Credit Management Services
Coface provides you with a range of credit management solutions to protect your domestic and export trade on credit terms.
To know more, please read the brief descriptions below and then click on the service that best meets your needs.
What is Credit Insurance?
Credit Insurance is a method of protecting a business against the damaging consequences of UK and overseas commercial debt and customer insolvency, as well as offering protection against a wide range of political hazards that are becoming increasingly common in these uncertain times.
What are the benefits of Credit Insurance?
In essence it works on 3 levels, all with the underlying theme of protecting a business in a challenging world.
At one level it protects against commercial risk, such as a customer’s unforeseen insolvency that could have serious consequences. Failure to pay often occurs in dealing with long established trading partners as well as new customers. Whatever the case, a Credit Insurance policy can play a large proportion of insured invoices if a customer should fail.
At the second level, it protects against political risk, anything from foreign exchange shortages to the outbreak of war. International events can impact on trade closer to home.
The third level of protection results from the enhancement that Credit Insurance can bring to the credit management process. Key benefits include the early warning that a customer is in financial difficulty, giving the company time to withdraw from the relationship on a structured basis; assistance with targeting the sales effort, focusing on profitable buyers and markets, and avoiding financially weak customers or politically unstable export territories: access to high quality credit opinions from expert underwriters on companies both in the UK and internationally.
All of these benefits add up to protecting a business and helping it to grow.
The consequences of one of your customers becoming insolvent and you suffering a bad debt can have a serious financial impact on your business. Credit insurance from Coface advises you on who it is safe to deal with on credit terms and up to what level; and in the event of your customer becoming insolvent (or you suffering protracted non-payment) it pays you the vast majority of what you have lost.
Our credit management policies can also help you:
- Acquire new customers
- Expand into new markets
- Secure increased levels of finance
- Support your credit management procedures
- Protect your balance sheet
- Finance new acquisitions
- Finance an MBO
Business information and credit assessment
You need to make a properly informed decision about whether or not to trade with a potential new customer on credit terms. Yet finding the specific business information you need about companies (especially if they are small or newly formed) in the right format and quickly can be very difficult. Business information and Credit reports from Coface provide you with several ways of finding out information on different types of companies. We can even provide you with your own credit rating for you to demonstrate your own creditworthiness to your suppliers and customers.
Receivables management and debt collection services
If you are paid late it has an immediate impact on your cash flow and makes financial planning very difficult. But chasing payment takes up valuable management resources and legal procedures can be time consuming and costly. Debt Collection management from Coface enables you to outsource your credit management function for all or part of your sales ledger and have your domestic and international overdue accounts collected by our experienced debt collection service professionals in our name or yours.
Receivables finance and invoice discounting services
Receivables financing provides funds advanced against your debtor book. Instead of having to wait for up to 60 or more days for your debtors to pay, we can provide up to 90% of their value immediately, freeing up cash flow to seize the business opportunities available. The balance is paid when the debtor pays us.
Additional financial support in the form of credit insurance forms part of the financing package so in case your debtor does not pay, you'll have peace of mind that you'll be covered, leaving you free to pursue extra sales. Not only can we provide cash up-front for domestic invoices, we are able to fund against your export receivables too.
