Tips & tricks: how to manage your policy yourself
Managing a policy of credit insurance on a daily basis requires discipline, focus and consistent action. Here we give you some tips & tricks that can help you do this in the best possible way.
Tips for prepaying with certainty:
- Your supplier can prepare a Letter of Credit
- You can cover the risk with prepayment insurance. For detailed information, read this article On minimising risk in advance payments.
Before accepting an order:
- (Re)know your customer!
- Do broad research
- Be wary of fraud (Read here more on how to protect yourself from financial losses due to fraud)
With debtors, be alert:
- Proposed payment schedule debtor or deferred payment (until overdue period)
- Report a dispute in time
- If debtor requests change in payment terms
- If goods risk not being included
- (Impending) insolvency or seizure
Common 'excuses' of defaulters:
- Our accountant is ill
- Our accountant is on holiday
- We have not received your invoice
- Can you fax the waybill/packing slip?
- I cannot find the goods receipt in our system
- Payment is on its way
- Did you do send the goods/invoice to the correct address?
- Payments go by batch and this one is only next week
How do you prevent fraud?
- Let a new customer pay in advance
- Listen to others
- Be alert to suspicious behaviour
- Secure your accounts
- Check, check, double-check
For detailed information on how to recognise and prevent fraud, read this article with tips on how to recognise and prevent fraud.
What should you especially not do when delivering orders?
- Extradite when in doubt about the debtor
- Delivery without retention of title (Germany)
- (Too) long to remind and remind. (Read here more on what to do if payment fails)
Note on Claims & Collections:
- The earlier you signal, the better
- Follow your normal debtor management process
- Separate the 'non-capable' from the 'unwilling'
- Attribution of payments to the first due invoice
- Payment arrangement desired? Always consult with us
- On receipt of collection, no check is made as to whether the claim is covered. It is when a Provisional claim assessment is carried out, based on the same documents required for the claim assessment
- Uninsured claim can also be transferred to 'third' debt collector
- Do not make a deal with a debtor yourself after you have handed over debt collection
End-of-year tips:
- Check credit limits and debtors
- Avoid excessive advance payments
- Apply for deferred collection in good time
- Clean up your balance sheet for better ratios
- Enter only the necessary insured turnover
- Check whether your policy is still in line with your current operations
- Take timely action on a holiday closure
For detailed explanation of these tips: please read our article With end-of-year tips for your credit insurance.
