Credit insurance

The ultimate cash flow safety net

Credit insurance is simply a way to protect against the risk of not getting paid when you’re trading on credit payment terms.  

While we’d all like to be paid ‘cash in advance’, the reality is that, in a competitive marketplace, that’s a luxury that few can enjoy: it’s the supplier who offers the most attractive credit terms who is likely to win the contract.

So credit insurance covers you against the risks of non-payment that can arise during that credit period - between parting with your goods or services and the due date of payment.  

Atradius credit insurance is flexible enough to answer the needs of all types and size of business : insuring all your sales, or perhaps only your exports or just your domestic business, or maybe focusing on a few of your key customers.  You choose the risks that you want to cover too – from your customers’ insolvency to a complete range of commercial or political events and natural disasters that can prevent a successful conclusion to the sale.

Why insure?

Trade receivables – money owed to you - can be one of your biggest assets, and protecting them should come as naturally as insuring any other business asset.  But an irrecoverable trade debt can soon turn from an asset to a millstone round your neck.  As an example, if you operate on a 10% profit margin and suffer a trade debt of €10,000, you’ll need to make further sales of €100,000 just to recoup your lost capital.  

But for a modest premium that debt could be protected – and you’d typically receive an insurance  payout of 90% of the loss – maybe more. What’s more, Atradius’ collection arm will be working on your behalf to recover the debt and, if successful, can pass on the uninsured percentage to you.

With Atradius credit insurance, you can concentrate on future sales without the worry of past debt, and offer your customers competitive credit terms, safe in the knowledge that your sales are protected.

There’s much more to credit insurance, so to find out how Atradius credit insurance can help your business to prosper, please contact us for more information and advice.