Trade Credit insurance

A major buyer defaulting on its payments is one of the most frequent causes of company insolvency. Bespoke Trade Credit insurance can inject confidence and power new opportunities, especially in businesses that trade internationally. We also offer a wraparound service to help you expand safely, at a pace that suits you. 

Trade Credit Insurance policies compensate a seller of goods or services if their buyer fails to pay, either through insolvency or protracted default. Policies are designed on a sales turnover basis.   

Cover options include:

• Whole-turnover
• Selective accounts 
• Single contract 
• Domestic / export 
• Political risk 
• Special risks
   

How does Trade Credit insurance work?

We will analyse your clients’ credit risks, and set a credit limit for each of them. You continue to trade with your clients as usual. If one of your client's defaults on a payment up to their agreed credit limit, notify us. We will work with the insurer to organise a debt collection and get you your money back. 

If the debt collector can’t collect all of the payment that you were due, we can help you submit an insurance claim. In this instance, the insurer could pay up to 90% of the insured debt and the collection expenses.

Industries where credit insurance is important:

• Agriculture & Horticulture
• Construction
• Financial services
• Food & Drink
• Manufacturing
• Oil & Gas
• Paper & Printing
• Recruitment
• Retail
• Wholesalers
• Logistics/distribution
• Textiles
• Pharmaceuticals 

We also have specialists ready to help with: 

• Surety bonds
• Supplier default
• Tenant default

Why choose tailored Trade Credit insurance? 

Taking a tailored approach is more cost-effective compared to selection on a whole turnover basis, whereby the entirety of your sales is considered under the blanket of one monolithic policy with identical, often rigid, terms and conditions.

Every client, every deal is different. Sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically. 

There are endless variables in contributing to a successful business. 

Engaging an experienced broker like Howden to negotiate on your behalf ensures that you get the right cover for your specific needs. 

Expert knowledge to defend your interests

With so many variables, often you don't know what you don't know. 

For example, supplier disputes can be an exclusion on many policies. However, the precise definition of what counts as dispute varies from insurer to insurer. This is the sort of expert knowledge a talented broker brings – representing your interests the whole time.   

Bespoke service in Trade Credit Insurance means having an experienced broker going through your client book and helping you work out where the real risks are.

Client relationships are all different

Your clients will have different requests and terms. 

Your Trade Credit Insurance should be set up to account for that. For example, you could have deductibles (excess) for some clients, but not others.

There’s more to it than just protracted defaults and insolvencies – having access to market insights before you complete deals can help you train your sales efforts on companies that have a good reputation for paying up.