When a buyer does not pay: ECGC declarations and claims step by step

This guide is for ECGC policyholders whose overseas buyer has not paid on the due date. It walks through what the Shipments Comprehensive Risks (SCR) policy requires of you, from the first overdue declaration to filing the claim and sharing recoveries, and notes where the Small Exporters Policy (SEP) differs.

Key time limits at a glance

Step	SCR	SEP
Declare an overdue payment	By the 15th of the month, once 30 days past due	By the 15th of the month, once 60 days past due
Report an event likely to cause loss	In writing, without delay and within 30 days of learning of it	As your policy wording states
Waiting period for non-payment	4 months after the due date	2 months after the due date
Last date to file the claim	360 days from the due date, or 540 days from expiry of the policy period in which you shipped, whichever is earlier	Same

Step by step

1. Check your cover is in order. Confirm the shipment was declared in your monthly shipment declaration, premium was available in your deposit premium account on the shipment date, and the amount outstanding is within the buyer's credit limit (or a discretionary limit). Gaps here are the commonest reason claims fail, and they cannot be fixed later.
2. Chase the buyer at once. Send written reminders, ask your bank to follow up with the collecting bank, and for DA bills ask your bank to arrange protest of the unpaid bill of exchange where local law allows; the claim form asks for a protest note.
3. Declare the overdue payment. Once a bill is 30 days past due (60 days under SEP), include it in your monthly declaration of overdue payments to ECGC by the 15th of the following month. Keep declaring it every month until it is paid or the claim is filed.
4. Report risk events. If you learn of anything likely to cause a loss, such as the buyer's insolvency or financial difficulty, refusal of the goods, an import ban or exchange controls in the buyer's country, tell ECGC in writing without delay, and in any case within 30 days.
5. Stop further exposure. On learning of such an event, the policy expects you to stop further shipments to the buyer, and to stop goods in transit where you can, unless ECGC agrees in writing that you need not.
6. Do not change terms without consent. Under SCR, extending the due date needs ECGC's written consent; the extended date then becomes the due date for the policy. SEP allows some flexibility on extensions and DP-to-DA conversion, on conditions, so check your wording.
7. If the buyer refuses the goods, take ECGC's approval before reselling, re-exporting, reimporting or abandoning them. For non-acceptance, the claim becomes payable one month after resale or disposal with ECGC's approval.
8. Wait out the waiting period. For non-payment the claim matures four months after the due date (two months under SEP). For insolvency it is the earlier of four months after the due date or one month after your debt is admitted in the insolvency.
9. File the claim in the prescribed form. Use ECGC's claim form or the claim module on ECGC's online portal, well inside the 360-day / 540-day limit. Late claims are rejected unless ECGC accepts that the delay was beyond your control.
10. Get the bank letter. The bank holding the shipping documents must confirm it holds them in trust for ECGC, will hand them over on demand, and will pay any money received as ECGC directs. The claim form also has a bank certificate that the transaction was handled under RBI rules.

Documents for the claim

ECGC's claim form for SCR, SEP, ETP, SSP, BWP, MBEP, SBEP and MEP asks for:

• the contract or order, invoice and bill of lading or airway bill;
• the shipping bill;
• your bank's collection advice to the foreign bank and the foreign bank's non-payment advice;
• for DA bills, the original unpaid bill of exchange and the protest note;
• for open delivery, proof that the buyer received the goods;
• bank advice of any part payments;
• a statement of all shipments to the buyer over the past two years;
• your correspondence with the buyer and evidence of recovery action, including any collection agency or lawyer;
• case-specific papers: insolvency proof and your claim lodged with the receiver; LC documents and discrepancy correspondence; resale, reimport or auction papers; or, for political risk, proof that the buyer paid in its own country but the money could not be transferred, or of the cancelled import licence or voyage diversion costs.

When the buyer disputes the goods

ECGC does not pay losses arising from disputes over quality, quantity, specification or delivery unless you obtain a final court judgment enforceable against the buyer, though ECGC may waive this. Keep inspection certificates, photographs and signed delivery records, and answer complaints in writing. Exchange rate losses are not covered either.

After the claim is paid

ECGC pays the percentage of cover in your policy (90% under SCR) on the admissible loss, within the buyer's credit limit. Your job is not finished:

• You must keep taking recovery steps, including any ECGC asks for, and assign your rights under the contract, the goods and any bills or guarantees to ECGC if asked.
• Money recovered after the loss is ascertained is shared between you and ECGC in the same proportion as each bore the loss. Pay ECGC its share immediately.
• Recovery costs that you incur with ECGC's consent, or that ECGC incurs, are paid first out of any recovery.

Common mistakes

• Leaving the overdue declaration until you are sure the buyer will not pay.
• Giving the buyer more time on email without ECGC's written consent.
• Continuing to ship to a buyer who is already overdue.
• Losing the original bill of exchange or failing to protest a DA bill.
• Counting the 360 days from the shipment date instead of the due date, or forgetting the 540-day limit from policy expiry.

Record due dates, declaration dates and claim deadlines for every invoice in the buyer risk desk.

Related on Exportsmitra

• Buyer risk desk: overdue invoices, ECGC declaration and claim dates
• ECGC buyer credit limits: applying, using and renewing them
• ECGC credit insurance: which policy suits your business
• Documentary collections under URC 522: how DP and DA really work
• Export proceeds: realisation deadlines, EDPMS and extensions

Sources

• ECGC: Shipments Comprehensive Risks Policy wording (PDF)
• ECGC: Shipments Comprehensive Risks Policy (SCR)
• ECGC: Small Exporters Policy leaflet (PDF)
• ECGC: Small Exporters Policy (SEP)
• ECGC: Claim form for short-term exporters' policies (PDF)

Last checked 1 October 2026. Rules change: confirm with ECGC before you act.