Credit insurance claims remain elevated, with claim numbers 31 per cent greater over the December 2016 quarter compared with December 2015, one monitor reported yesterday.Adelaide-based insurance brokers NCI produces a periodic Trade Credit Risk Index. The firm specialises in handling credit insurance and derives the index from its claims database.The average value per claim increased 66 per cent over the year to December, while the average debt value increased 18 per cent.Over the most recent quarter NCI showed a small decline in its index, with most of the surge in claims measures flowing through over the first half of calendar 2016.Kirk Cheesman, managing director of NCI, labelled the decline over the December 2016 quarter "a typical fourth quarter dip."