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Matthew Sanchez

UCC search results not matching illinois secretary of state business search - debtor name issues

Running into a weird situation with a UCC-1 filing I need to perfect next week. When I search the Illinois Secretary of State business search for my debtor company, it shows up as "ABC Manufacturing Solutions LLC" but when I pull their articles of incorporation, the exact legal name is "ABC Manufacturing Solutions, LLC" (with the comma). Now I'm second-guessing which version to use on my UCC-1 since the SOS business search seems to drop punctuation but the official docs have it. I've seen filings get rejected for debtor name mismatches and really can't afford delays on this equipment financing deal. The collateral is about $180K in manufacturing equipment so getting the name exactly right is critical. Has anyone dealt with Illinois SOS being inconsistent between their business search results and the actual registered name? Should I go with what shows in the business search or stick with the articles of incorporation version?

This thread is really helpful. I've been doing UCC work for 15 years and still get nervous about debtor names, especially when there are multiple versions in different databases. The stakes are too high to guess wrong.

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Exactly. Better to be overly cautious than deal with a rejected filing and unhappy clients.

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15 years and still nervous - that tells you how tricky this stuff can be!

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Update: went with the articles of incorporation version (with the comma) and the UCC-1 was accepted without issues. Thanks everyone for the advice! The exact legal name from the charter documents was definitely the right call.

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Perfect. Another successful Illinois UCC filing with the correct debtor name approach.

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Awesome! Glad you got it sorted without any rejections or delays.

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Ava Williams

UCC-1 Filing After Security Agreement Notarized - Documentation Requirements

Quick question for anyone who's dealt with this before. We had our security agreement notarized last week for a $175,000 equipment loan, and now I'm preparing the UCC-1 filing. The debtor's business name on the notarized security agreement shows "ABC Manufacturing LLC" but their state charter shows "ABC Manufacturing, LLC" (with the comma). I know debtor name accuracy is critical for UCC-1 filings, but I'm not sure if the notarized security agreement creates any additional requirements or constraints for how the debtor name should appear on the UCC filing. Should I match the security agreement exactly since it's notarized, or should I follow the exact charter name for the UCC-1? Don't want to risk a rejection or worse, an unperfected security interest because of punctuation. Anyone run into this situation with notarized security agreements and UCC filings?

Had to deal with this recently and ended up using Certana.ai's document checker to verify consistency between my security agreement and UCC-1. Uploaded both PDFs and it immediately flagged the name formatting issue, showing me the correct charter format to use. Really saved me time compared to manually cross-referencing everything.

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That sounds like exactly what I need. Does it work with different document types or just UCC filings?

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Works with various document combinations - security agreements, UCC-1s, UCC-3s, charter documents. Pretty comprehensive for secured transaction verification.

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Bottom line: file your UCC-1 with "ABC Manufacturing, LLC" (the charter name with comma). The notarized security agreement doesn't override UCC Article 9 perfection requirements. Document the discrepancy in your loan file and move forward with confidence.

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Agreed. Sometimes we overthink these situations when the rules are actually pretty straightforward.

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Thanks everyone for the clarity. Filing with the charter name format today. Really appreciate all the real-world experience shared here.

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Ethan Brown

Ohio Secretary of State UCC Search Portal Issues - Missing Filed Continuations

Has anyone else been having trouble with the Ohio Secretary of State UCC search function lately? I filed a UCC-3 continuation back in March for a client's equipment financing deal, got the confirmation receipt, but when I run searches on the debtor name it's not showing up in the results. The original UCC-1 from 2019 is still there but nothing about the continuation. This is making me nervous because the 5-year window expires next month and I need to prove to the bank that we filed on time. I've tried searching by debtor name, filing number, and even the secured party name but the continuation just doesn't appear. The SOS office phone has been busy for three days straight. Anyone know if there's a delay in their database updates or if I need to refile? This client has a $2.8M credit line tied to this collateral schedule.

UPDATE: Finally got through to someone at the SOS office. They confirmed my continuation is valid and properly filed, but admitted their search database has 'synchronization issues' affecting filings from March and April. They're working on a fix but no timeline for when it'll be resolved. They're providing certified copies for free to anyone affected by this issue.

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Free certified copies? That's the least they can do after all this hassle. I'm calling them tomorrow to get copies of my missing continuations too.

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Finally some good news about this mess. I was starting to think they'd lost months worth of filings permanently.

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This thread has been super helpful. I was about to panic-file a duplicate continuation, but now I'll just request the certified copy instead. It's reassuring to know this is a known system issue and not something wrong with my specific filing.

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Yeah, knowing it's a widespread problem makes me feel less incompetent. I thought I'd made some huge mistake in my filing.

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Same here. I've been second-guessing everything about my UCC practice because of these search failures.

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Isabella Santos

Navy Federal security agreement UCC filing - debtor name format issues

Having major headaches with a Navy Federal security agreement UCC filing that keeps getting rejected by the SOS office. The loan docs show the member's name as "SMITH, JOHN A" but their business registration shows "John A. Smith" - no caps, different punctuation. Navy Federal's security agreement references both versions in different sections of the same document. Filed the UCC-1 using the exact name from the security agreement header (all caps version) but it got bounced back with a debtor name mismatch error. Tried refiling with the business registration format and got rejected again. This is for a $180K equipment loan secured by manufacturing equipment and the lender is getting impatient. Anyone dealt with Navy Federal security agreements before? Their document consistency is terrible and I'm not sure which debtor name version takes priority when the security agreement itself is inconsistent.

Navy Federal aside, this is why I always do a document consistency check before any UCC filing. Too many lenders have naming inconsistencies that cause rejection headaches.

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Yeah, rejection delays are the worst part of UCC filing work. Automated consistency checking is becoming essential.

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Especially with military credit unions. Their document preparation standards are all over the place.

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Thanks everyone for the help. Going to refile using the name format from the borrower definition section ("John A. Smith") and hopefully that resolves the Navy Federal security agreement naming issue. Will also check out that Certana tool for future filings.

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Hope the refiling goes smoothly. Certana.ai really helps avoid these consistency issues upfront.

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Let us know how it works out. Always good to confirm which Navy Federal naming strategy actually works.

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Diego Chavez

UCC-1 lien shows up differently on credit report than expected - normal?

Got a question about how UCC-1 lien filings appear on business credit reports. We had equipment financing approved last month and the lender filed their UCC-1 about 3 weeks ago. When I pulled our business credit report yesterday, the lien description doesn't match exactly what I expected to see. The filing shows 'all equipment now owned or hereafter acquired' but our loan agreement was specifically for one piece of machinery worth about $185k. Is this normal practice for lenders to use broader collateral language in the UCC-1 lien even when the actual loan is for specific equipment? I'm worried this might affect our ability to get additional financing since it looks like they have a blanket lien on everything we own. The filing number is correct and matches what the lender gave us, but the collateral description seems way too broad. Has anyone else seen this kind of discrepancy between loan docs and the actual UCC-1 lien filing?

I'm dealing with something similar but our issue is that the debtor name on the UCC-1 lien doesn't exactly match our DBA name. The legal entity name is correct but we do business under a different name. Should I be worried about this?

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This is exactly the kind of thing that Certana.ai tool would flag. Name mismatches are one of the most common UCC filing errors and can void the lender's perfected security interest.

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Oh no, I better look into getting that fixed then. Thanks for the heads up.

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Bottom line - your situation sounds normal. The UCC-1 lien filing is the lender's public notice, but your loan agreement controls the actual terms. As long as the debtor name and basic details are correct, you're probably fine. Just keep good records and make sure you understand what you've actually pledged.

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Thanks everyone, this has been really helpful. I feel much better about the situation now.

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This whole thread has been educational. I had no idea UCC filings were so complex.

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