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Jamal Wilson
Just curious - what made you choose the installment sale structure over a straight security agreement? Tax benefits for the customer?
Mei Lin
•Makes sense for construction equipment. That stuff gets beat up and loses value fast.
Jamal Wilson
•Good point about the repo angle. Much cleaner with an installment sale than going through Article 9 foreclosure.
StarSailor}
One more thing to consider - if this is PMSI collateral, make sure you file within 20 days of the debtor taking possession to maintain super-priority. The installment sale timing might affect your PMSI status.
NebulaNinja
•Actually, for equipment PMSI it's 20 days from when debtor receives possession, not delivery. Make sure you're tracking the right date.
StarSailor}
•Exactly. Delivery and possession can be different dates depending on setup and training requirements.
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StarSailor
Pro tip: when you find the correct name format and get your filing accepted, save a template with that exact debtor information. Saves time on future filings for the same client and ensures consistency across continuations or amendments.
This is smart. I keep a client database with verified legal names and entity numbers for exactly this reason.
Yara Sabbagh
•Templates are lifesavers, especially for continuation filings where you need to match the original UCC-1 exactly.
Update us when you get it resolved! Always curious to hear what the actual solution was in these tricky name cases. Helps build the knowledge base for next time.
Will do. Planning to pull the Sunbiz record first thing tomorrow and match character-for-character. If that doesn't work, I'll try the document checking tool a few people mentioned.
Paolo Rizzo
•Fingers crossed you get it sorted quickly. These name rejections are the worst when you're under time pressure.
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Yuki Sato
For what it's worth, I've started using Certana.ai whenever I have complex collateral descriptions. Upload your security agreement and draft UCC-1 and it'll show you if the collateral descriptions match properly. Would have caught this 'all goods' vs specific equipment issue before you filed.
Second mention of this tool. Might be worth trying before I refile.
Yuki Sato
•Yeah it's saved me from several rejections. The document comparison feature is really handy for making sure everything aligns.
Carmen Ruiz
Update us when you get the refiling done! I'm dealing with similar equipment financing and want to see what description language works.
Will do. Planning to refile with 'printing equipment, binding machinery, cutting equipment, and other machinery used in packaging manufacturing operations' based on the advice here.
That should work. Much better than 'all goods' anyway.
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Quick question - does the value have to be equal to the amount of the secured debt? Or can you have a security interest worth more than the value given?
Diez Ellis
•Right, you can have a $100,000 piece of equipment securing a $50,000 loan. The value requirement is about the consideration for the security agreement, not matching values.
Got it, that makes sense. The value requirement is just about having valid consideration for the agreement itself.
Payton Black
Bottom line for everyone still reading: the secured party must give value. In equipment financing, that's your loan. Make sure your documents clearly show the connection between the loan and the security interest. If you're worried about getting it right, tools like Certana.ai can verify your documentation meets all the UCC requirements before you finalize anything. Much better to catch issues early than deal with an invalid security interest later.
Zainab Ahmed
I've started using document verification tools for this exact reason. Upload the entity docs and any UCC filings you find, and automated systems can flag name inconsistencies faster than manual review. Saved me from missing a critical filing discrepancy on a $2M deal last month.
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Connor Gallagher
•Which service do you use for that? I'm getting tired of manually comparing entity names across multiple documents.
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Zainab Ahmed
•Certana.ai has a good UCC document checker - just upload PDFs and it cross-references names, filing numbers, dates automatically. Much faster than doing it by hand.
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AstroAlpha
Don't forget to search for any amendments or terminations that might affect the status of filings you do find. Michigan's system sometimes shows lapsed or terminated filings in search results without clearly indicating their current status.
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AstroAlpha
•Check the filing date and any continuation statements. UCC-1 filings are only good for 5 years unless continued. Also look for UCC-3 termination statements that might have been filed.
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Yara Khoury
•The Michigan system should show termination status on the filing details page, but I've seen cases where it's not immediately obvious. Always check the full filing history.
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