Personal Guarantee Exposure Tracker
Log every personal guarantee you've signed — leases, loans, equipment, franchise agreements — and see your total exposure, plus which ones are coming up for renewal.
Your Guarantees
Guarantee 1
Commercial lease
Landlord, lender, franchisor, etc.
Leave blank for an open-ended guarantee.
Optional — caps, carve-outs, anything worth remembering.
Total personal exposure
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1 guarantee logged
Renewal timeline
No renewal or expiry dates logged yet — open-ended guarantees won't appear here.
Note: This tool totals the guarantee amounts you enter for your own reference — it is not legal advice and does not review the actual guarantee documents for enforceability, carve-outs, or release conditions. Have a lawyer review any guarantee before signing, renewing, or trying to negotiate it off. Last reviewed August 1, 2026.
Know what you're personally on the hook for
Log a guarantee to see your total exposure, then send it over — a lawyer can review the actual documents for enforceability, carve-outs, and release conditions.
Legal Guide
Personal guarantees, explained
Founders and business owners sign more of these than they realize — across a lease, a loan, equipment financing, and a franchise agreement. Here's what actually governs them.
What counts as a personal guarantee
A landlord, bank, equipment lessor, or franchisor will often ask the business owner to personally guarantee an obligation the corporation is taking on. If the company defaults, the creditor can pursue the guarantor's personal assets — not just the corporation's — for the shortfall.
It follows you, not just the business
Incorporating is supposed to separate business risk from personal risk. A personal guarantee deliberately punches a hole in that separation for one specific obligation — which is exactly why it's worth tracking every one you've signed.
Exposure stacks across guarantees
A lease guarantee, an equipment loan guarantee, and a line-of-credit guarantee can each look manageable on their own. Added together, they can represent a personal exposure far larger than any single document suggests — and most owners never add them up.
Renewal is a negotiation window
When a lease or loan comes up for renewal, the counterparty usually wants to keep the relationship going. That leverage moment is often the best time to ask for the personal guarantee to be capped, replaced with a security deposit, or dropped altogether — before you sign again by default.
Read for carve-outs and release conditions
Some guarantees automatically taper or release after a track record of on-time payments, a revenue milestone, or a change in the loan-to-value ratio. Those conditions only help if someone is tracking them — otherwise a guarantee that should have expired quietly keeps running.
Get any change in writing
A verbal understanding that "we won't come after you personally" isn't a release. Any cap, substitution, or release of a personal guarantee needs to be documented and signed by the creditor to actually bind them.
What is a personal guarantee?
A personal guarantee is a promise, signed by an individual, to personally repay or perform a company's obligation if the company fails to. It's commonly attached to commercial leases, bank loans and lines of credit, equipment financing, and franchise agreements — and it lets the creditor pursue the guarantor's personal assets, not just the corporation's, if the business defaults.
Why would a landlord or lender ask for one?
A newer or smaller corporation often doesn't have enough of a track record or assets on its own to satisfy a landlord or lender's credit risk. A personal guarantee from the owner gives the counterparty a second, individual party to collect from, which is why it's especially common for early-stage or growing businesses.
Can a personal guarantee be negotiated down or off?
Often, yes — especially at renewal, when the counterparty has an interest in keeping the relationship. Common outcomes include capping the guarantee to a set dollar amount or time period, replacing it with a security deposit or letter of credit, tying its release to a track record of on-time payments, or removing it entirely once the business has established credit. None of this happens automatically; it has to be asked for and documented.
What happens to my personal guarantee if I sell the business or bring in a partner?
A personal guarantee generally stays in place until the creditor formally releases it — selling the business or admitting a new partner doesn't automatically end it. This is a common blind spot in a sale or reorganization: the original guarantor can remain on the hook for a lease or loan long after they've left the company, unless the release is negotiated as part of the deal.
Does paying off one guarantee release me from others?
No. Each personal guarantee is a separate contractual promise tied to a specific obligation. Satisfying or releasing a lease guarantee has no effect on a separate equipment loan or line-of-credit guarantee — which is exactly why tracking your aggregate exposure across all of them matters.
Should a lawyer review a personal guarantee before I sign it?
Yes. The specific wording determines how much you're actually exposed to — whether it's capped or unlimited, joint or several with other guarantors, tied to release conditions, or survives a sale of the business. A lawyer can review the document itself and, where there's room, negotiate the terms before you sign.