Personal guarantee exposure checker
If the company fails and guaranteed debts are unpaid, those creditors can pursue you personally, so the first step when a company is in difficulty is to total your real exposure. Add the amount you personally guaranteed on each type of borrowing below.
Add up your guarantees
Enter the amount you personally guaranteed on each. Use 0 where you gave no guarantee.
This is the most these creditors could pursue you for personally if the company fails and these debts are unpaid. It is often negotiable once the company enters a formal process. Send us your situation, so guarantees are dealt with as part of the wider plan rather than one by one.
Worked example: change the figures to your own. This is your maximum exposure. Many guarantees are negotiable in a formal process and some are unsecured. Check the wording of each.
Why the total surprises directors
Banks ask for a guarantee on the loan or overdraft, asset finance providers on the equipment, the landlord on the lease and a key supplier on the trade account, and each is signed separately, months or years apart. Seeing the total in one place is what lets you plan how to handle them.
To see what each company procedure means for these guarantees and for your home, use the personal guarantee enforcement matrix.
Once a creditor calls a guarantee in, the personal guarantee settlement model takes one guarantee at a time: what the creditor can claim, what it would net by making you bankrupt instead, and how a settlement offer compares.
Common questions
Will I have to pay my personal guarantees in full?
Guaranteed amounts are often negotiable once the company enters a formal process, and there may be defences. The headline total is your maximum exposure, not necessarily what you will pay. Take advice before agreeing anything.
Are personal guarantees secured on my home?
Only if the guarantee specifically used your home as security, or a creditor later obtains a charge through court. Many guarantees are unsecured. Check exactly what you signed. See personal guarantees.
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Free and no obligation. We are an independent information service. Getting in touch does not appoint an insolvency practitioner or create a professional engagement. This is general information, not regulated advice.