Agricultural lien UCC filing got rejected - debtor name issues
So I'm dealing with a nightmare situation here. We have this $380k equipment loan secured by farming equipment (tractors, combines, etc.) and our UCC-1 filing just got rejected by the Secretary of State office. The issue seems to be with the debtor name - the loan documents show 'Johnson Family Farms LLC' but apparently the state business registry has it as 'Johnson Family Farm, LLC' (with a comma). This is for an agricultural lien UCC and I'm freaking out because we need this perfected ASAP. The borrower is already using the equipment for spring planting season. Has anyone dealt with agricultural lien UCC filings where there's a slight name discrepancy like this? Do I need to refile with the exact name from state records or can I do an amendment? The rejection notice wasn't super clear about next steps.
31 comments
Join the conversation
Mei-Ling Chen
Ugh, name matching issues are the worst part of UCC filings! For agricultural liens, you definitely need the debtor name to match exactly what's on file with the state. That comma makes a difference unfortunately. You'll probably need to refile the UCC-1 with the correct name rather than trying to amend.
0 coins
Sofía Rodríguez
•Yeah this happened to me last month. Secretary of State systems are super picky about punctuation and spacing. Better to refile correctly than risk having an unperfected security interest.
0 coins
Aiden O'Connor
•Wait, can't you just do a UCC-3 amendment to correct the debtor name? That seems easier than starting over with a whole new UCC-1 filing.
0 coins
Zoe Papadopoulos
Actually for agricultural equipment like tractors and combines, you need to be extra careful about the filing. Agricultural liens have some special rules depending on your state. What state are you filing in? Some states have specific requirements for farm equipment that go beyond regular UCC-1 filings.
0 coins
DeShawn Washington
•We're in Iowa. The equipment includes John Deere tractors and a Case combine harvester. Do agricultural liens in Iowa have different requirements than regular secured transactions?
0 coins
Zoe Papadopoulos
•Iowa is pretty standard for agricultural UCC filings. The main thing is getting that debtor name exactly right. Check the Iowa Secretary of State business entity search to confirm the exact registered name before refiling.
0 coins
Jamal Brown
•I had a similar issue with an agricultural lien in Nebraska last year. Ended up using Certana.ai's document verification tool to cross-check our loan docs against the UCC-1 before filing. It caught a debtor name mismatch that would have caused a rejection. Super helpful for avoiding these headaches.
0 coins
Fatima Al-Rashid
This is exactly why I always triple-check debtor names before submitting any UCC filing. For agricultural liens especially, you can't afford to have an unperfected security interest when you're dealing with equipment that's actively being used in farming operations. The seasonal nature of agriculture makes timing critical.
0 coins
Giovanni Rossi
•True! And with spring planting happening right now, the borrower probably can't wait around for filing corrections. Time is money in farming.
0 coins
Aaliyah Jackson
•I always search the state business registry first, then copy/paste the exact name into the UCC-1. Saves so much time and prevents rejections.
0 coins
KylieRose
Had this exact same problem with an agricultural lien last fall. What worked for me was downloading the business entity information directly from the state website and using that exact formatting for the debtor name on the UCC-1. Don't trust what's on the loan documents - go straight to the source.
0 coins
Miguel Hernández
•Smart approach. I've seen so many filings get rejected because people assume the loan docs have the correct legal entity name.
0 coins
Sasha Ivanov
•This is why I started using automated verification tools. I upload both the articles of incorporation and the UCC-1 draft to Certana.ai and it flags any name inconsistencies before I submit. Has saved me from multiple rejections.
0 coins
Liam Murphy
Question about agricultural liens - do you need to file anything additional beyond the UCC-1 for farm equipment? I thought there might be special agricultural lien requirements in some states.
0 coins
Amara Okafor
•Most states just require the standard UCC-1 for agricultural equipment. The 'agricultural lien' terminology usually refers to statutory liens that arise automatically, not security interests created by contract.
0 coins
CaptainAwesome
•Right, this sounds like a regular secured transaction with farm equipment as collateral, not a true agricultural lien under state statute.
0 coins
Yuki Tanaka
For what it's worth, I'd definitely refile with the correct debtor name rather than trying to amend. Amendment filings can be tricky and you want to make sure your security interest is properly perfected from the start. With $380k on the line, it's worth doing it right.
0 coins
Esmeralda Gómez
•Agreed. The small filing fee for a new UCC-1 is nothing compared to the risk of having an unperfected lien.
0 coins
Klaus Schmidt
•Plus if you refile quickly, the gap in perfection should be minimal. Just make sure you note the original filing attempt in your loan file for documentation.
0 coins
Aisha Patel
I've been doing UCC filings for 15 years and debtor name mismatches are still the #1 cause of rejections. For agricultural equipment financing, I always recommend verifying the debtor name through multiple sources - state business registry, tax records, and the loan documents. Sometimes there are discrepancies between all three!
0 coins
LilMama23
•That's good advice. I've seen cases where the LLC was registered one way but filed taxes under a slightly different name.
0 coins
Dmitri Volkov
•This is where document verification tools really shine. I upload everything to Certana.ai - the charter docs, loan agreement, and UCC-1 draft - and it highlights any name inconsistencies across all the documents. Catches things you might miss manually.
0 coins
Gabrielle Dubois
Just to confirm - you're talking about a security interest in farm equipment, not an agricultural lien per se, right? True agricultural liens are statutory and don't require UCC filings. If this is equipment financing secured by tractors and combines, that's a regular Article 9 security interest.
0 coins
DeShawn Washington
•Yes, you're right. It's a security interest in the farm equipment to secure the loan. I was using 'agricultural lien' loosely since it's farm-related collateral.
0 coins
Tyrone Johnson
•No worries, the terminology can be confusing. The important thing is getting that UCC-1 filed correctly with the right debtor name.
0 coins
Ingrid Larsson
Iowa Secretary of State has pretty good online resources for checking business entity names. I'd recommend pulling up their business entity search and using whatever name appears there exactly as formatted. Don't add or remove any punctuation.
0 coins
Carlos Mendoza
•Yeah Iowa's system is user-friendly. Much better than some other states I've dealt with.
0 coins
Zainab Mahmoud
•The key is copying the name exactly as it appears in the state records. Even spacing matters sometimes.
0 coins
Ava Williams
Hope you get this resolved quickly! Spring is such a busy time for farmers and you don't want the equipment financing issues to interfere with planting season. Keep us posted on how the refiling goes.
0 coins
DeShawn Washington
•Thanks everyone for the advice! I'm going to pull the exact business entity information from Iowa SOS and refile the UCC-1 today. Definitely learned my lesson about double-checking debtor names.
0 coins
Raj Gupta
•Good plan! And consider using some kind of verification tool going forward to catch these issues before filing. It's a real time-saver.
0 coins