California UCC-1 form PDF fillable version needed

That's what I was afraid of. My lender just said 'use the state form' but didn't specify which version. I'll call them Monday to see if they have a template.

Most commercial lenders have standard UCC-1 templates they prefer. Just make sure whatever version you use matches the current California form fields exactly or it could get rejected.

Don't have Acrobat Pro unfortunately. Is there a free alternative that lets you add form fields to PDFs?

PDFtk Server is free but it's command line only. LibreOffice Draw can sometimes work but it's clunky. Honestly for something this important I'd just spring for a month of Acrobat Pro if you're doing multiple filings.

Be really careful doing that though. I've seen filings get rejected because homemade fillable forms had slightly different formatting that threw off the OCR scanning.

Never heard of that service. How does it work exactly? Do you upload the forms before filing or after?

You upload before filing - it's like a pre-flight check. Upload your entity docs (articles of incorporation, operating agreement, whatever) and your draft UCC-1, and it flags any inconsistencies in debtor names, addresses, entity types. Really helpful for catching those tiny differences that can void your perfection.

My lender specifically wants hard copies for their loan files. Something about their compliance requirements. I have to file electronically AND provide printed copies.

Ah gotcha, that makes sense. Some banks are still old school about their documentation.

That's actually pretty common with SBA loans and larger commercial facilities. They want the paper trail even though electronic filing is the norm now.

That's actually a great idea. The confirmation would show all the same information as the original form. Do you know if the printed confirmation includes the full collateral description?

Yes, the confirmation includes everything - debtor info, secured party, collateral description, filing number, date stamped. It's essentially the filed UCC-1 in printable format.

Good point. I was planning to list 'manufacturing equipment' but maybe I should be more specific like 'CNC machining equipment and related accessories'?

That's better but still might be too broad. Consider something like 'CNC machining centers, lathes, milling machines and related manufacturing equipment now owned or hereafter acquired'. The 'now owned or hereafter acquired' language is important for future advances.

Just make sure whatever description you use matches what's in your security agreement exactly. Any discrepancy between the UCC-1 and the underlying loan docs can create perfection issues down the road.

That name change situation is exactly why these verification tools are so valuable. I've seen too many liens fail because someone used an old entity name from outdated paperwork.

Thanks, I'll check that out. Free is definitely better for a one-off filing.

Second PDFescape - used it for Texas UCC forms and it worked fine. Just don't expect fancy features but basic text fields work great.

How can you tell which version is current? Is there a date or version number on the form?

The current form has the revision date in small print at the bottom. Should say 'Rev. 05/2019' or similar. Also the current form has slightly different field layouts than the old version.

It's not SBA but good to know. This is conventional equipment financing through a regional bank.

Regional banks can be just as picky honestly. They often have their own quirky requirements based on past experiences with rejected filings.

That's the smart approach. The online system prevents a lot of the common rejection reasons like incorrect formatting or missing required fields.

Glad it worked out! Did you end up using any document verification before filing or did you feel confident about the debtor name matching?

I actually did use Certana.ai to double-check everything first. Found one small discrepancy in how the entity name was punctuated between my articles and what I had typed. Would have caused a headache later if I hadn't caught it.