UCC Document Community

I've been through something similar with a business credit card UCC filing. One thing that really helped me was getting a UCC search report from the state to see the complete filing history - sometimes there are amendments or corrections that aren't obvious from the basic database search. Also, if you're under time pressure for the refinancing, consider asking your new lender if they'd accept a title insurance policy that covers the UCC lien risk while you're disputing it. Some lenders will close with that protection in place rather than waiting for a full resolution.

The title insurance approach is really smart - I hadn't considered that option. From my experience dealing with UCC complications during refinancing, the insurance typically runs about 0.5-1% of the loan amount depending on the risk profile and lender requirements. It's usually much cheaper than the carrying costs of delaying your refinancing for months while fighting the UCC. Just make sure the title company is willing to insure against UCC defects specifically - not all policies cover filing irregularities or invalid security interests. You'll want to get quotes from a few different underwriters since their risk tolerance varies significantly on these issues.

Thanks everyone for all the input. I think I have enough to move forward with a detailed description including case number and specific legal theories. Really appreciate the practical advice - this forum is always more helpful than the official guidance documents.

I've been handling commercial tort claim UCC filings for about 8 years now, and I'd strongly recommend including all the details you mentioned - case number, court, defendant name, and specific legal theories. The "minimum specificity" approach is risky because if your description is too vague, you could lose priority to a later filer who describes it more precisely. I usually use this format: "Commercial tort claims against [Defendant Name] arising from breach of fiduciary duty and misappropriation of funds occurring between [date range], as more particularly described in litigation pending in [Court Name], Case No. [Number], including all proceeds thereof." This gives you broad enough coverage to capture related claims while being specific enough to satisfy the filing office. Also, since you're looking at $2.8M in potential damages, the extra effort in drafting is definitely worth the protection.

Just wanted to add another data point - I've been dealing with Texas UCC filings for about 6 years and can confirm the portal issues are getting more frequent. What really helped me was keeping a backup strategy ready. I always have the paper forms filled out and ready to mail if the electronic system fails close to a deadline. Yes, paper filing takes 2-3 weeks to process, but at least you have that filing date if you're up against a deadline. Also, if you're doing high-value deals like that $2.8M equipment loan, consider filing your continuations 2-3 months early instead of waiting until the last minute. The 6-month window gives you plenty of buffer time to deal with portal outages.

I've been dealing with similar issues with the Texas SOS portal over the past few months. One thing that's helped me is using multiple browsers - sometimes Chrome times out but Firefox works, or vice versa. Also, I've noticed that if you get a timeout error, don't immediately refresh or try again. Wait about 10-15 minutes because sometimes the filing actually did go through despite the error message, and you don't want to accidentally submit duplicates. I always check my filing history before attempting to resubmit. For critical deadlines like yours, I'd also recommend having your local Secretary of State office contact info handy - some offices will accept faxed emergency filings if you can demonstrate it's due to system issues, though this varies by location.

Update us when you figure out what's causing the delays! I'm dealing with some slow UCC-3 amendments myself and wondering if it's related to whatever you're experiencing.

I've been lurking on this thread and have to share - we went through something almost identical about 6 months ago. Turned out our issue was a combination of debtor name formatting AND collateral description changes that weren't clearly communicated by the filing office. What finally broke us out of the limbo was calling their technical support line (not customer service) and asking specifically about recent system updates or validation rule changes. They admitted there had been some backend updates that were causing certain filings to get flagged for manual review. Once we knew what to look for, we were able to adjust our submissions accordingly. The whole ordeal took about a month to resolve but we haven't had issues since. Definitely recommend the document verification tools people mentioned - wish we'd known about those earlier!

Montana requires exact debtor name matching so any variation will cause search failures. Try reverse searching - start with the collateral description if you know what equipment was financed.

honestly montana ucc search is broken half the time, i just call the SOS office now when i need something urgently. they can usually find stuff that doesn't show up online