Abstract: Techniques are described for targeting customers with offers for pre-approved credit. The techniques can be employed while the customer is engaged in a business transaction at a merchant's point-of-sale by pre-screening for creditworthiness using basic customer information known to the merchant. The pre-screening can be performed on behalf of a single lender or in a cascading fashion on behalf of multiple lenders should the customer fail initial pre-screens. Additionally, techniques are described for using a cascading approach on customer-initiated credit applications, such that an applicant declined credit from one lender is automatically considered for credit from another lender via an arrangement between the lenders.