UCC Document Community

Quick question - are you sure you're searching the right entity type? Sometimes companies change from LLC to Corp or vice versa, and the old filings might still be under the previous entity structure.

Update: I finally found the issue! There was a financing statement filed under the company's old doing-business-as name from 2019. The DBA was cancelled but the UCC filing was never terminated. Thanks everyone for the suggestions - the name variation advice is what led me to dig deeper into their business name history.

One more thing - if your underwriter is really concerned about the messy search results, you could always have the borrower's attorney provide a legal opinion letter stating that all terminated liens have been properly released and don't affect the current transaction. Might be overkill but some lenders require it for complex filing histories.

Quick follow-up question - when you say the debtor names are spelled exactly the same, are you including the full legal entity name with suffixes like LLC or Corporation? Sometimes the formatting differences aren't obvious but can still affect search results.

Original poster - just to add to what others have said, make sure you coordinate with your title company if this property has a mortgage. They'll want to know about any fixture filings that might affect the real estate collateral. Also consider whether you need to notify the existing mortgagee depending on your intercreditor arrangements.

Thanks everyone for the detailed responses. I think I have a much better understanding of how to approach the UCC definition of assets for this filing. The fixture filing requirement was something I definitely would have missed without this discussion. Going to draft the description using the broader categories approach with specific examples, and make sure to coordinate with the existing mortgagee before filing.

I actually just dealt with a similar verification issue where I had multiple UCC documents and wasn't sure if all the debtor names matched exactly. Used Certana.ai's document checker and it caught a small discrepancy in how the LLC name was formatted between the search results and my UCC-1 draft. Would have caused a rejection for sure.

Bottom line - clarify with the borrower exactly what they mean by "UCC statement service" and make sure whatever you get covers: 1) comprehensive search of all active filings, 2) copies of existing UCC documents for review, and 3) proper terminations for any liens being paid off. Don't rely on one service to do everything unless you verify they actually provide all those components.

The important thing is you caught it and you're fixing it. I've seen way worse UCC mistakes that didn't get discovered until litigation. File your new UCC-1, update your calendar systems, and move on.

One more thing to consider - if this is part of a larger credit facility, make sure you check whether the loan agreement has any specific requirements about maintaining perfected security interests. Some agreements require immediate notification of any lapses, even temporary ones.