Can I get a business loan if my previous company went into liquidation?

A company that went into liquidation is more common than most directors think. The Insolvency Service figures for September 2026 show 1,882 registered company insolvencies in England and Wales in the month, 1,420 of them creditors’ voluntary liquidations, and one in 200 companies entered insolvency in the year to September. Lenders know this. What they want to understand is what happened, what you did about it, and what the new business looks like today. This guide explains what a lender sees, the two legal points that can stop an application before it starts, which finance is easiest to get, and a worked example in pounds. Smart Funding Solutions is a broker, not a lender. We arrange or source business finance across the whole market from £10,000 to £20 million, including from lenders that take a practical view of a director’s past.

01What does a lender see when a director has a previous liquidation?

Everything on the public record. Companies House shows current and resigned officers, previous company names and insolvency information for free, and the credit reference agencies link a director’s name and date of birth across every company they have held office in. So the old company will come up in the lender’s search of the new one, whether or not you mention it. Our guide to what goes into a company credit report explains how that data is built, and how lenders assess business loan applications covers how an underwriter weighs it.

The lender will usually want to know four things. Why the company failed, for example a lost contract, a bad debt, a dispute or a slow decline. When it happened, because a liquidation that closed years ago and a new company with its own accounts since then reads very differently from one that completed last quarter. Whether you gave a personal guarantee on the old company’s borrowing, and if so whether it was settled or is still being pursued. And whether the liquidator’s report into your conduct led to anything. A short, factual note that answers those four questions, written before you apply, removes most of the guesswork and most of the automatic declines.

02Were you disqualified, or just a director of a company that failed?

This is the first legal point, and it decides whether you can apply at all. Being a director of a company that went into liquidation is not an offence and does not stop you forming or running another company. Disqualification is different. GOV.UK explains that a court or the Insolvency Service can ban you from being a company director for up to 15 years if you fail to meet your legal responsibilities, and that unfit conduct includes letting a company keep trading when it cannot pay its debts, not keeping proper accounting records, not filing accounts, not paying the tax the company owes and using company money for personal benefit.

• A disqualified director cannot act as a director of any UK registered company, or be involved in forming, marketing or running one, without the permission of a court. Breaking the ban can mean a fine or up to 2 years in prison.
• The disqualification is published on the Companies House database and the Insolvency Service register, so a lender will find it.
• If you were not disqualified, you are free to be a director of the new company and to apply for finance in its name.

If you are disqualified, the honest answer is that a lender will not fund a company you are running, because you are not allowed to run it. If a family member or business partner is the director and you are an employee, lenders will still ask who controls the business. Our page on bad credit business loans covers the credit side of a director’s history in more detail.

Can a disqualified director get business finance?

Not through a limited company they run, and there is no lender on the market that will change that, because the ban is a legal one rather than a credit one. The routes that remain are narrow. A disqualified person can still trade as a sole trader, since the ban covers companies and limited liability partnerships rather than self employment, so finance in their own name is possible in principle, though it rests on personal credit and the disqualification is on the public register, so expect more declines and higher pricing. A court can also give permission under section 17 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 for a named company, and a lender will want to see that order. What does not work is a company fronted by a spouse, relative or friend while the disqualified person makes the decisions. Lenders ask who controls the business, a person acting on a disqualified director’s instructions can be caught by the ban too, and if the arrangement comes out after funding the facility can be called in. If the disqualification has ended, you are free to be a director again and the section above on what lenders ask about the old company is the one that applies.

03Can I reuse my old company name?

Not without following a set procedure, and lenders are wary of names that look recycled. Section 216 of the Insolvency Act 1986 applies to anyone who was a director or shadow director in the 12 months before a company went into insolvent liquidation. For five years from the date of liquidation you cannot be a director of another company known by a prohibited name, be involved in managing one, or carry on a non corporate business under that name. A prohibited name is any name the old company was known by in that 12 month period, including trading names, or a name so similar that it suggests an association. The penalty is imprisonment or a fine, or both.

The Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 set out three exceptions. The new company can use the name if it buys the old business from the liquidator and gives notice to every known creditor and in the Gazette no later than 28 days after the deal completes. A director who applies to court for permission within seven business days of the liquidation can act under the name until the court decides, or for six weeks, whichever is sooner. And a company that was already known by the name for the whole of the 12 months before the liquidation, and was not dormant in that time, needs no permission. In practice the safest route for most directors is a new name, a new trading identity and a clear line between the two companies. A lender who sees the same name, the same website and the same customers often assumes the old debts were simply left behind, so a fresh name helps the application as well as keeping you inside the law.

04What do lenders ask about the old company?

Expect questions on the following, and have the answers ready. Lenders rarely decline a well explained liquidation. They decline the ones they have to piece together from a credit search.

• Personal guarantees. If you signed a guarantee for the old company’s loan, overdraft or asset finance, the lender will want to know how it was dealt with. A settled guarantee, even for less than the full sum, reads far better than one still being chased. Our guide to personal guarantees on business loans explains what a guarantee covers.
• HMRC. Tax arrears are often the biggest creditor in a liquidation, and lenders check whether the new company is up to date with VAT and PAYE. If a current bill is stretching you, compare an HMRC payment plan with a tax loan using our guide to Time to Pay versus a tax loan, and our guide to a business loan with VAT or PAYE arrears covers lenders that accept an arrangement already in place.
• County court judgments. A judgment against you personally, as opposed to the old company, matters more. See our guide to getting a business loan with a CCJ.
• The new company’s own record. Accounts filed on time, no bounced direct debits, a business bank account in the company’s name and a clean run of statements. Lenders judge the new company on the five Cs of credit, and character is one of them.
• Your personal credit file. A liquidation does not appear on it unless a guarantee or a personal debt went unpaid. Our guide on improving your credit score before a business loan covers the quick fixes.

05Which types of finance are easiest to get after a liquidation?

The finance that leans on something other than your history. Where the lender has an asset, an invoice or a stream of card takings to look at, your past matters less than the thing being funded.

• Asset finance. The vehicle or machine is the lender’s security, so a director with a past liquidation can often buy equipment on hire purchase or lease when an unsecured loan is out of reach. Our guide to bad credit asset finance explains what the lender will want, and a larger deposit helps.
• Invoice finance. The lender advances against invoices to your customers, so the quality of your debtors carries the decision. Selective invoice finance funds single invoices without a long contract.
• Merchant cash advance. For a shop, restaurant, salon or bar taking card payments, the advance is repaid as a share of card takings, and the lender looks at the last few months of terminal statements rather than Companies House.
• Secured business loans. Property or other assets as security open up lenders and longer terms. Our guide to secured versus unsecured business loans sets out the trade offs.
• Unsecured business loans. Possible, but the hardest. Lenders will want the new company’s own trading record, and the rate will reflect the history. A revolving credit facility or working capital loan is more likely once the new company has a set of filed accounts.

One scheme to understand properly is the Growth Guarantee Scheme. The British Business Bank says the lender receives a 70% government backed guarantee on facilities generally up to £2 million for businesses with turnover up to £45 million, that businesses in difficulty, including those in relevant insolvency proceedings, are not eligible, and that lenders can take personal guarantees at their discretion but cannot take a principal private residence as security. A previous company in liquidation is not the same as the new company being in difficulty, so the new company can qualify if the lender judges it viable. Our guide to the Growth Guarantee Scheme and our page on Growth Guarantee Scheme loans go into the detail. A start-up business loan is another route where the new company has little trading history of its own.

06A worked example in pounds

Take a director whose previous restaurant company went into creditors’ voluntary liquidation in 2024 after losing its lease. She was not disqualified, settled a £15,000 personal guarantee with the old lender, and now runs a new restaurant under a different name with its own company, its own bank account and 14 months of card statements averaging £50,000 a month. She needs £40,000 for a kitchen refit and a VAT bill, and her bank has declined an unsecured loan. Our guide to why business loans are declined and what to do next covers that first step.

A merchant cash advance fits the pattern of her income. Our business finance rate index explains that an advance is priced with a factor rate, and gives a factor of 1.20 as its illustration, meaning £1.20 is repaid for every £1 advanced. On that illustration, £40,000 advanced means £48,000 to repay, so the cost of the advance is £8,000. If the lender takes 12% of card takings, £50,000 a month in card sales sends £6,000 a month to the lender and the advance clears in about eight months. In a quieter month she pays less, because the repayment follows the takings. The factor rate, the percentage and the amount are all set by the lender on her own figures, so her offer could be higher or lower than this illustration, and the VAT bill itself could instead be covered by a VAT loan spread over the quarter. A broker would put both options in front of her and let her compare the total repaid, which is the number that matters. Our case studies show funding arranged in similar situations.

07How do I improve my chances after a liquidation?

08What does it cost and where do I start?

Rates for a director with a past liquidation are set by each lender on the new company’s figures, and a lender that takes security or funds against invoices or card takings will usually price lower than one lending unsecured. Broker fees depend on the lender, with nothing to pay upfront, and the offer you see will show the total you repay. The September figures on company insolvencies and the Red Flag Alert for the third quarter of 2026 show how many businesses are starting again, and lenders built their criteria around that reality. Get your Instant Quotes to see your lender matches instantly, with no credit check, then a broker searches the whole market for the lenders that will look past the old company to the new one. Lenders make every decision, and all finance is subject to status.