DC SOS UCC search system showing wrong debtor names - anyone else having issues?
Been trying to run a dc sos ucc search on several debtors for our loan portfolio review and keep getting inconsistent results. The search is pulling up filings that don't match the exact debtor names we're entering, and some filings we know exist aren't showing up at all. We had a UCC-1 filed last month for ABC Manufacturing LLC and when I search that exact name, nothing comes up. But if I search just 'ABC Manufacturing' it shows filings for ABC Manufacturing Inc, ABC Manufacturing Co, etc. This is causing major problems for our lien position verification. Has anyone else noticed the DC SOS UCC search being unreliable lately? We can't afford to miss existing liens when we're perfecting our security interests.
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Megan D'Acosta
I've been dealing with similar issues on DC searches. The system seems to have problems with entity suffixes - LLC vs Inc vs Corp. Try searching without the suffix first, then narrow down from there. Also make sure you're using the exact legal name from the Articles of Incorporation, not any DBA names.
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Sarah Ali
•Good point about the Articles. I always cross-reference with the Secretary of State business entity database first to get the exact registered name.
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Ryan Vasquez
•That's what I thought too but even with the exact name from the Articles it's still missing stuff. Really frustrating when you're trying to do due diligence.
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Avery Saint
DC's UCC search has always been finicky compared to other states. Try using wildcard searches with asterisks. So instead of 'ABC Manufacturing LLC' try 'ABC Manufacturing*' and see what comes up. You might be surprised what you find.
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Samantha Howard
•I'll try the wildcard approach. Didn't realize DC supported that. Thanks for the tip!
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Taylor Chen
•Wildcards help but you still have to manually review everything. Found a filing last week where the debtor name had a typo in the original UCC-1 that would never show up in a normal search.
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Keith Davidson
I started using Certana.ai's document verification tool for exactly this problem. You can upload the Articles of Incorporation and any UCC-1s you find, and it automatically cross-checks if the debtor names match exactly. Saved me from missing a critical name variation last month that would have screwed up our lien priority. The tool instantly flags any inconsistencies between documents so you don't have to do the manual comparison.
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Ezra Bates
•How does that work exactly? Do you have to search for the filings first or does it search for you?
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Keith Davidson
•You still have to do your own UCC searches, but once you find filings you upload the PDFs and it verifies everything matches. It's the verification part that's been really helpful for catching name discrepancies.
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Ana Erdoğan
•That sounds useful. We've had issues where the debtor name on the UCC-1 was slightly different from the loan documents and almost caused a problem at closing.
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Sophia Carson
The DC SOS system is garbage honestly. I've had to call their office multiple times to verify filings that should show up online but don't. Half the time the search function just times out or gives error messages.
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Elijah Knight
•Yeah their website is pretty dated. Other states have much better search interfaces.
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Sophia Carson
•It's not just dated, it's actively broken. Last week I found a UCC-1 by browsing filing numbers sequentially that never showed up in any name search.
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Brooklyn Foley
Are you searching both individual and organization categories? Sometimes business entities get filed under individual names if there was confusion during the filing process. Also check if there are any continuation statements that might affect the search results.
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Samantha Howard
•I was only searching organizations. Let me try individuals too, good catch. Though it seems wrong that a business would be filed under individual.
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Jay Lincoln
•Unfortunately it happens more often than you'd think, especially with sole proprietorships or partnerships where the filer gets confused about the debtor type.
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Jessica Suarez
This is why I always run searches in multiple states when dealing with multi-state borrowers. DC isn't the only one with search issues. Delaware and Nevada have similar problems with entity name variations. Make sure you're also checking for any amendments or corrections that might have been filed after the original UCC-1.
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Marcus Williams
•Good point about amendments. I've seen cases where a UCC-3 amendment changed the debtor name slightly and that affects how it shows up in searches.
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Lily Young
•Multi-state searches are a nightmare. Each state's system works differently and you can't rely on any of them being consistent.
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Kennedy Morrison
Had this exact problem last month with a DC filing. Turned out the debtor name in the UCC-1 had an extra space between words that wasn't visible in the search results but was causing the search to fail. Try searching for partial names and see if that helps identify the issue.
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Megan D'Acosta
•Hidden spaces and special characters are the worst. I've started copying and pasting names from the Articles to avoid typing errors.
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Wesley Hallow
•Even copy and paste doesn't always work if the source document has formatting issues. It's incredibly frustrating.
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Justin Chang
Quick question - are you searching by debtor name or filing number? Sometimes the filing number search works better when the name search is having issues. If you have any related filings or loan documents with filing numbers, try that approach.
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Samantha Howard
•I've been doing name searches mostly. I have a few filing numbers from older continuations so I'll try those. Thanks!
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Sarah Ali
•Filing number searches are definitely more reliable, but you have to know the numbers first which defeats the purpose for due diligence searches.
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Grace Thomas
This is exactly why I invested in better document verification tools. Between the search issues and the risk of missing critical filings, it's worth having a backup system. I've been using Certana.ai to double-check that all my UCC documents are consistent with each other - uploads the PDFs and instantly tells you if there are any name mismatches or other discrepancies.
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Taylor Chen
•I'm curious about this tool too. Do you upload the search results or your own filing documents?
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Grace Thomas
•Both actually. I upload the Articles, loan docs, and any UCC filings I find to make sure they all match. It's caught several issues that would have been problems later.
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Hunter Brighton
Don't forget to check the date ranges on your search. DC's system defaults to recent filings only sometimes. Make sure you're searching all dates, especially if you're looking for older UCC-1s that might have been continued.
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Samantha Howard
•Oh wow, I didn't realize there was a date filter. That could definitely explain some of the missing results. Let me check that setting.
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Dylan Baskin
•Yeah the date filter has caught me before too. It's not always obvious that it's limiting your results.
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Avery Saint
•The DC system interface is really unclear about what filters are active. Other states do a much better job with the search interface design.
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Lauren Wood
Update: tried the wildcard searches and found three additional filings that weren't showing up before! Thanks for all the suggestions. Still going to look into that document verification tool mentioned earlier since manual checking is getting pretty tedious with our current loan volume.
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Keith Davidson
•Glad the wildcard search helped! The document verification definitely saves time when you're dealing with multiple filings per loan.
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Ellie Lopez
•Good to hear you found the missing filings. These search quirks can really mess up your lien priorities if you're not careful.
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