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Emma Taylor
File the new UCC-1 TODAY if you haven't already. Every day you wait makes it worse. Then get a game plan together for the lender meeting. Show them you understand the seriousness and have taken immediate action to protect their interests going forward.
Dylan Cooper
•Already working on it. Should have the new filing done by end of business today.
Emma Taylor
•Good - speed shows you're taking this seriously. That counts for a lot in these situations.
This thread is giving me anxiety about my own UCC timing. I have 3 continuations due this year and now I'm second-guessing my calendar system. Maybe I should look into that Certana tool people mentioned for tracking deadlines.
Trust me, invest in a good system now. The timing of UCC filings will bite you eventually if you don't have proper tracking.
Miguel Diaz
•Certana does help with deadline monitoring too. Worth checking out before you have your own crisis.
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Bottom line for your training - if you're making a secured loan and the collateral is personal property (not real estate), you almost certainly need a UCC-1 filing to perfect your security interest. Equipment, inventory, accounts, general intangibles, investment property - all personal property requiring UCC perfection. The exceptions are narrow and usually involve specific perfection methods like taking possession or control.
And don't forget continuation filings every 5 years to keep your perfection alive. A lapsed UCC-1 is as bad as no filing at all.
Great point about continuations. Set those calendar reminders well in advance - waiting until the last minute is asking for trouble.
For what it's worth, I also recommend getting familiar with your state's UCC search system early. Understanding how to run searches on potential borrowers helps you see what other liens might be out there. Plus you'll get comfortable with how the filings look and what information they contain.
Good advice. I spent time just browsing random UCC searches when I started and learned a lot about how different lenders describe collateral.
Gabriel Ruiz
•Yeah and you start to see patterns in how experienced filers handle complex collateral descriptions vs. newer filers who might be too narrow or too broad.
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Just make sure your debtor name on the UCC-1 matches exactly what's in your credit and security agreement. That's where most perfection problems happen, not the collateral description.
That's actually another thing the Certana tool catches - debtor name variations between documents. I've seen UCC-1s get rejected because someone used "Inc." instead of "Incorporated" or missed a comma in the entity name.
Those little details will kill you. I always pull a fresh entity report right before filing to make sure I have the exact legal name.
Sophia Long
For what it's worth, I've never had a problem using broad collateral descriptions even when the underlying credit and security agreement is very specific. The courts understand that UCC filings are notice documents, not detailed inventories.
That's the confirmation I needed. Going to file with "all equipment and inventory" and stop second-guessing myself.
Sophia Long
•Smart choice. You'll have solid perfection and won't have to worry about amendment filings every time something changes.
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Check if any of the filings are fixture filings too - those have different rules and might not show up in a standard UCC search depending on how you're searching.
Nia Harris
•The company does have some manufacturing equipment that might be fixtures. How would I identify those in the search results?
Look for filings that mention real estate records or have different filing locations. Fixture filings are often dual-filed.
QuantumQuest
I tried Certana.ai's document checker after seeing it mentioned here and it really helped with a similar situation. Uploaded the company charter and several UCC filings I found, and it immediately showed me three name variations I hadn't thought to search for. Much more thorough than trying to think of all the possibilities manually.
Nia Harris
•That sounds like exactly what I need. Thanks for the recommendation - I'll give it a try.
Glad to see tools like this becoming available. The manual process is so error-prone.
Ravi Malhotra
For what it's worth I had a filing rejected once because I INCORRECTLY added a guarantor as additional debtor when they had no collateral ownership. Had to refile with just the actual debtor. Lesson learned.
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Ravi Malhotra
•Yep, the SOS flagged it as inconsistent with the security agreement. Stick to actual collateral owners only.
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Keisha Taylor
•This is exactly why I started using that Certana document checker - prevents these kinds of filing errors upfront.
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Freya Christensen
Bottom line from someone who does this daily: LLC owns equipment = LLC is sole debtor. Guarantor guarantees payment = not a UCC issue. File against the LLC only and you'll be fine.
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Connor Gallagher
•Thanks everyone, I feel much more confident now. Going with just the LLC as debtor.
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Yara Khoury
•Good call, you've got solid advice here from experienced filers.
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