In today’s turbulent business environment, having Coface credit insurance allows you to trade with confidence and offer competitive payment terms. To ensure we provide the right level of cover for your business, it's essential to understand how our credit limit process works. The good news is that requesting new credit limits and extensions is easy, and our underwriting experts are here to support you every step of the way.
Submitting Your Credit Limit Request
When you request a new credit limit—whether for a new or existing customer or in credit insurance terms ‘buyer’—Coface carefully balances protecting your business from bad debt while supporting your growth. Our underwriting process helps you seize genuine opportunities while avoiding unnecessary risks.
The quickest and easiest way to submit a request is through CofaNet, our online policy management platform. You can also submit requests via your broker or Coface account manager. If using CofaNet:
Enter the company name or registration number.
Confirm the buyer from the system’s displayed details.
Specify the requested credit limit amount.
Our global database contains information on over 195 million companies. If you can’t find your buyer, they may be a start-up or a company we haven’t assessed before. In this case, contact us, and we’ll add them to our system for evaluation.
How Coface Assesses Your Buyer
We evaluate a buyer’s creditworthiness using multiple data sources beyond Companies House, including:
- Coface’s Debtor Risk Assessment (DRA): A unique rating indicating the probability of default over a 12-month period, based on the last 3-4 years of financial reports.
- Payment behaviour and credit decision history: Insights from over 100,000 clients across 200 countries.
- Sector and country risk analysis: Provided by our team of expert economists.
- Confidential financial data: Proactively gathered by our analysts for a deeper understanding of the buyer’s financial health.
In addition to our underwriting process, Coface offers Business Information services to help you make informed credit decisions. Our reports provide financial, risk, and payment behaviour insights on buyers, allowing you to assess their reliability before submitting a credit limit request. You can also access Debtor Risk Assessment (DRA) scores, company reports, and sector risk analyses to gain a more comprehensive understanding of your buyers.
How Coface Responds to Your Credit Limit Request
Auto-Decisions
In most cases, you’ll receive a rapid response from our smart underwriting system. Our algorithm, which combines AI-driven analysis with human expertise, assesses all available underwriting data to determine the credit limit.
Underwriter Review
If a request falls outside auto-decision parameters—such as exceeding a set credit limit threshold, requiring additional information, or following a review request—our underwriting team steps in.
An underwriter will:
Review the latest financial data available to the buyer.
Request additional financial statements if necessary.
Reach out for background information in specific circumstances.
For example, if your request relates to a seasonal order—such as tinsel for Christmas or chocolates for Valentine’s Day—we may explore temporary credit limit extensions to support your business needs.
Understanding the Decision
Once the underwriting process is complete, you’ll receive one of three responses:
Full decision: The requested credit limit is fully approved.
Partial decision: A lower credit limit is approved based on our assessment. For example, if you request £1 million but the buyer’s financials only support £500,000, we may approve that amount instead.
Refusal: The request is declined.
If we are unable to approve a credit limit, we will provide a clear explanation. Our goal is always to protect your business from the risk of non-payment, so if a request is declined, it may be because we have access to financial insights or risk factors that your buyer has not disclosed. For example:
“This decision is based on the buyer’s December 2023 accounts, which show operating losses, and a large cash outflow. We would require their 2024 accounts before reconsidering our position”.
What happens next?
If your request is accepted, you can trade with confidence, knowing your sales are protected against insolvency or late payment. If the full requested limit isn’t approved, it’s not necessarily the end of the road. We will continue to review any further information received relating to the buyer, such as their later management accounts, and will always review further requests based on the latest information available. Additionally, our underwriting team’s insights can help guide your broader credit management strategy.
For more information, contact your Coface representative or visit our website.
