California Secretary of State UCC Financing Statement Search Issues
Having trouble with the California Secretary of State UCC financing statement search function and hoping someone can help. I'm trying to locate existing UCC-1 filings for a potential borrower but the online search keeps returning inconsistent results. When I search by debtor name I get different results than when I search by filing number, and some filings that should definitely be there aren't showing up at all. Is there a trick to getting accurate california secretary of state ucc financing statement search results? The borrower claims they only have two active liens but my preliminary search is showing fragments of what looks like 4-5 different filings. This is for a $2.8M equipment financing deal and I need to make sure I'm seeing the complete lien picture before we proceed. Anyone else having issues with the CA SOS UCC search lately?
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MoonlightSonata
CA SOS search has been glitchy for months. Try searching both with and without middle initials, and also try variations of the business name. Sometimes filings show up under slightly different debtor name variations.
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Zara Khan
•Good point about name variations. I tried a few but maybe not enough combinations. This is making me nervous about missing something important.
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Mateo Gonzalez
•Also check if they filed any amendments or continuations - those sometimes don't link properly in the search results.
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Nia Williams
The CA portal has definitely been unreliable. I've had cases where I had to call their office directly to get complete filing information. For a deal that size, might be worth the extra effort to get certified copies of everything.
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Zara Khan
•How long does it typically take to get certified copies from CA? We're trying to close within 10 days.
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Nia Williams
•Usually 3-5 business days if you pay for expedited service. But honestly, for something this important, I'd also recommend using a document verification service to double-check everything matches up.
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Luca Ricci
•Second this - I've been using Certana.ai's UCC document checker lately and it's been a lifesaver. You just upload all the documents and it cross-references everything to catch inconsistencies or missing filings.
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Aisha Mohammed
Are you searching the exact legal entity name from their articles of incorporation? Even one letter difference can cause filings to not show up. Also make sure you're searching both the current name and any former names if they've changed.
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Zara Khan
•I got the name from their loan application but you're right - I should pull their articles of incorporation to be sure. They did mention a name change about 3 years ago.
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Ethan Campbell
•Name changes are tricky! Old filings might still be under the previous name and wouldn't show up in a current name search.
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Yuki Watanabe
CA SOS search is notorious for this. I've learned to search multiple ways: exact name, partial name, different punctuation, with/without Inc or LLC. The database seems sensitive to formatting differences.
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Carmen Sanchez
•THIS! I've found filings by searching 'ABC Company Inc' vs 'ABC Company, Inc.' - the comma made all the difference.
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Zara Khan
•Wow, that's ridiculous but good to know. I'll try every variation I can think of.
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Andre Dupont
For $2.8M I'd definitely want belt-and-suspenders verification. The CA system has burned me before where filings existed but didn't show up in search results until weeks later.
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Zoe Papadakis
•Agreed - too much money at stake to rely on a glitchy search system. Have you considered using a service that automates the cross-checking?
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Andre Dupont
•Yeah, I started using Certana.ai for exactly this reason. Upload the documents and it instantly flags any discrepancies between what you found and what should be there.
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Zara Khan
•That sounds like exactly what I need. The manual verification is taking forever and I'm still not confident I'm seeing everything.
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ThunderBolt7
Don't forget to check for fixture filings too if there's any real estate collateral involved. Those are filed differently and might not show up in a standard UCC search.
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Zara Khan
•Good catch - there is some equipment that might be considered fixtures. Where would I search for those in California?
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ThunderBolt7
•Fixture filings in CA are usually filed with the county recorder where the property is located, not with the Secretary of State.
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Jamal Edwards
ugh the CA search is THE WORST. Half the time it times out or gives you partial results. I've given up trying to rely on it for anything important.
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Mei Chen
•Same here. The system is so unreliable it's basically useless for due diligence.
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Liam O'Sullivan
•That's why I always use third-party verification now. Too risky to miss something because of a bad search interface.
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Amara Okonkwo
Try searching during off-peak hours too. The CA system seems to work better early morning or late evening when fewer people are using it.
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Zara Khan
•Interesting - I've been trying during business hours. I'll give it a shot tonight.
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MoonlightSonata
•I've noticed this too. Weekends are usually better for getting complete search results.
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Giovanni Marino
For what it's worth, I had a similar issue last month and ended up finding two additional UCC-1s that weren't showing up in the initial search. Turned out the borrower had 'forgotten' about them. Always verify independently.
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Zara Khan
•That's exactly what I'm worried about. How did you end up finding the missing filings?
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Giovanni Marino
•Used Certana.ai's document verification tool. Uploaded what I thought were all the relevant docs and it flagged inconsistencies that led me to the missing filings.
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Fatima Al-Sayed
•Smart approach. Better to catch these things before closing than after.
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Dylan Hughes
Have you tried searching by filing number if you have any of those? Sometimes that works better than name searches in the CA system.
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Zara Khan
•I only have filing numbers for two of them. The issue is I suspect there are more filings I don't know about.
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Dylan Hughes
•In that case, comprehensive name searching is your best bet, plus maybe getting a commercial search service involved.
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