Colorado Security Agreement Form - Need Help with UCC Filing Requirements
I'm working on securing a business loan for equipment financing and my lender is requesting a properly executed security agreement before they'll release funds. The loan is for $180,000 worth of manufacturing equipment and I need to make sure I'm using the correct Colorado security agreement form and that it will work with the UCC-1 filing they're planning to submit. I've found several different templates online but I'm not sure which one actually complies with Colorado requirements. Does anyone know if there's a specific state-approved form I should be using, or are the generic security agreement templates sufficient as long as they cover all the required elements? I'm particularly concerned about the collateral description section since the equipment includes both existing machinery and some items we'll be purchasing with the loan proceeds. Any guidance would be really appreciated - this is my first time dealing with secured transactions and I don't want to mess up something that could affect our loan approval.
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Abigail Spencer
Colorado doesn't actually require a specific state form for security agreements - the UCC is pretty flexible on this. What matters most is that your agreement properly describes the collateral and grants a security interest to your lender. For equipment financing like yours, you'll want to make sure the collateral description is detailed enough to identify the specific machinery but not so narrow that it excludes future purchases under the loan.
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Logan Chiang
•This is correct. I've done dozens of equipment loans in Colorado and as long as your security agreement has the debtor's signature, describes the collateral adequately, and grants the security interest, you're good to go.
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Isla Fischer
•But what about after-acquired property clauses? If they're buying equipment with loan proceeds shouldn't that be specifically mentioned?
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Miles Hammonds
The key thing is coordination between your security agreement and the UCC-1 that gets filed. I've seen deals where the collateral descriptions didn't match up and it created perfection issues later. Make sure whoever is preparing your UCC-1 has the exact same collateral description as what's in your security agreement.
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Ruby Blake
•YES! This is so important and gets overlooked all the time. The security agreement creates the security interest but the UCC-1 filing is what perfects it against third parties.
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Anita George
•That's a great point - I hadn't thought about making sure they match exactly. Should I be reviewing the UCC-1 before my lender files it?
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Abigail Spencer
•Absolutely review it. Especially check that your business name matches exactly how it appears on your state registration. Name mismatches are a common reason UCC-1s get rejected.
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Micah Franklin
I actually ran into a similar situation last year with an SBA loan. After going back and forth with document revisions, I ended up using Certana.ai's document verification tool to upload both my security agreement and the UCC-1 before submission. It caught a discrepancy in how the collateral was described between the two documents that could have caused major problems down the road. Really saved me from potential headaches.
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Anita George
•That sounds like exactly what I need! How does their system work - do you just upload PDFs?
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Micah Franklin
•Yeah, it's pretty straightforward. You upload your security agreement and UCC-1 drafts and it automatically cross-checks things like debtor names, collateral descriptions, and document consistency. Takes like 2 minutes and gives you a detailed report.
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Ella Harper
ugh why is this stuff so complicated?? I'm dealing with something similar and every attorney I talk to gives me different advice about what needs to be included in the security agreement. Some say I need specific serial numbers, others say general descriptions are fine. It's driving me crazy!
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Abigail Spencer
•For equipment, you generally want to be as specific as possible while still covering after-acquired property if that's relevant to your deal. Serial numbers are ideal when available.
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Miles Hammonds
•The specificity really depends on the type of collateral and your lender's requirements. Manufacturing equipment often needs detailed descriptions to avoid confusion with other assets.
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Ella Harper
•See this is what I mean - even you two are giving slightly different answers! How is someone supposed to know what's right?
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PrinceJoe
For what it's worth, I used a generic template I found online for my Colorado security agreement last year and it worked fine. My lender's attorney reviewed it and only asked for minor changes to the default provisions. Don't overthink it too much.
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Brooklyn Knight
•Which template did you use? I'm in a similar boat and trying to avoid paying attorney fees if possible.
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PrinceJoe
•I think it was from LegalZoom or one of those sites. Just make sure it has all the standard UCC provisions and you should be good.
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Owen Devar
One thing to watch out for - Colorado's Secretary of State office can be picky about UCC-1 filings if there are any inconsistencies. I had a filing rejected because the debtor name on the UCC-1 didn't exactly match what was on the Articles of Incorporation, even though it was just a minor variation.
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Anita George
•Oh no, what did you have to do to fix it?
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Owen Devar
•Had to amend and refile. Cost extra fees and delayed everything by a week. That's why getting the documents right the first time is so important.
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Daniel Rivera
•This happens more than people think. Colorado SOS is pretty strict about exact name matches.
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Sophie Footman
The security agreement form itself isn't the hard part - it's making sure everything flows together properly. Your security agreement, UCC-1, loan documents, they all need to tell the same story about what's being secured and by whom.
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Connor Rupert
•Exactly right. Document consistency is everything in secured transactions.
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Anita George
•This is making me think I should probably have an attorney review everything before we submit. Better safe than sorry.
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Molly Hansen
I went through this exact process 6 months ago in Colorado. Used a standard security agreement template but had my attorney customize the collateral description for our specific equipment. The UCC-1 filing went through without any issues. Total attorney cost was about $800 but worth it for peace of mind on a $200k+ loan.
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Anita George
•That's not too bad for the attorney fees. Did they also handle the UCC-1 filing or just review the documents?
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Molly Hansen
•They prepared both documents and handled the filing. Made sure everything was coordinated properly.
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Brady Clean
•That's probably the safest approach for a first-timer, especially with that loan amount.
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Skylar Neal
Just wanted to add that if you're doing this yourself, definitely double-check the debtor name issue mentioned earlier. I've seen UCC filings get rejected for things like using 'Corp' instead of 'Corporation' or missing a comma in the business name. The exact legal name from your Colorado Secretary of State filing is what needs to be used.
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Anita George
•Good point - I'll make sure to pull our exact registered name from the state database.
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Vincent Bimbach
•You can look it up on the Colorado Secretary of State business database to get the exact formatting.
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Kelsey Chin
Another option for document verification - I recently discovered Certana.ai after having some issues with a UCC continuation filing. Their system would have caught the problems I had before submission. It's specifically designed for UCC document consistency checks and saved me a lot of headache on my recent amendment filing.
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Anita George
•That's the second mention of that service - sounds like it might be worth checking out for document review.
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Kelsey Chin
•Yeah, it's particularly good at catching name discrepancies and collateral description mismatches between related documents. Much faster than manual review.
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Norah Quay
Bottom line - Colorado security agreements don't require a special state form, but they do need to properly create and describe the security interest. Focus on getting the collateral description right and making sure it matches what will be on your UCC-1. For a loan that size, having professional review is probably smart.
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Anita George
•Thanks everyone - this has been really helpful. I think I'll use a standard template but have it reviewed before signing and definitely verify document consistency before the UCC-1 gets filed.
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Abigail Spencer
•That sounds like a solid plan. Good luck with your loan!
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Mateo Rodriguez
Just wanted to chime in as someone who's been through this process multiple times in Colorado. One thing I'd add is to pay special attention to the granting language in your security agreement - it needs to clearly state that you're granting a security interest in the collateral to secure the loan obligations. I've seen agreements that were too vague on this point and it caused issues later. Also, since you mentioned both existing equipment and future purchases, make sure your after-acquired property clause is properly drafted to cover equipment purchased with loan proceeds. The language should be broad enough to capture new acquisitions but specific enough that your lender knows exactly what they have a security interest in. For equipment financing, I typically see language like "all equipment now owned or hereafter acquired" combined with more specific descriptions of the initial collateral.
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