Not every adverse event carries the same weight. Some are read in context alongside everything else about how your company trades; one, a live winding-up petition, is close to a hard stop. This article is honest about that difference, because there is little point letting you apply for finance the assessment is almost certain to refuse.
A live winding-up petition is treated very differently from a CCJ
A winding-up petition is a formal court application by a creditor to have your limited company compulsorily liquidated — closed down and its assets distributed. It is one of the most serious things that can sit against a company, and it is a different order of signal from a county court judgment. A CCJ records a debt; a winding-up petition is an active attempt to end the company itself.
Where a CCJ is one input among many that the engine weighs in context — see whether a CCJ against your company affects eligibility — a current, undischarged winding-up petition will, in almost all cases, mean we cannot make an offer. Lending fresh money to a company that a creditor is actively trying to wind up would not be responsible, and in practice the company's bank account is often frozen once a petition is advertised, so the funds could not be used as intended anyway.
What the assessment is actually checking
The decision looks for whether a petition is live and unresolved rather than treating any historical mention as permanent. The position can change, and the engine reads the current state.
- Whether a petition has been presented and is still outstanding against the company
- Whether it has been dismissed, withdrawn, or the underlying debt settled
- How the company's bank account and trading look right now from Open Banking data
- Whether the wider picture suggests a one-off dispute or genuine, ongoing insolvency
If a petition has been properly dealt with and the company is trading again, that is a materially different situation from a petition that is still in force. We assess where things stand today, not where they stood at the worst moment.
How CCJ history fits in
CCJ history, by contrast, is rarely an automatic refusal on its own. A small, older, satisfied judgment against a company that has traded steadily since carries far less weight than several recent unsatisfied ones, and judgments sit alongside your other obligations rather than overriding them. The detail is in the CCJ eligibility article and in how existing debt affects the decision. A pattern of recent judgments can, of course, tip a finely balanced application towards a referral or a decline — but a single historical CCJ usually will not.
If a petition has been resolved
If a winding-up petition against your company has been dismissed or withdrawn and the underlying issue is settled, you are not barred from applying. Let the assessment see the full, current picture: connect your main business bank account so recent healthy trading is visible, make sure any related judgments are marked satisfied, and choose an amount and term that sit comfortably against how the company trades now. Where the overall position is borderline rather than clear-cut, the application may be referred for a closer human look instead of declined outright — see what a referred application means — and that is your chance to add context the data alone does not show.
If your company is genuinely in difficulty
If a petition is live because your company is in real financial trouble, taking on more borrowing is rarely the answer, and our job is not to push finance that makes things worse. The right step is independent advice and, if you already borrow from us, an early conversation about options. Whether a company in a CVA can apply covers formal repayment arrangements, and what happens if your company is wound up or enters administration explains the process and where to get free, confidential help.
Important to know
Credicorp lends only to UK limited companies and LLPs for business purposes, as a lender rather than a broker, and we never take personal guarantees from directors — a petition or judgment is assessed against the company, not against you personally. As an exempt business lender we sit outside the FCA consumer-credit regime, so the Financial Ombudsman Service and FSCS do not apply.
See also: Can I ask a person to review an automated decision?, Can I find out why I was declined?, Can I reapply after a decline?.