Rycroft Credit Insurance Consultants

We can arrange all types of policy for any industry, from a part or full credit control service for the SME (limits, collections, claims) through to specialist policies for the over £16m t/o company, whereby they can self underwrite their own credit limits (no more commitment problems or limits being allocated on a first come first served basis). We also conduct a yearly market review (in order to check that you are still getting competitive terms), which saves you the time and effort of filling in 4 or 5 different forms in order to get comparisons from different providers, plus we have access to insurers that will only deal with specialist credit insurance brokers. We can intervene as required to help in obtaining better cover or obtaining information in order to re-approach the insurer to negotiate a limit (for credit insurance). We can also conduct a regular review of your credit management functions to ensure that you are trading within the insurer's terms and conditions or consult with the insurer if the policy needs to be altered so it fits within your day to day credit management routines (a credit insurance policy should enhance, not restrict your ability to trade). Assistance with any claim submission, we can pre-vet the claim and then submit it on your behalf.

Credit Insurance - What is it and what does it do?

DTI figures advise of only 18% of companies failing due to financial reasons, this leaves a surprising 82% of companies failing for "other" reasons and makes spotting potential bad debts very difficult even for an experienced underwriter (even spotting financial problems can be difficult in it's own right largely due to the age of filed accounts), hence the need to seek protection - Credit insurance quickly replaces cash lost as a result of a bad debt. Each policy is tailored to clients needs to cover them against the insolvency or default of either a UK or Export debt (or both) with the addition of enhancing cover to include pre-credit risk or political risk for sensitive markets or for special terms within your particular trade sector, for example Retention Monies within the construction industry.

Most companies have on average 40% of their assets unprotected and take many risks. One bad debt from a key buyer can take most companies into insolvency themselves. Credit insurance is a bit like life insurance but for companies, protecting its future and its workforce - consider this - if your company goes under because a buyer did not pay you then this will mean that all the workforce it employs will also be out of a job, yet for nothing or virtually nothing ( Facts and Figures) this can be stopped.

Examples of areas of where we have helped recently

We placed a multi-million pound business with an insurer who can underwrite sole traders and partnerships with ease, despite the fact that he cannot get information via the status agency market. A company who is factoring was struggling to get funds because of the restrictive credit limits placed on his buyers by the factor. A credit insurance policy has helped increase his borrowing ability by 20 fold. We helped structure a transport companies business with an insurer covering only (and paying for only) the mid to top spectrum of his accounts, he thought that wholeturnover was the only option, because this is all he has ever been presented with. A policyholder had a very high aggregate deductible of £50,000 attaching to the policy, we were able to restructure the policy with a threshold of £15,000 and reduce the premiums by nearly half. The terms on the policy stated open account 30 days there had been a misinterpretation of 30 days, the actual policyholders terms were 30 days but from month end, so in total 60 days, had a claim been made under the policy, it is questionable whether it would have been paid by the insurer, so we were able to amend the policy to reflect the correct terms. For information, about how we can help you, please visit our website, or call on 01424 217698 or 07971 996658.

Trading Since

1996