Managing Your Policy
Unlike many forms of insurance, which in the main involve reacting to events, a credit insurance policy requires a degree of proactive management. This will include:
- Correctly identifying your customer
- Establishing the right level of insurance cover
- Reporting overdue accounts on time
- Reporting adverse information
- Mitigating a loss
- Submitting the correct supporting paperwork to accompany a claim.
Hanwell Atkinson is able to provide sound guidance to assist you in managing your policy so that in the event of a claim arising, whether it be due to a customer’s insolvency, protracted default or, more rarely, a political event, the process runs smoothly and to expectations.
Insolvency
Should one of your customers become formally insolvent we offer advice on dealing with the practitioners appointed to the case. This might include enlisting the assistance of your insurer in arranging representation at a meeting of creditors, responding to questionnaires, submitting Proof of Debt, enforcing Retention of Title (see below) and obtaining Confirmation of Debt.
Protracted Default
Most credit insurance policies cover losses incurred due to protracted late payment as well as insolvency. Again, we offer helpful guidance on reporting overdue accounts and complying with policy requirements in terms of debt collection and recovery.
If your Company supplies goods as opposed to services, having an effective Retention of Title clause incorporated into your contract of sale can empower your Company to recover goods you have supplied from the estate of an insolvent customer, thereby mitigating a loss and helping to protect your loss ratio.
Credit insurers have a wealth of experience in this field and can provide guidance on the various types of clause, their effectiveness and how best to incorporate the wording into your contracts not only to ensure policy compliance but also to help protect your business. Some insurers will even go so far as to offer a subsidised service to re-write existing Terms & Conditions complete with a model ROT clause.
As part of our service we will be happy to assist you in accessing this valuable resource.
