Get a company charge by ASIC charge number

Before 30 January 2012, security interests granted by Australian companies, such as a bank's fixed and floating charge over all of a company's assets, were registered with ASIC and given an ASIC charge number. Those numbers still appear on old loan documents, historical company extracts and title searches. This endpoint resolves an ASIC charge number to the charge record ASIC still holds: the company that granted it, the charge type, when it was created and registered, when it was satisfied and any pre-ASIC state registration number. It is the quickest way to confirm that a charge cited in a due diligence file has been discharged, and it is a free lookup of one charge's details: no ASIC fee and no extract required. The list of every charge a company granted, by contrast, is part of a purchased historical company extract; see the purchasing guide.

Path parameters

This endpoint has no query parameters.

Example request

curl https://api.asicapi.dev/v1/charges/1234567 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ASICAPI_KEY"

Example response

{
  "object": "charge",
  "chargeNumber": "1234567",
  "company": {
    "acn": "004085616",
    "formatted": "004 085 616",
    "numberType": { "code": "ACN", "label": "Australian Company Number" },
    "name": "ACME WIDGETS PTY LTD",
    "type": { "code": "APTY", "label": "Australian Proprietary Company" },
    "status": { "code": "REGD", "label": "Registered" },
    "abn": "53004085616",
    "registeredCharity": false
  },
  "status": { "code": "SATF", "label": "Satisfied" },
  "type": { "code": "B", "label": "Both Fixed & Floating" },
  "registeredAt": "2005-03-14T02:15:00Z",
  "createdAt": "2005-03-10",
  "expiresAt": null,
  "satisfiedAt": "2011-08-01",
  "preAsicChargeNumber": null,
  "chargees": [
    {
      "party": {
        "type": "organisation",
        "person": null,
        "birth": null,
        "organisation": {
          "number": "000000019",
          "numberType": { "code": "ACN", "label": "Australian Company Number" },
          "name": "WESTERN PACIFIC BANK LIMITED",
          "abn": "44000000019"
        }
      }
    }
  ],
  "documents": [
    {
      "object": "document",
      "documentNumber": "0E2233445",
      "formCode": "312",
      "formDescription": "Notification of discharge or release of property from a charge",
      "subForms": [],
      "receivedAt": "2011-08-03",
      "processedAt": "2011-08-04",
      "effectiveAt": "2011-08-01",
      "qualifier": null,
      "pageCount": 2,
      "imaged": true,
      "underRequisition": false,
      "xbrlAvailable": false,
      "xbrlDocumentNumber": null,
      "status": null,
      "priced": null
    },
    {
      "object": "document",
      "documentNumber": "0E0011223",
      "formCode": "309",
      "formDescription": "Notification of details of a charge",
      "subForms": [],
      "receivedAt": "2005-03-14",
      "processedAt": "2005-03-14",
      "effectiveAt": "2005-03-10",
      "qualifier": null,
      "pageCount": 6,
      "imaged": true,
      "underRequisition": false,
      "xbrlAvailable": false,
      "xbrlDocumentNumber": null,
      "status": null,
      "priced": null
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "billable": false,
    "product": null,
    "requestId": "req_01J9AM3S6T9V2W5X"
  }
}

Response fields

Errors

Notes from the ASIC register

• PPSR. Since 30 January 2012 security interests over company property are registered on the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR), administered by the Australian Financial Security Authority, not with ASIC. Charges that were current at that date migrated to the PPSR. ASIC now holds only charges that were satisfied or deleted before migration, so every charge returned here has status SATF or DELT. For a current security interest search the PPSR.
• Free lookup versus extract. This endpoint is a direct, free lookup by charge number. The list of every satisfied charge a company granted is only available inside a historical company extract, purchased with POST /v1/companies/{id}/extracts and then read free with company charges.
• Charge types. A fixed charge attaches to specific assets, a floating charge hovers over a changing pool such as stock and receivables until it crystallises, and most bank securities were both. ASIC coded these as X, F and B.
• Registration time. Under the Corporations Act 2001 as it stood before the PPSR, priority between registrable charges generally followed the time of registration with ASIC, which is why ASIC recorded a time as well as a date. registeredAt carries both, converted to UTC.
• Pre-ASIC numbers. Companies registered before 1991 may have charges that were first registered with a state corporate affairs office. ASIC kept the original number in preAsicChargeNumber alongside its own.
• Chargees and documents. ASIC's charge record identifies the chargor company and the charge details. Chargee names and the Form 309 and Form 312 lodgements are indexed against the company's charges register and are included when ASIC supplies them. Order the images with image orders to read the security document's terms.
• Sandbox. Test keys return ASIC's sample charge data for company 009 136 109; other charge numbers return charge_not_found.

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