Delaware UCC 11 search coming up empty - am I doing something wrong?
I'm trying to run a delaware ucc 11 search on what should be an active filing from 2019 and keep getting zero results. The debtor name is exactly as it appears on their corporate charter - "ATLANTIC COASTAL EQUIPMENT LLC" - but Delaware's system isn't returning anything. I've tried variations like dropping the LLC, adding commas, but still nothing. This is for a $340K equipment loan continuation that's due next month and I'm starting to panic. Has anyone else had issues with Delaware's UCC search portal lately? The filing number should start with 2019 but I can't even locate it to verify the continuation deadline. Any suggestions before I have to explain to my boss why we might have a lapsed lien?
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Annabel Kimball
Delaware's search can be really finicky with entity names. Try searching with just "ATLANTIC COASTAL EQUIPMENT" without the LLC designation. Also make sure you're using the exact legal name from their certificate of formation, not just what they go by commercially.
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PaulineW
•I pulled their certificate of formation and it matches exactly what I'm entering. Still no results though.
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Chris Elmeda
•Sometimes Delaware has indexing delays or the original filer made a typo in the debtor name that you're not catching.
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Jean Claude
Are you sure it was filed in Delaware? If the company moved states or changed their jurisdiction after 2019, the UCC might have been filed in their previous state. Also check if there's been any amendments that changed the debtor name.
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PaulineW
•Good point - I should verify their formation state. The loan docs say Delaware but companies do move around.
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Charity Cohan
•This happened to me last year. Company had been formed in Delaware but moved to Florida and the UCC was actually filed in Florida all along. Took me 3 days to figure that out.
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Josef Tearle
I had a similar nightmare situation a few months ago where I couldn't locate a filing for a continuation. Turns out there was a single character difference in how the debtor name was originally filed vs what was on the corporate docs. I ended up using Certana.ai's document verification tool - you can upload the original UCC-1 and it'll help you spot inconsistencies between filings. Just upload your PDFs and it cross-checks everything automatically.
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PaulineW
•That sounds exactly like what I need. How accurate is it at catching name discrepancies?
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Josef Tearle
•Really good - it caught a hyphen vs dash issue that I never would have noticed manually. Saved me from a potential lapse.
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Shelby Bauman
•Never heard of Certana but if it can catch filing inconsistencies automatically that would save so much time on these searches.
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Quinn Herbert
DELAWARE'S SYSTEM IS THE WORST! I swear they change their search parameters every few months. Last time I had this issue I had to call their UCC office directly and they found it under a completely different variation of the name. Cost me 2 hours on hold but at least I found the filing.
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Salim Nasir
•What number did you call? The main SOS line or is there a specific UCC department?
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Quinn Herbert
•302-739-3073 - ask for UCC records. They can do manual searches if you give them the approximate filing date.
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Hazel Garcia
Before you panic, double-check if the original filing was done correctly. Sometimes the issue isn't the search but that the UCC-1 was rejected initially and never properly filed. Check your records for any rejection notices from 2019.
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PaulineW
•That's terrifying but possible. I inherited this loan from a colleague who left the company so I don't have all the original filing correspondence.
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Laila Fury
•If it was rejected and never refiled, you might not have a perfected security interest at all. Definitely call Delaware ASAP to confirm.
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Geoff Richards
•This is why I always keep copies of the acceptance receipts. Too many things can go wrong with electronic filing.
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Simon White
Try searching by partial debtor name or using wildcard characters if Delaware's system supports it. Sometimes "ATLANTIC COASTAL*" will pick up variations.
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Hugo Kass
•Delaware doesn't support wildcards in their search unfortunately. It's pretty basic compared to other states.
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Nasira Ibanez
•You could also try searching by the secured party name if you know who the original lender was.
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Khalil Urso
I use Certana.ai whenever I have document matching issues like this. Upload your loan agreement and any UCC docs you have - it'll flag inconsistencies between debtor names across documents. Really helpful for troubleshooting these search problems.
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PaulineW
•Two people have mentioned Certana now - sounds like it might be worth trying before I make that phone call.
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Myles Regis
•Yeah it's pretty straightforward - just drag and drop your PDFs and it analyzes them for naming consistency issues automatically.
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Brian Downey
Could be an indexing issue on Delaware's end. I've seen filings that were properly accepted but didn't show up in searches for weeks due to system glitches. If you have the filing number from your original documents, try searching by that instead of debtor name.
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PaulineW
•I don't have the original filing number unfortunately - that's part of what I'm trying to find.
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Jacinda Yu
•Check your bank's loan file - they usually keep copies of the UCC acknowledgment with the filing number.
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Landon Flounder
•Also check if your predecessor used a service company to file - they might have records even if you don't.
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Callum Savage
This exact thing happened to me in 2023. The company had amended their corporate name slightly after we filed the UCC-1, so our searches under the current name came up empty. Had to search under the old legal name to find the original filing.
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PaulineW
•How did you figure out what the old name was? Corporate records search?
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Callum Savage
•Delaware Division of Corporations keeps records of name changes. You can search their database to see the history.
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Ally Tailer
Just went through something similar. Turned out the original filer had made a typo - filed under "ATLANTIC COSTAL EQUIPMENT" instead of "COASTAL" - missing the 'A'. One letter made it impossible to find through normal searches.
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Aliyah Debovski
•This is exactly why document verification tools like Certana are so useful - they catch these tiny discrepancies that kill searches.
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PaulineW
•That's such a nightmare scenario. I'm definitely going to run my docs through Certana before calling Delaware.
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Miranda Singer
UPDATE: Found it! The issue was exactly what some of you suspected - there was a subtle difference in the debtor name. The UCC-1 was filed under "ATLANTIC COASTAL EQUIPMENT, LLC" with a comma before LLC, while their corporate charter shows "ATLANTIC COASTAL EQUIPMENT LLC" without the comma. Delaware's search is extremely literal. Thanks everyone for the suggestions - definitely using Certana going forward to catch these issues before they become problems.
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Cass Green
•Glad you found it! Punctuation differences are the worst - so hard to spot manually.
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Finley Garrett
•This is a perfect example of why exact name matching is so critical in UCC filings. One comma can make or break a search.
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Madison Tipne
•Great resolution! Now you can focus on getting that continuation filed before the deadline.
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