Arkansas UCC lien search showing old terminated filings - how to get clean report?
Running into a weird issue with our Arkansas UCC lien search results. We're trying to close on a commercial equipment loan and the borrower's UCC search is pulling up like 6 different terminated liens from 2019-2022. All of them show 'TERMINATED' status but they're still appearing on the official search results from the Arkansas Secretary of State portal. Our underwriter is asking questions about why these old filings are cluttering up the report instead of just showing active liens. The debtor name is spelled exactly the same across all filings so it's not a name variation issue. Is this normal for Arkansas or should terminated UCC-1s drop off the search results after a certain period? We need a clean lien search to move forward with funding but these ghost filings are making everything look messy. Anyone dealt with this in Arkansas specifically?
40 comments
Join the conversation
Sienna Gomez
Arkansas keeps terminated filings in their database indefinitely for historical record purposes. This is actually pretty standard across most states - the terminated status is what matters, not whether they appear on the search. Your underwriter should understand that TERMINATED means the lien is released and poses no threat to your security interest.
0 coins
Kirsuktow DarkBlade
•Exactly right. The key is that they show TERMINATED status. Arkansas SOS doesn't purge old records, they just mark them as inactive.
0 coins
Abigail bergen
•But can't this confuse underwriters who aren't familiar with UCC searches? I've had deals delayed because of this exact thing.
0 coins
Sienna Gomez
•True, some underwriters panic when they see multiple filings even if terminated. That's why I always include a cover sheet explaining the status codes.
0 coins
Ahooker-Equator
Had this same headache last month! Arkansas portal shows everything forever basically. What I do now is run the search, then create a summary sheet that only lists ACTIVE filings separately. Makes it crystal clear for underwriters what actually matters vs what's just historical noise.
0 coins
Daryl Bright
•That's a great idea about the summary sheet. Do you just manually type it up or is there a template you use?
0 coins
Ahooker-Equator
•I made my own template in Excel. Has columns for filing number, debtor name, secured party, status, and my notes. Takes 5 minutes but saves hours of back-and-forth with underwriting.
0 coins
Anderson Prospero
•Smart approach. I've been meaning to create something similar because this comes up constantly.
0 coins
Tyrone Hill
This is why I started using Certana.ai for UCC verification. You can upload the Arkansas search results PDF and it automatically separates active vs terminated filings in a clean format. Saves me from having to manually parse through all the terminated records and creates a professional summary for underwriters. Just drag and drop the search results and it handles the rest.
0 coins
Daryl Bright
•Never heard of Certana.ai before. Does it work with other states too or just Arkansas?
0 coins
Tyrone Hill
•Works with any state's UCC search results. You just upload the PDF and it extracts all the filing info and organizes it clearly. Really helpful when you're dealing with borrowers who have complex filing histories.
0 coins
Toot-n-Mighty
•Interesting. I spend way too much time manually going through UCC searches. Might be worth checking out.
0 coins
Lena Kowalski
Arkansas is notorious for this! I've seen search results with 15+ terminated filings going back to 2015. The system works fine but it's definitely not user-friendly for people who don't do UCC searches regularly. Your underwriter needs to focus on whether there are any ACTIVE liens, not the total number of historical records.
0 coins
Abigail bergen
•15 terminated filings sounds like a nightmare to review. How do you even explain that to a nervous underwriter?
0 coins
Lena Kowalski
•I highlight the active ones in yellow and include a note that says 'Only highlighted filings are currently effective.' Works most of the time.
0 coins
DeShawn Washington
The Arkansas SOS portal is actually pretty good compared to some states but yeah, they definitely don't clean up old terminated records. I think the logic is that terminated filings still have legal significance for proving when liens were released. Better to have too much information than too little from a legal standpoint.
0 coins
Mei-Ling Chen
•Makes sense from a record-keeping perspective but creates practical problems for lenders trying to get clean reports.
0 coins
DeShawn Washington
•Exactly. The system is designed for lawyers and filing officers, not necessarily for loan officers who just want to see current encumbrances.
0 coins
Sofía Rodríguez
•This is why standardized reporting formats would be so helpful across all state systems.
0 coins
Aiden O'Connor
I deal with Arkansas UCC searches weekly and this is totally normal. What I tell my underwriters is to look for the STATUS column - if it says TERMINATED, LAPSED, or EXPIRED, then ignore it. Only worry about ACTIVE or EFFECTIVE filings. The old ones are just clutter but legally meaningless for your transaction.
0 coins
Daryl Bright
•Good point about the status column. In this case all the old ones clearly say TERMINATED so I guess we're good to proceed.
0 coins
Aiden O'Connor
•Right, TERMINATED means the secured party properly filed a UCC-3 termination statement. Those liens are officially dead and can't affect your new filing.
0 coins
Zoe Papadopoulos
Pro tip: when you file your new UCC-1 in Arkansas, make sure your debtor name matches exactly what's showing on these old terminated filings. Even small differences in punctuation or entity suffixes can cause problems later if you need to file amendments or continuations.
0 coins
Jamal Brown
•Good catch. I've seen deals where the new UCC-1 used slightly different debtor names and it created huge headaches during the continuation process.
0 coins
Zoe Papadopoulos
•Exactly. Better to be consistent with the historical naming conventions even if they're not perfect.
0 coins
Fatima Al-Rashid
•Arkansas is pretty strict about exact name matches. Worth double-checking the entity records too.
0 coins
Giovanni Rossi
Had a similar situation last year where we had to get our legal team to write a letter explaining why terminated UCC filings don't create liens or encumbrances. Sometimes underwriters need that extra level of comfort, especially if they're not familiar with secured transactions.
0 coins
Aaliyah Jackson
•Smart move. Having legal backup documentation can really speed up the approval process when underwriters are uncertain.
0 coins
Giovanni Rossi
•Yeah, it's worth the extra step to avoid delays. We keep a template letter on file now for these situations.
0 coins
KylieRose
Just to add another perspective - I actually prefer when states keep historical records visible because it gives you a complete picture of the debtor's financing history. You can see patterns in their borrowing and get a sense of whether they're serial refinancers or if this is unusual activity.
0 coins
Miguel Hernández
•That's a good point I hadn't considered. The historical data can actually be useful for credit analysis.
0 coins
KylieRose
•Right, and it helps verify that previous lenders properly terminated their liens instead of just letting them lapse.
0 coins
Sasha Ivanov
•Interesting way to look at it. Shows the debtor has been responsible about cleaning up old filings.
0 coins
Liam Murphy
One more thing - if your underwriter is really concerned about the messy search results, you could always have the borrower's attorney provide a legal opinion letter stating that all terminated liens have been properly released and don't affect the current transaction. Might be overkill but some lenders require it for complex filing histories.
0 coins
Daryl Bright
•That might be worth considering if we run into more pushback. Thanks for the suggestion.
0 coins
Amara Okafor
•Attorney opinion letters definitely carry weight with nervous underwriters. Good fallback option.
0 coins
CaptainAwesome
Quick follow-up question - when you say the debtor names are spelled exactly the same, are you including the full legal entity name with suffixes like LLC or Corporation? Sometimes the formatting differences aren't obvious but can still affect search results.
0 coins
Daryl Bright
•Yes, they're all identical including the LLC suffix. It's definitely the same entity across all the terminated filings.
0 coins
CaptainAwesome
•Good, that makes things cleaner. No debtor name variations to worry about then.
0 coins
Yuki Tanaka
•Debtor name consistency is huge. I've seen searches where slight variations created separate entries and made everything confusing.
0 coins