UCC Document Community

One thing I learned the hard way - always search both the company's current legal name AND any former names if they've changed. Older filings might be under the old name and won't show up in searches of the current name.

One more tip that hasn't been mentioned - if the target company has any subsidiaries or related entities, make sure you're searching for UCC filings against those as well. Sometimes parent companies guarantee subsidiary debt or subsidiaries cross-guarantee each other's obligations. I've seen deals where the main entity looked clean but a subsidiary had significant liens that ultimately affected the whole acquisition. Get a complete corporate family tree and search each entity individually.

Just want to add that this isn't unique to D&B - I've seen similar issues with other commercial databases too. The fundamental problem is that they're trying to aggregate data from 50+ different state systems that all work differently. Some states have great APIs, others are still basically manual entry. Until there's better standardization across state filing systems, these discrepancies are going to keep happening.

This thread perfectly captures why I've moved away from relying on D&B for UCC searches altogether. We now use a two-tier approach: start with our state databases directly for primary jurisdictions, then use D&B only as a backup to catch anything we might have missed in secondary states. The time investment upfront is worth it to avoid the headaches later. One tip I'd add - if you're seeing consistent discrepancies with a particular borrower, check if they've had any recent name changes or corporate restructuring. D&B sometimes struggles to properly link filings across entity name variations, especially when there are mergers or acquisitions involved.

Really appreciate everyone sharing their experiences here. Makes me feel less stupid for falling for this scam. Going forward I'm only using services that provide direct links to the actual state filing records so I can verify everything myself.

This is such an important warning for everyone in our community. I've been doing UCC searches for years and I'm seeing more of these scam operations pop up every month. One thing I always tell people is to look for red flags like generic email addresses (gmail, yahoo, etc.) instead of professional domains, and websites that don't clearly state their physical business address. Also, legitimate UCC search providers will usually offer to walk you through their methodology and explain where they source their data from. If a company gets evasive about their process or won't provide references from other clients, that's a huge warning sign. Thanks for sharing your experience - it'll definitely help others avoid the same trap.

Whatever you do, don't let this slide. Three weeks past the statutory deadline is unacceptable and if you don't push back now, they'll know they can ignore future requests too. Document everything and consider it a cost of doing business to have an attorney send the demand letter.

As someone new to UCC issues, this thread has been really educational. It sounds like Jackson has solid documentation with the certified mail receipt and is clearly past the statutory deadline. From what I'm reading, it seems like the next steps should be: 1) Double-check that the entity names match between the original UCC-1 and the 9-210 request (especially given the LLC to Corp change), 2) Verify there haven't been any UCC-3 assignments that would change who the secured party is, and 3) Send a formal demand letter to their legal/compliance department citing the statutory violation. The banking regulator complaint option also sounds promising as a way to get their attention quickly. Jackson, have you been able to find contact information for their compliance department yet?

This is such a timely discussion for me as a newer member here. I'm working on my first solar equipment UCC termination and was second-guessing myself on the name matching requirements. Reading through everyone's experiences really drives home how critical exact character matching is - I had no idea that even spacing differences could cause rejections. The recommendation to pull the original UCC-1 directly from the Secretary of State database rather than relying on loan documents is particularly valuable advice I wouldn't have thought of. I'm definitely going to look into those document verification tools mentioned as well, especially since we're expecting more solar deals in our pipeline. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences!

As someone who's been handling UCC filings for over a decade, I can't emphasize enough how crucial exact name matching is for terminations. I've seen too many deals delayed because of seemingly insignificant differences like periods, commas, or spacing. For solar equipment deals specifically, I always recommend creating a checklist: 1) Pull the original UCC-1 from the state database, 2) Copy the debtor name character-for-character, 3) Double-check entity designations (LLC vs L.L.C.), and 4) Verify any Roman numerals match exactly. The solar industry's complex entity structures make this even more critical - I've dealt with entities that have nearly identical names but are completely different legal entities. Better to spend an extra 10 minutes verifying than dealing with rejected filings and angry loan officers!