· Aisha Rahman
BNPL sits between a retail return and a credit cancellation. Customers, merchants, and sometimes staff mix the two. The application file should still show what right was described at origination, and what happened if the customer tried to use it.
We look for a versioned explanation of cooling-off or cancellation in the origination channel, a timestamped acknowledgement, and a later record if the customer cancelled. Where the only trail is a merchant refund of the goods, the credit plan may still be open. That split is a file problem, not only an operations problem.
Some programmes describe cooling-off only in a long PDF and use a shorter till script that talks about ‘returns.’ Those files often produce same-day complaints. The finding is not that customers are difficult. The finding is that the file’s disclosure story and the shop-floor story are not the same document.
When we grade these files, we do not invent a cooling-off period the programme never offered. We grade against the terms that were in force. If the terms are silent, the silence is the finding.
Bring cancellation logs to the sampling meeting. Origination files without the later cancellation note are only half the story.