Reading New Hampshire business entity status for a credit file — active, dissolved, revoked

When you pull a New Hampshire business record for an underwriting decision, the entity status is not a yes-or-no flag · it is a legal statement about the company’s right to operate and pay a debt. A status change can happen fast, and many underwriters don’t check it at the end of the file. That gap costs money.

Status values and what they mean

New Hampshire Secretary of State lists entity status as one of these states: Active, Good Standing, Dissolved, Revoked, or Delinquent. The names sound similar but they are legally different, and each carries a different risk.

Active means the entity was registered and has not been terminated. It is current on all Secretary of State filings and fees. For an underwriter, Active is the baseline · the company legally exists and has the right to sign contracts and incur debt. It does not mean the company is solvent or creditworthy, only that it has not been struck by the state.

Good Standing is a subset of Active. It means the entity is Active and has no outstanding compliance issues · no unpaid annual reports, no missed franchise-tax payments, no liens. A lender can rely on Good Standing. The company has proven it pays administrative bills. If the business also has clean UCC search results, Good Standing is a clean signal.

Dissolved means the company formally wound down, filed articles of dissolution with the state, and ceased operations. The business no longer exists as a legal entity. If your applicant is a dissolved LLC or corporation, you cannot lend to it · it cannot sign a contract in its own name. Walk away.

Revoked means the state cancelled the entity’s registration, usually because it failed to file annual reports, pay renewal fees, or respond to state notices. Revoked is worse than Dissolved, because the owner didn’t choose to close · the state shut it down. A revoked entity also has no legal right to operate. Do not lend.

Delinquent means the entity has missed a filing deadline or annual-report deadline but has not yet been revoked. The company is in a grace period. Delinquent is a yellow flag. The business is not in Good Standing, and if the owner doesn’t cure the filing within 30 days (or whatever the cure period is), it becomes Revoked. You can still lend to a Delinquent entity if the owner fixes the filing before closing, but require proof of the cure filing.

Why status changes and how fast it happens

The most common flip is from Active to Delinquent · the owner misses an annual-report deadline. In New Hampshire, annual reports are due every two years for LLCs and corporations. Miss the deadline and the state changes the status immediately. The owner gets a notice, but many small-business owners don’t open it, and the clock keeps running.

From Delinquent to Revoked takes 30 to 90 days, depending on the state’s administrative schedule. The owner has the window to file a late report and pay a reinstatement fee, but if they don’t, the revocation is automatic. No court hearing, no second chance.

A company can also slip from Active to Revoked without ever touching Delinquent, if the state has a reason to pull the entity’s license (for example, a failure to maintain a registered agent, or a finding of fraud). This is rare, but it happens.

Status can also flip the other way: a Revoked entity can be reinstated if the owner files a reinstatement application, pays back fees, and cures the original default. After reinstatement, the entity goes back to Active or Good Standing. If your applicant claims the company was revoked but is now fixed, require proof of the reinstatement order from the state, dated before the loan closes.

Why you need to check status before closing

A loan to a company that is Dissolved or Revoked is unsecured by the borrower’s corporate authority. If a problem arises · missed payment, dispute over loan terms, need to enforce the guarantee · the company has no legal standing to defend itself. The debt is theoretically against a ghost.

More practically, if the borrower is Delinquent and you don’t catch it, the company becomes Revoked during the life of the loan. The owner’s personal guarantee may still hold, but the company’s collateral claim, its UCC filing, and its eligibility for SBA guarantee programs all become cloudy. A lender’s title company will flag this in a renewal search.

Check status twice: once at underwriting (when you pull the record) and again three business days before closing. A status can flip between the underwriting decision and the closing table. New Hampshire publishes updates daily. If the status has changed, call the applicant and require proof of cure before you fund.

New Hampshire’s two-year filing cycle

Unlike some states, New Hampshire does not require annual reports every calendar year. Instead, LLCs and corporations file reports every two years, on a staggered cycle based on incorporation or formation date. A company formed in March 2023 files its first report in March 2025, then again in March 2027.

This means you cannot assume a business is in trouble just because it has not filed in the past twelve months. Look at the specific due date on the entity record. If the report is due in six months and has not been filed, the status should still be Active or Good Standing. If the report was due three months ago and the status is still Active, verify the date again · sometimes records lag by a few days.

If the due date has passed and the status is still Active, flag it for a follow-up check at closing. The state’s database may not have updated yet.

Bottom line

A New Hampshire entity status of Active or Good Standing is a prerequisite for any commercial loan. Delinquent requires proof of cure before closing. Dissolved and Revoked are deal-killers. Check the status when you pull the record, document it in the file, and check again three days before closing. The gap between underwriting and closing is where status changes slip through.