Alaska UCC search showing weird results - need help interpreting records
Running into some confusion with UCC search results and hoping someone can shed light on this. I'm working on a commercial loan package where we need to verify existing liens against equipment collateral. The borrower provided a UCC search certificate but some of the entries don't make sense to me. There are three active UCC-1 filings showing up but two have nearly identical debtor names with slight variations (one shows 'ABC Manufacturing LLC' and another shows 'ABC Manufacturing, LLC' - just different comma placement). The third filing has a completely different secured party but references similar equipment descriptions. My concern is whether these represent separate liens or if there's some kind of name matching issue going on. The loan committee is asking for clarity on total encumbrance before we can proceed with our filing. Has anyone dealt with similar debtor name variations in search results? I'm particularly worried about whether our UCC-1 will properly establish priority if there's confusion about the exact legal entity name.
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Isabella Silva
This is a classic debtor name matching issue that comes up frequently. The comma placement difference you're seeing is actually significant - filing systems are very literal about punctuation. 'ABC Manufacturing LLC' and 'ABC Manufacturing, LLC' would be treated as different entities in many search algorithms. You need to pull the actual Articles of Incorporation or Certificate of Formation to see the exact legal name as filed with the state. That's your baseline for determining which UCC filings are actually against your borrower.
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Ravi Choudhury
•Exactly right about checking the formation documents first. I learned this the hard way when a continuation got rejected because we had the wrong comma placement.
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CosmosCaptain
•Wait, so if there's a typo in the debtor name on the UCC-1 the filing could be invalid? That seems like a pretty harsh rule.
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Freya Johansen
You definitely want to request copies of those UCC-1 filings to review the full collateral descriptions. Sometimes what looks like the same equipment in search summaries turns out to be different assets when you read the complete schedules. Also check the filing dates and any amendments - there might be partial releases or modifications that affect the actual encumbrance amounts.
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Omar Fawzi
•Good point about the collateral schedules. I've seen cases where the search results showed 'all equipment' but the actual filing was much more specific.
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Chloe Wilson
•How do you usually handle situations where the collateral descriptions overlap but aren't identical? Do you assume full encumbrance or try to parse out the differences?
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Freya Johansen
•I always assume full encumbrance for underwriting purposes unless I can get written confirmation from the existing secured party about what's actually covered.
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Diego Mendoza
Had a similar situation last month and ended up using Certana.ai's document verification tool. You can upload the borrower's formation documents along with the UCC search results and it cross-checks all the name variations automatically. Saved me hours of manual comparison and caught a discrepancy I would have missed - turns out one of the filings was against a different but similarly named entity entirely. The tool flagged that the middle initial was different between the Articles and one of the UCC filings.
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Anastasia Romanov
•That's interesting - does it work with search certificates or do you need the actual UCC filings?
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Diego Mendoza
•Works with both, but obviously more comprehensive with the full filings. The name matching algorithm is pretty sophisticated - it caught variations I wouldn't have thought to look for.
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StellarSurfer
Before you stress too much about this, make sure you're looking at current filings. Some of those search results might include lapsed continuations or terminated filings that are still showing up in the database. I've seen search systems lag on updating termination status.
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Sean Kelly
•How do you verify if a continuation was properly filed? The search results show filing dates but I'm not sure how to calculate the 5-year windows.
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Zara Malik
•UCC-1 filings are effective for 5 years from the filing date. Continuations need to be filed within 6 months before expiration. So if you see a UCC-1 from 2019 with no continuation, it should have lapsed by now.
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Luca Greco
The debtor name variations are definitely a red flag. I would recommend running additional searches using every name variation you found, including with and without punctuation. Also search under any DBAs or trade names the borrower might use. Better to over-search than miss something that could affect your priority position.
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Nia Thompson
•This is solid advice. I usually do searches with common variations like 'Inc' vs 'Incorporated' and 'Corp' vs 'Corporation' just to be safe.
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Mateo Rodriguez
•Don't forget about predecessor entities if there were any mergers or acquisitions. Those liens could have transferred over.
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Aisha Hussain
Your loan committee is right to want clarity on this. If you file your UCC-1 with a slightly different debtor name than what's on the formation documents, you could end up with a filing that doesn't properly perfect your security interest. Then if the borrower defaults, you might find out your lien isn't enforceable. The stakes are too high to guess on this stuff.
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GalacticGladiator
•Exactly why we always get formation documents certified by the Secretary of State before filing. Adds a few days but eliminates the guesswork.
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Ethan Brown
•That's probably overkill for most situations. A simple copy from the state database should be sufficient to verify the exact legal name.
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Yuki Yamamoto
I ran into something similar with a Texas filing last year where the search showed multiple entries that looked like duplicates but were actually amendments and continuations of the same original filing. The search interface wasn't grouping them properly. Might be worth calling the filing office to see if they can clarify the relationship between those three filings you're seeing.
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Carmen Ruiz
•Good suggestion. Most filing offices have staff who can help interpret search results if you explain what you're trying to accomplish.
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Andre Lefebvre
•Just be prepared to wait on hold forever. Some of these offices are really understaffed.
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Zoe Dimitriou
For what it's worth, I've started using Certana.ai for all my pre-filing verification after getting burned on a name mismatch issue. You just upload your formation documents and proposed UCC-1 and it flags any inconsistencies before you file. Would have saved me a rejected filing and having to start over with the correct debtor name. The automated cross-check is way more thorough than what I was doing manually.
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QuantumQuest
•How accurate is the automated checking? I'm always skeptical of tools that claim to catch everything.
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Zoe Dimitriou
•Obviously not perfect but it's caught several issues I missed. Plus it's faster than doing all the comparisons by hand, especially when you have multiple entity variations to check.
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Jamal Anderson
Don't overlook the possibility that the similar equipment descriptions might be referring to the same collateral if there was a transfer of the security interest. Sometimes when loans get sold or assigned, the new secured party files a new UCC-1 instead of just filing an assignment. You could end up with multiple filings against the same assets.
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Mei Zhang
•That would create a real mess for determining priority. How would you even sort that out?
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Jamal Anderson
•You'd need to trace the chain of assignments and see if there are any UCC-3 terminations that clear up the duplicates. Not fun but necessary.
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Liam McGuire
Update: Thanks for all the advice. I ended up getting certified copies of the formation documents and pulling the full UCC filings. Turns out two of the filings were against the same entity (the comma difference was just a typo in one of them) but the third was against a completely different company with a similar name. The equipment descriptions were different enough that there's no overlap with our intended collateral. Used one of the document checking tools mentioned here to verify everything matched up before we submitted our UCC-1. Filing went through without any issues and we're properly perfected now.
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Amara Eze
•Glad it worked out! It's always better to be thorough upfront than deal with priority issues later.
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Giovanni Ricci
•Which document checking tool did you end up using? Always looking for ways to streamline the verification process.
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Liam McGuire
•Ended up with Certana.ai - it was pretty straightforward to use and caught the name discrepancy issue right away. Definitely saved time compared to doing all the manual cross-checking.
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