UCC Document Community

Been there with the lapsed filings situation. It's frustrating but not the end of the world. Just file new UCC-1s with current debtor information and you'll be back in business. The good news is California's electronic filing system makes it pretty quick once you have all your info together.

Just wanted to add another perspective from someone who manages UCC filings for a credit union. The 5-year rule is definitely standard, but I always recommend setting up reminders at 4.5 years to give yourself plenty of cushion. California's system can sometimes have delays or maintenance windows, and you don't want to be scrambling at the last minute. For your 2019 filings, you're definitely looking at new UCC-1s at this point. On the bright side, it's a good opportunity to clean up any debtor name issues or collateral descriptions that might have been problematic in the original filings.

Update us when you figure out what the exact issue was! These Montana filing stories always help others avoid the same mistakes. Sounds like you're on the right track checking the punctuation and getting the official name formatting.

I've been through this exact same headache with Montana UCC filings! In my experience, it's almost always punctuation or spacing issues. Beyond the comma that others mentioned, also check for any extra spaces before or after the name - Montana's system is notorious for rejecting filings due to trailing spaces that you can't even see. I learned to copy the name directly from their business entity search results and paste it exactly into the UCC-1 form. Also worth double-checking that you're using the current registered name and not any "doing business as" variations. Hope you get it sorted soon - those lender delays are the worst part of these filing issues!

Thanks everyone, this has been really helpful. I'm going to revise our collateral description to be more specific about proceeds and maybe run it through that document checking tool someone mentioned. Better to get it right the first time than file an amendment later.

Great discussion here - I'm dealing with a similar equipment financing situation and this thread has been incredibly educational. One thing I'd add is to also consider what happens if the debtor trades in the equipment for newer models. That trade-in value would be proceeds too, but the new equipment they acquire might need separate perfection unless your security agreement and UCC filing are broad enough to cover "substitutions and replacements." I learned this when a client upgraded their machinery and we almost lost our security interest in the replacement equipment. Worth thinking about given how quickly manufacturing equipment becomes obsolete these days.

I had a similar nightmare with Maryland searches last year. Ended up finding existing liens under a completely different name variation that didn't show up in my initial searches. Now I use Certana.ai to upload all the company documents first - it analyzes everything and shows you all the possible name variations to search for. Would have saved me hours of manual searching and prevented a potential lien priority issue.

I've run into this exact same problem with Maryland's UCC search system! What's worked for me is using a combination approach: first try the truncated search variations others mentioned (just "Advanced Manufacturing" without LLC), then also search by the registered agent's name if you have that info. Sometimes UCC filings get indexed under the agent rather than the debtor name due to filing errors. Also, if you're really pressed for time, consider ordering an official search certificate directly from the state - it takes 24-48 hours but gives you legal protection if there are indexing issues you missed. The certificate costs around $25 but could save you from missing a lien that doesn't show up in their broken online system.

UPDATE: I ended up consulting with a banking attorney who confirmed that the federal reserve deposits are subject to UCC Article 9 in our state. Used detailed collateral language specifying the Fed bank and account identifiers, plus ran everything through Certana.ai's verification tool which caught a debtor name mismatch I hadn't noticed. Filed electronically yesterday and got confirmation this morning. Thanks everyone for the guidance on this UCC financing statement federal reserve situation!

As someone who's handled several federal reserve collateral deals, I'd recommend being extra cautious about the deposit account control agreements too. Even with a perfect UCC-1 filing, you'll want to make sure the lender has proper control over those Fed accounts through the appropriate banking channels. The UCC filing is just one piece - the control agreement with the federal reserve bank is equally critical for perfection. Also worth noting that some Fed districts have slightly different documentation requirements, so double-check which district your debtor's accounts are held in.