Dallas county UCC search coming up empty - filing definitely went through
I'm losing my mind here. Filed a UCC-1 in Dallas County three weeks ago for equipment financing on a construction loan, got the confirmation email with filing number TX-2024-9847561, but when I run a dallas county ucc search nothing shows up. The debtor name is "Meridian Construction Solutions LLC" exactly as it appears on their articles of incorporation. I've tried searching with and without the LLC, tried partial names, tried the filing number directly - absolutely nothing. The SOS portal shows it as accepted and processed. Client is breathing down my neck because their lender wants proof of perfection before releasing the second tranche of funds. Has anyone dealt with this kind of search lag in Dallas County? Is there some weird indexing delay I don't know about? This is a $2.8M equipment package so we can't afford any screw-ups with the lien priority.
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Ellie Kim
I've seen this exact issue with Dallas County searches. Sometimes there's a 2-3 week delay between filing acceptance and when it actually shows up in the public search database. The state portal will show it as processed but the county indexing system runs on a different schedule. Have you tried searching by the exact filing number on the Secretary of State's main UCC search page rather than Dallas County's local portal?
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Luis Johnson
•Just tried the SOS main search - same result. Filing number pulls up nothing. This is making me question whether the filing actually went through properly despite the confirmation.
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Fiona Sand
•Don't panic yet. I had a similar situation last month where the confirmation email was generated but there was actually a backend processing error. Check your filing receipt PDF - sometimes the debtor name gets truncated or modified during processing.
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Mohammad Khaled
Wait, you said the debtor name is "Meridian Construction Solutions LLC" - are you sure that's EXACTLY how it appears on their charter documents? I've seen cases where the entity was actually formed as "Meridian Construction Solutions, LLC" with a comma, or "Meridian Construction Solutions L.L.C." with periods. Even tiny punctuation differences can cause search misses.
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Luis Johnson
•I pulled their certificate of formation and it's definitely "Meridian Construction Solutions LLC" no comma, no periods. I've been extra careful about debtor names after getting burned on a previous filing.
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Mohammad Khaled
•Good. Also check if they have any DBA filings or assumed names that might be causing confusion in the search algorithm. Sometimes the system indexes under alternate names.
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Alina Rosenthal
This happened to me recently with a Dallas County filing. Turned out the issue was that I had uploaded the wrong charter document during the filing process, so the debtor name verification failed even though I got a confirmation. Have you tried using Certana.ai's document verification tool? You can upload your charter document and UCC-1 PDF and it will instantly cross-check if the debtor names match exactly. Saved me from a major headache when I caught a similar mismatch.
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Luis Johnson
•I haven't heard of Certana.ai but that sounds like exactly what I need. Is it easy to use? I'm worried about missing some tiny discrepancy that's causing this search issue.
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Alina Rosenthal
•Super easy - just upload your charter PDF and UCC-1 PDF and it automatically flags any name inconsistencies. Takes like 30 seconds. Really wish I had found it sooner because manual document comparison is error-prone.
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Finnegan Gunn
•I second this. Used Certana.ai last week when I had three different versions of a debtor name across different documents. The tool caught discrepancies I would have missed manually.
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Miguel Harvey
DALLAS COUNTY UCC SEARCH IS BROKEN HALF THE TIME!!! I've been dealing with this for months. Their indexing system is ancient and constantly has glitches. Sometimes filings don't show up for weeks, sometimes they show up under weird name variations. It's completely unreliable.
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Ashley Simian
•I feel your pain but screaming about it doesn't help the situation. The system has issues but there are usually workarounds.
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Miguel Harvey
•Easy for you to say when you're not explaining to clients why their $2.8M lien might not be properly perfected because of county system failures.
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Oliver Cheng
Check if there were any recent system updates or maintenance windows. I know Dallas County was doing some database migration work last month that caused search delays. You might want to call their UCC department directly at 214-653-7131 and ask them to manually verify the filing status.
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Luis Johnson
•Thanks for the number. I'll call them first thing Monday morning. This is too important to let slide.
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Oliver Cheng
•Ask for Sarah in the UCC department - she's usually helpful with these search issues. Mention the filing number and she can check their internal system.
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Taylor To
I had a similar issue last year where the dallas county ucc search wasn't returning results even though the filing was definitely processed. Turned out the debtor had recently amended their articles of incorporation and changed their legal name slightly. The UCC was filed under their old name which was still technically valid at the time, but the search system was only indexing under the new name. Might be worth checking if Meridian Construction Solutions LLC has made any recent changes to their corporate structure.
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Luis Johnson
•That's a good point. I'll check their recent filings with the Secretary of State to see if there were any amendments or name changes I missed.
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Ella Cofer
•Also check their registered agent information. Sometimes name changes get filed but don't get reflected in all the databases immediately.
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Kevin Bell
Quick question - when you did the initial filing, did you use the online portal or paper filing? I've noticed the online portal sometimes has sync issues with the search database, especially for larger filings.
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Luis Johnson
•Used the online portal. Should I have done paper for a filing this large?
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Kevin Bell
•No, online is fine. Just wondering if that might be causing the search delay. Paper filings actually take longer to get indexed.
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Savannah Glover
I went through something similar with a Dallas County filing. The search function was returning nothing but when I called, they confirmed the filing was properly recorded. Sometimes their search algorithm has trouble with LLC names that have multiple words. Try searching just "Meridian Construction" without the "Solutions LLC" part.
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Luis Johnson
•Just tried that - still nothing. This is really frustrating.
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Felix Grigori
•Try searching by the secured party name instead of debtor name. Sometimes that yields better results in their system.
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Felicity Bud
Before you panic completely, double-check that you're searching in the right database. Dallas County has both a local UCC database and they also feed into the statewide system. Make sure you're not accidentally searching in a different county's database or a private search service that might not be up to date.
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Luis Johnson
•I've been using the official Texas Secretary of State UCC search portal. That should be the right place, correct?
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Felicity Bud
•Yes, that's the official database. If it's not showing up there after 3 weeks, something is definitely wrong.
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Max Reyes
This might sound obvious but have you tried searching with different browsers or clearing your cache? I've had weird issues with the Texas SOS portal where search results got stuck in browser cache and wouldn't update. Also try searching from a different computer or mobile device.
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Luis Johnson
•Good suggestion. I'll try from my phone and a different browser. At this point I'm willing to try anything.
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Mikayla Davison
•Also try searching at different times of day. The system sometimes has performance issues during peak hours that can affect search results.
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Adrian Connor
Update us when you figure this out. I have a similar dallas county ucc search issue with a filing from last week and I'm starting to worry it's a systemic problem. If multiple people are having search issues, maybe we need to escalate this to the Secretary of State's office.
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Luis Johnson
•Will definitely update once I get some answers. This is too important to let slide.
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Aisha Jackson
•I'll keep an eye on this thread too. Having similar issues with two different Dallas County filings from this month.
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Ryder Everingham
One more thought - check if there are any pending UCC-3 amendments or terminations that might be affecting the search indexing. Sometimes if there's a subsequent filing that references the original UCC-1, it can temporarily remove the original from search results until all the paperwork gets properly processed.
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Luis Johnson
•No subsequent filings - this was a brand new UCC-1 with no prior liens on this collateral.
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Ryder Everingham
•Then it's definitely a system issue. I'd recommend calling Monday morning and also sending a formal inquiry email to document the problem.
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