Registration of Charges (CHG-1)
When a company borrows against its assets, the charge is registered with the Registrar within 30 days. It is usually the bank that chases this, and sometimes nobody does.
What a charge is and why it is registered
When a company takes a secured loan — against property, plant, stock or receivables — the lender's security over those assets is a charge, and it is registered with the Registrar so that anyone dealing with the company can see what is already pledged.
The filing is time-bound. Registered late, it attracts additional fees, and beyond the outer limit the security position becomes complicated in ways that matter to the lender rather than to you.
Banks usually drive this because it protects them. Where a loan comes from somewhere less institutional, it frequently gets missed entirely.
The half everyone forgets
- Satisfaction of charge. When the loan is repaid, the charge has to be satisfied on the record. Companies repay loans and never file it.
- A satisfied loan showing as an open charge makes your company look encumbered to anyone checking — a new lender, an investor, a tender authority.
- It has its own time limit. Filing satisfaction years later is more work than filing it at repayment.
- Check your charge register. Companies that have borrowed and repaid several times often have old charges still showing.
Written 5 September 2026. Government requirements and portal behaviour change — message us to confirm before you rely on any date or figure here.
Worth checking today
Pull your company's charge position from the MCA record. If it shows charges against loans you cleared years ago, that is affecting how anyone assessing your company sees it, and clearing it is straightforward.
Send us the company name — the record is public and the check costs nothing.
Common questions
Related on this site
The filings and decisions that come up before and after incorporation.