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Omar Farouk

Need help with UCC statement request form - debtor name verification issues

I'm dealing with a frustrating situation where I need to pull UCC records for due diligence on a potential acquisition, but I keep getting 'no records found' responses from the SOS office even though I know there should be active filings. The target company has gone through several name changes over the years (originally filed as 'ABC Manufacturing LLC' but now operates as 'ABC Advanced Manufacturing, LLC'). I've tried multiple variations on the UCC statement request form but the search keeps coming back empty. This is holding up our entire deal timeline and our attorney is breathing down my neck. Has anyone dealt with debtor name matching issues when requesting UCC statements? I'm wondering if there's a specific format or search strategy that works better for entities that have modified their legal names. The filing numbers I have from old documents don't seem to be pulling anything up either, which makes me think there might be continuation or amendment filings I'm missing.

I actually had success with a similar situation using Certana.ai's verification tool. I uploaded the company's articles of incorporation and some old loan docs I found, and it flagged several inconsistencies in how their name was formatted across different filings. Turned out there were active UCC-1s under a name variation I never would have thought to try.

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Omar Farouk

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That's the second mention of that service in this thread. Might be worth checking out if my manual searches keep failing.

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Mei Chen

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I've used it too for document consistency checking. Pretty straightforward - just upload PDFs and it highlights discrepancies between documents.

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CosmicCadet

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Update us when you figure it out! I'm dealing with a similar situation with a company that changed from Corp to LLC and I'm having the same search problems. These UCC database quirks are so frustrating when you're under deadline pressure.

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Liam O'Connor

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Good luck! Corporate form changes definitely complicate UCC searches because the debtor name requirements can be different between entity types.

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CosmicCadet

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Exactly! I'm wondering if I need to search under both the old corp name and new LLC name separately.

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Andre Dupont

Bellwether Corporation case - contract was enforceable under the UCC - need filing guidance

Hey everyone, I'm working through some security agreement documentation and keep seeing references to the Bellwether Corporation case where the contract was enforceable under the UCC. My client has a similar situation with equipment financing where we need to perfect our security interest, but I'm getting confused about whether we need a UCC-1 or if there are other requirements. The original contract language seems solid but I want to make sure we're not missing any filing steps that could make our lien unenforceable. Has anyone dealt with cases like Bellwether where you had to trace back from contract enforceability to proper UCC filings? I'm particularly worried about the debtor name matching exactly between our loan docs and whatever we file with the SOS.

Just wanted to add that even though the Bellwether Corporation case shows contract enforceability under the UCC, you should also think about continuation filings down the road. UCC-1 filings lapse after 5 years so you'll need UCC-3 continuations to maintain perfection.

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Definitely. Put a reminder in your system for 6 months before the 5-year anniversary. You can file the continuation up to 6 months before expiration.

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Yara Nassar

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The number of times I've seen lenders lose their perfected status because they forgot about continuation filings is just sad. Calendar it now!

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This whole thread is making me nervous about my own filings. I have three UCC-1s I filed last year and now I'm second-guessing whether I got the debtor names right. Maybe I should run them through one of these document checkers just to be sure.

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QuantumQuasar

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If they were accepted by the filing office, they're probably fine. But if you're worried, you can always search the UCC records to see how your filings appear in the system.

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You could also upload your original loan docs and filed UCC-1s to Certana.ai to double-check consistency. Better to know now if there are any issues.

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Admin_Masters

Washington State UCC Filing Fee Changes - What Am I Missing?

I've been handling UCC filings for our equipment financing division for about 18 months now, and I'm getting confused about the current Washington state filing fees. Last quarter I was paying one amount, but when I tried to submit a UCC-1 continuation last week through the Washington SOS portal, the fee structure looked completely different. The system wanted $65 for what I thought should be a standard continuation, but I swear I paid $45 for similar filings just a few months ago. Did Washington change their fee schedule recently? I'm worried I'm selecting the wrong filing type or missing some requirement that's bumping up the cost. Our loan documentation depends on getting these continuations filed correctly, and I can't afford to mess up the timing or overpay on fees when we're processing dozens of these monthly. Has anyone else noticed fee changes in Washington's UCC system lately?

This thread is making me feel better about my own portal mistakes! I once paid $95 for same-day processing in Washington when I meant to select standard processing. Didn't realize until after submission that I'd clicked the wrong service level. At least filing fees are usually deductible business expenses, but it's still annoying to overpay due to interface issues.

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Admin_Masters

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Yeah, these little mistakes add up when you're doing dozens of filings per month. Even $20 extra per filing becomes significant.

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Ella Thompson

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Our accounting department hates when filing fees vary unpredictably due to portal errors. Makes budgeting difficult.

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Caleb Stark

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I think the real issue is that Washington (like most states) doesn't have good user testing for their UCC portals. They're designed by government IT departments who don't actually use them day-to-day. If they had to process 50 UCC filings in a row, they'd quickly see how confusing the interface is and fix the dropdown organization.

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Some private companies have started offering better interfaces that submit to state systems on your behalf. Might be worth exploring.

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Jade O'Malley

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The problem is those third-party services usually add their own fees on top of state fees.

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Aiden Chen

UCC 9-621 compliance questions - secured party disposal rights after default

I'm dealing with a situation where we have a UCC-1 perfected security interest in manufacturing equipment (filed 3 years ago, continuation not due until next year). The debtor defaulted last month and we're looking at exercising our rights under UCC 9-621 for disposal of the collateral. The equipment is specialized CNC machinery worth around $180K based on our appraisal. My question is about the notice requirements - I know we need to send authenticated notification but I'm getting conflicting advice about timing. One attorney says 10 days minimum, another says it depends on whether it's a consumer transaction (it's not - this is B2B). The debtor is also claiming they never received proper default notice even though we sent certified mail to the address on the UCC-1. Has anyone dealt with similar 9-621 disposal situations where the debtor disputes the notice process? I'm worried about getting this wrong and having the disposal challenged later.

BTW - after disposal you'll need to account for proceeds under 9-615. Make sure you have documentation for all expenses (storage, legal, disposal costs) that you can deduct from sale proceeds before applying to the debt.

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Aiden Chen

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Good reminder. We've been tracking storage costs since we took possession. Legal fees are adding up too with all the debtor disputes.

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Keep detailed records of everything. Reasonable expenses are deductible but "reasonable" can be subjective if the debtor challenges your accounting later.

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One last thing - after you dispose of the collateral, if there's still a deficiency, you'll want to make sure your UCC-1 was properly filed in all the right places. If the debtor moves to a different state or changes their organization type, it can affect where you should have filed. Any issues with the original filing could impact your deficiency claim.

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Yeah, I've seen cases where a debtor changes from LLC to corporation or moves their principal place of business and it affects the filing requirements retroactively.

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JaylinCharles

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This is why I love the Certana.ai tool - upload your original UCC filing with current debtor info and it flags any potential jurisdiction or name issues that could affect your perfection status.

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GalacticGuru

UCC-3 form Pennsylvania filing getting rejected - need help with debtor name format

Been trying to file a UCC-3 amendment in Pennsylvania for three weeks now and keep getting rejections. The original UCC-1 was filed back in 2022 for our equipment financing deal, and now we need to add additional collateral to the filing. Every time I submit through the PA portal, it comes back saying 'debtor name does not match original filing' but I'm copying it exactly from the UCC-1 search results. The debtor is 'Advanced Manufacturing Solutions LLC' and I've tried it with periods, without periods, with commas after 'Solutions' - nothing works. The filing number is correct, I've triple-checked that. Has anyone dealt with this specific issue in Pennsylvania? I'm starting to think there's some hidden formatting requirement they don't tell you about. This is holding up a $2.8M credit facility and my client is getting impatient. Any advice would be appreciated.

Jamal Wilson

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UPDATE: Finally got it resolved! Turns out the original UCC-1 had 'Advanced Manufacturing Solutions, LLC' with a comma before LLC, but the search results displayed it without the comma. Thanks to everyone who suggested the document comparison approach - that's what caught it.

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Mei Lin

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This is exactly why I always download and review the original filing documents before doing any amendments. Can't trust the search display formatting.

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GalacticGuru

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Lesson learned for sure. The document comparison tool made all the difference - would have taken me forever to spot that comma manually.

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Great outcome! For anyone else reading this thread, Pennsylvania is particularly strict about punctuation in entity names. Always verify against the actual filed documents, not just search results.

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Amara Nnamani

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This thread should be pinned or something. Name matching issues are probably the most common cause of UCC-3 rejections.

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Agreed. The number of times I've seen filings rejected for minor formatting differences is ridiculous.

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