California UCC filing rejected - debtor name mismatch on continuation
Filed a UCC-3 continuation for our equipment loan collateral last week and it got rejected by the California SOS. The rejection notice says 'debtor name does not match original filing' but I'm looking at both documents and they look identical to me. Original UCC-1 from 2020 shows 'Pacific Coast Manufacturing LLC' and my continuation shows the same exact name. Has anyone dealt with this before? The lapse date is coming up in February and I'm getting nervous about timing. Is there some hidden character or formatting issue that could cause this? The collateral is heavy machinery worth $340K so I really can't afford to mess this up.
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Malik Jackson
I've seen this exact issue before with California filings. Sometimes there are invisible characters or extra spaces that don't show up when you're comparing documents visually. Did you copy and paste the debtor name from the original UCC-1 or did you retype it? Even one extra space can cause a rejection.
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Emma Thompson
•I think I retyped it from looking at the original filing. Should I have copied it exactly? That seems so picky for such an important system.
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Malik Jackson
•Yes, always copy exact text when possible. The California system is particularly strict about exact matches.
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Isabella Costa
Check if there's a period after LLC on one filing but not the other. I had a similar rejection and it turned out the original had 'Manufacturing LLC.' with a period and my continuation didn't. Super frustrating waste of time and money.
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Emma Thompson
•Just double checked - both show 'LLC' without a period. Good catch though, I wouldn't have thought of that.
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StarSurfer
•The system should really highlight what exactly doesn't match instead of just saying it doesn't match!
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Ravi Malhotra
Had this nightmare situation last year with a client's filing. Spent hours comparing documents character by character. Finally discovered there was a weird encoding issue when the original was filed. I ended up using Certana.ai's document verification tool - you just upload both PDFs and it instantly shows you exactly where the mismatch is. Saved me from missing the continuation deadline.
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Emma Thompson
•Never heard of that tool but sounds like exactly what I need. Does it work with California filings specifically?
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Ravi Malhotra
•Yeah it works with any state's UCC documents. Just upload your original UCC-1 and the continuation filing and it cross-checks everything automatically.
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Freya Christensen
•That actually sounds really useful. I hate manually comparing these documents line by line.
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Omar Hassan
California SOS system is notorious for being finicky about debtor names. Make sure you're looking at the EXACT formatting from the original filing confirmation, not just the filing request you submitted. Sometimes the SOS system reformats things when they process it.
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Emma Thompson
•Good point. I was looking at my original filing copy, not the official recorded version. Let me pull that up.
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Malik Jackson
•This is a great point - always use the official recorded version as your reference.
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Chloe Robinson
ugh the california system is THE WORST. I swear they reject things just to collect more filing fees. Had three rejections on one continuation last year for the stupidest reasons.
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Diego Chavez
•I feel your pain. The system seems designed to frustrate people.
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Isabella Costa
•While it's frustrating, the strict matching does serve a purpose for accurate public records.
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NeonNebula
If you're still stuck, you might want to call the UCC division directly. Sometimes they can tell you exactly what the mismatch is over the phone. The number is on their website under UCC services.
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Emma Thompson
•Didn't know you could call them directly. I'll try that if I can't figure out the mismatch.
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Anastasia Kozlov
•They're actually pretty helpful when you call, just expect to wait on hold for a while.
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Sean Kelly
Another thing to check - is the debtor's state of organization correct on both filings? If the original shows 'Delaware' and your continuation shows 'CA' that could cause the rejection even if the entity name matches perfectly.
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Emma Thompson
•Both show California as the state of organization. The company has always been a California LLC.
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Sean Kelly
•Good that you checked. That's another common source of rejections.
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Zara Mirza
I had exact same issue with Pacific Equipment Leasing (similar name lol). Turned out there was some weird character encoding from when the original was filed through their old system. The Certana tool that someone mentioned earlier caught it immediately - showed me there was a non-breaking space character that was invisible when I looked at the documents.
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Emma Thompson
•That's probably exactly what happened with mine. Going to try that document checker tool right now.
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Ravi Malhotra
•Hidden characters are so common with older filings. The tool saves so much time hunting them down.
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Luca Russo
•This is why I always copy/paste directly from the SOS website now instead of retyping anything.
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Nia Harris
Update us when you figure it out! I'm dealing with a similar situation in Nevada and want to know what the issue was.
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Emma Thompson
•Will definitely post an update once I get this resolved. Hopefully it's something simple.
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GalaxyGazer
Just a heads up - if you're getting close to your lapse date, you might want to file a new UCC-1 as backup while you sort out the continuation issue. Better safe than sorry with $340K in collateral.
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Emma Thompson
•That's a good backup plan. Would hate to lose perfection over a technicality.
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Malik Jackson
•Smart thinking. A new UCC-1 would restart the 5-year period and give you breathing room.
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Mateo Sanchez
•Just make sure to coordinate with your borrower about filing a new UCC-1 if that's the route you go.
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