How much does invoice insurance cost per invoice?
There is usually no price per invoice. The UK credit insurers we checked work out a premium for a year of cover, as a percentage of the sales you insure. Atradius says its premiums often range from 0.1% to 1% of insured sales, and Coface says its policies other than EasyLiner average 0.1% to 1% of turnover. Allianz Trade says most UK businesses pay under 1% of the turnover they insure. At 0.1% to 1%, the premium comes to £1 to £10 for every £1,000 you invoice. That is an annual premium divided across your invoices, not a price for one invoice, and ICISA, the international trade body for credit insurers, says policies usually include a minimum premium.
We could not verify a standalone single invoice product that is on sale today and sold directly to UK small businesses. Two firms that offered one have both stopped: Nimbla (Companies House) and Hokodo (Shopifreaks).
What the premium works out at per invoice
The table shares an illustrative yearly premium across invoices of different sizes. It is not a price list or a quote. Each figure is the invoice value multiplied by the rate, at three rates: 0.1% and 1% (the ends of the range Atradius and Coface each publish) and 0.35% (an Atradius example, explained below).
| Invoice value | At 0.1% | At 0.35% | At 1% |
|---|---|---|---|
| £1,000 | £1 | £3.50 | £10 |
| £5,000 | £5 | £17.50 | £50 |
| £10,000 | £10 | £35 | £100 |
| £25,000 | £25 | £87.50 | £250 |
| £50,000 | £50 | £175 | £500 |
The 0.35% is an illustration Atradius publishes in its FAQ, in its answer on export credit insurance: an average policy insuring £1m of sales a year costs around £3,500, or £0.35 for every £100 invoiced. It is Atradius's own example, and we could not verify it as a UK market average. Your own rate depends on your customers, your sector and your bad debt history.
Yearly turnover pricing vs real single invoice pricing
The figures above spread a yearly premium across your invoices. That is not the same as buying cover for one invoice. With a turnover policy you insure all your sales (or a chosen group of customers) for a year. Premiums are calculated annually, but payment arrangements vary from policy to policy. The Atradius, Coface and Allianz Trade pages we read don't say how the premium is paid, so ask. If the policy has a minimum premium, you pay at least that, however few invoices you are worried about.
Two firms did sell cover for single invoices to UK small businesses:
- Nimbla. In January 2020 Barclays offered its business customers Nimbla's single invoice insurance "for as little as £6" (FinTech Global). Nimbla Limited went into creditors' voluntary liquidation in March 2024 and was dissolved in August 2025 (Companies House). The nimbla.com website is still online as "a brand of FI Capital Limited" and mentions Nimbla Protect, but shows no prices, and we could not confirm it sells cover today.
- Hokodo. It launched in the UK in October 2018 to let small businesses protect single invoices (London Loves Business), later became a business "buy now, pay later" firm, and was reported in April 2026 to have ceased operations (Shopifreaks). Its founders blamed growing too early, slow focus and too much complexity (Shopifreaks).
Neither closure proves single invoice cover can't work, but for a buyer today it means a yearly policy is the realistic option.
Allianz Trade Single Invoice Cover. Allianz Trade has a product with this name, but its own pages describe it as cover for "digital invoice financing platforms", built with banks and factors and delivered through an API that the platform builds into its own service (Allianz Trade Belgium, Allianz Trade Canada). It is not on the Allianz Trade UK products list, and no page we found says a UK small business can buy it directly. If you ever see invoice-level cover offered inside a finance platform, it may be this kind of product, sold through the platform rather than to you.
Four types of protection compared
| Type | What it covers | How it is priced | Published figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole turnover policy, from an insurer | All your business customers, each up to a credit limit the insurer sets | A yearly % of insured sales, usually with a minimum premium (ICISA) | Atradius: often 0.1% to 1%. Coface: 0.1% to 1% on average, for policies other than EasyLiner. Allianz Trade: most UK businesses under 1%; £4m of sales usually under £13,500 a year (about 0.34%) |
| Specific customer policy, from an insurer | One or a few named customers | A % of the credit limit you want on that customer | Broker Alan Boswell, for this type of cover: often from 2% of the limit, a minimum premium it puts at around £5,000, and hard to place on its own |
| Selective cover, chosen customers | Only the customers you pick, from an insurer or a lender | Set case by case | None published. Allianz Trade sells Trade Flex for key accounts; Bibby, Ultimate Finance and Time Finance let you pick customers |
| Protection with your invoice finance | Invoices you fund, if a covered customer doesn't pay | Added to your facility charges | No lender publishes a rate. Broker ABC Finance says typically 0.3% to 1.0% of invoice value |
Sources checked 15 October 2026. Each figure is what that firm publishes for its own products, not a market rate or a quote.
Entry prices for small businesses
Coface is the only insurer we found that publishes a starting price. Its EasyLiner policy is for businesses with turnover from £500,000 up to £10m, and the product page says rates start at £2,500 a year. It says the online price includes the premium, fees and tax. Coface's general trade credit insurance page gives two other starting prices, £2,000 and £3,000 a year, so check the figure on your own quote.
Allianz Trade says a business needs a turnover of at least £500,000 and must trade on credit terms. It also sells Simplicity, a policy for smaller businesses with fixed premium bands, but publishes no band prices.
Costs on top of the premium
- Insurance Premium Tax. IPT is charged on insurance premiums, at a standard rate of 12% since 1 June 2017 (GOV.UK). Allianz Trade says its guide price leaves out IPT on the premium. Coface says its EasyLiner online price already includes the premium, fees and tax.
- Service fee (Allianz Trade). Allianz Trade says VAT on its service fee is also on top of the guide price.
- Fee for each customer limit (Ultimate Finance). Ultimate Finance charges a monthly fee for each active customer limit on its debtor protection, plus VAT, on top of its percentage charge.
- Minimum fee and contract (Close Brothers). Close Brothers Invoice Finance mentions a minimum fee for its bad debt protection and a minimum 18 month contract with six months' notice. For insurance policies in general, ICISA says a minimum premium is usually part of the contract, without giving a figure.
- Your share of each loss. Most providers we checked pay less than 100% of a loss, and Ultimate Finance also keeps the greater of £1,000 or 10% of the unpaid invoice on a claim. See how much cover invoice insurance gives for what each provider pays.
Other providers we checked don't publish these extras, which doesn't mean there are none. Cover added to invoice finance is not always insurance: Aldermore says its bad debt protection "is not insurance or an insurance product", and Ultimate Finance charges VAT on its debtor protection fees. So ask whether a charge carries IPT or VAT, and ask for the yearly total with tax.
How invoice finance lenders price bad debt protection
None of the invoice finance lenders we checked publishes a rate for its bad debt protection:
- Ultimate Finance: a fixed percentage of your total invoices, set by whether you cover all customers or chosen ones, plus VAT, plus the monthly limit fee.
- Lloyds Bank: priced case by case, by business size, sector and customers. If it can't protect 55% of the value of the customers you apply for within 30 days, you can cancel for a full refund.
- Close Brothers: charges agreed with each customer, and no charge for the first three months of a new facility.
- HSBC: the charge is set in your agreement.
ABC Finance's 0.3% to 1.0% is one broker's estimate, not a market rate. No lender we checked publishes it, and the same page says this cover only pays on insolvency, while Lloyds, Ultimate Finance and Aldermore say theirs also pays on long overdue debts. Treat it as a rough guide at most.
What changes the price
Allianz Trade lists your industry and sales, your bad debt history, how well you chase payment, how creditworthy your customers are, where you sell and the type of policy. Atradius adds how much of each loss you agree to carry yourself: a bigger share means a lower premium.
So what should you do?
If you want to protect one large invoice, expect to be offered a yearly policy instead. Compare the minimum annual premium with the size of the risk you want to cover: if the minimum is a large share of the invoice, the policy may not be worth it for that one risk. If you already use invoice finance, ask your lender for its bad debt protection price as well as a quote for a separate policy, and compare the yearly totals with tax.
Questions to ask before you choose
- What is the total yearly cost, including IPT or VAT, service fees and any fee per customer limit?
- Is there a minimum premium or minimum fee, and a minimum contract length?
- Which customers are covered, and what limit will you set on each of my biggest ones?
- What share of a loss is paid, and do you keep a fixed amount on each claim?
- Does it pay on long overdue debts, or only when a customer goes bust?
- Is this an insurance policy or a promise in my finance agreement?
This page is general information, not insurance advice. Market Invoice does not sell or arrange insurance. The enquiry form below is for invoice finance only, not an insurance quote: it goes to our introduction partner, a UK invoice finance provider, which pays us a fixed fee (how we are funded, explained below the form). For the wider choice between the two products, see invoice finance vs trade credit insurance, recourse vs non-recourse invoice finance and what happens when credit insurance is withdrawn.
Sources (checked 15 October 2026)
- Atradius: what drives credit insurance costs and Atradius FAQ
- Coface UK: trade credit insurance and Coface UK: EasyLiner
- Allianz Trade UK: how much does trade credit insurance cost and UK products
- GOV.UK: Insurance Premium Tax rates
- ICISA: trade credit insurance
- Lenders' own pages: Ultimate Finance, Lloyds Bank, Close Brothers, HSBC Credit Protection guide (Feb 2025)
- Brokers: ABC Finance, Alan Boswell
Founder & Managing Director, Muswell Rose, founder and PSC of Best Business Loans Ltd
Adam is the founder and managing director of Muswell Rose and a founder of Best Business Loans Ltd, the company behind Market Invoice. He spent over three years as managing director of Penny, a UK invoice finance business, and his career runs through insurance, mortgages, commercial finance and fintech lending. He writes the Market Invoice library.
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