UCC Document Community

Hope this helps with your audit! UCC searches can be stressful when you're under time pressure but California's system is one of the better ones. Just stay organized with your debtor name list and you should be fine. Let us know how it turns out!

One more tip for your California UCC searches - if you're dealing with any corporate debtors that might have undergone mergers or acquisitions during that 2015-2023 timeframe, make sure to search under both the original entity name and any successor entities. California doesn't automatically transfer UCC filings when companies merge, so you could have active filings under old company names that are still legally valid. I've seen deals get held up because someone missed a filing under a predecessor company name that was still perfecting collateral.

Last suggestion - if you're doing multiple UCC filings regularly, consider setting up an account with their portal. Makes repeat filings much faster since it saves your secured party info.

As someone who's been through similar naming issues with LLC filings, I'd strongly recommend doing a quick entity verification search on the Indiana SOS business database before filing. For your J&M situation, the legal entity name "J&M Construction Services, LLC" is almost certainly what you want to use - the DBA name doesn't matter for UCC purposes. Also, since this is a $180K equipment loan, consider having your collateral description reviewed by your legal team if possible. Something like "All equipment, machinery, tools, and fixtures used in debtor's construction business operations" should be comprehensive enough without being too broad. Indiana's portal is generally reliable, but definitely save/print your confirmation immediately after submission.

The collateral description is just as important as the debtor name. For equipment financing, be specific but not so narrow that you miss covered assets. Generic descriptions like 'all equipment' work better than trying to list every serial number.

Been doing UCC filings for 15 years and the biggest mistake I see is people trying to save money by filing everything themselves without proper verification. A $50 filing fee turns into $500 in legal fees when you mess up the perfection and have to sort out priority disputes later.

Keep in mind that 9-406 has some limitations too. If the account debtor has legitimate business reasons for questioning the assignment (like disputes over the underlying services), they might have grounds to continue paying the original payee until those disputes are resolved.

UPDATE: We sent the demand letter via counsel and got immediate compliance. Account debtor started redirecting payments within 48 hours and agreed to remit the $45K in past diversions over the next 30 days. Sometimes you just need to show them you're serious about enforcement. Thanks everyone for the advice!

Don't overlook the possibility that some of those filings might be for different entities entirely. Similar business names in the same industry aren't uncommon, especially in maritime services. I'd suggest getting federal tax ID numbers if possible - that's usually the most definitive way to confirm entity identity when names are similar.

Thanks everyone for the helpful suggestions. I'm going to start by pulling the exact Articles of Incorporation to get the correct legal name, then try the Certana tool a couple people mentioned to verify the name matches on those questionable UCCs. Will also reach out to the secured parties on the largest filings to confirm whether they apply to my borrower. This process is always more complicated than it should be, but at least now I have a systematic approach to work through it.