Filing UCC-1 in Washington DC - debtor name requirements causing rejections
I'm dealing with a mess trying to get a UCC-1 filed in Washington DC and keep getting rejections. We're securing a $340K equipment loan for a client's food truck business, and the DC filing office keeps bouncing back our UCC-1 forms. The debtor is an LLC that apparently changed their registered name slightly last year (added 'Enterprises' to the end) but their bank accounts and federal tax ID still use the old name. I've tried filing under both versions of the name and both got rejected for different reasons. The collateral description covers mobile food service equipment, generators, and point-of-sale systems. This is holding up the loan closing and my client is getting frustrated. Has anyone dealt with DC's specific debtor name requirements recently? Their online portal gives generic error messages that don't help much.
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Carmen Reyes
DC can be tricky with debtor names. You need to match exactly what's on their Articles of Organization with the DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. If they changed the name, you might need to check if they filed an amendment with DCRA or if it was just an assumed name registration.
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StarSurfer
•I pulled their Articles and it shows the new name with 'Enterprises' but their bank told me the old name is still on all their accounts. Should I be filing under what the bank has or what DCRA shows?
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Carmen Reyes
•Always go with what DCRA has on file. Banks are slow to update and that's not the legal name for UCC purposes. The secured party might want to require the debtor to update their banking records to match.
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Andre Moreau
Been there with DC filings. Their system is super picky about exact spacing and punctuation too. Make sure you're not adding extra spaces or periods that aren't in the official name. Also check if they have any trade name registrations that might complicate things.
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Zoe Christodoulou
•This is exactly why I started using Certana.ai's document checker. You can upload the Articles of Organization and your UCC-1 draft, and it instantly flags any name discrepancies before you submit. Saved me from three rejections last month on a similar DC filing.
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StarSurfer
•That sounds helpful. Do you just upload PDFs and it compares them automatically?
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Zoe Christodoulou
•Exactly. Upload your charter documents and UCC-1, and it cross-checks debtor names, entity types, all the details that cause rejections. Way faster than trying to spot differences manually.
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Jamal Thompson
DC's portal error messages are useless! I had one rejection that just said 'debtor name invalid' with no explanation. Turned out they wanted the LLC designation spelled out as 'Limited Liability Company' instead of 'LLC'. Spent two weeks figuring that out.
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Mei Chen
•Wait, really? I've been using LLC abbreviations in DC for years without problems. When did they change that requirement?
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Jamal Thompson
•Maybe it depends on how the entity was originally formed? This was for a Delaware LLC doing business in DC, so maybe that's different.
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Carmen Reyes
•It's not a blanket rule. You use whatever appears on the Articles of Organization. If they registered as 'ABC Company LLC' then that's what you use on the UCC-1.
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CosmicCadet
Your collateral description might be part of the problem too. DC sometimes rejects if the description is too broad. 'Mobile food service equipment' might need to be more specific - like 'commercial refrigeration units, gas-powered generators, digital point-of-sale terminals' etc.
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StarSurfer
•The collateral list is pretty detailed in our security agreement. Should I copy that exact language into the UCC-1 or can I summarize?
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CosmicCadet
•You can summarize but be specific enough that someone could identify the actual equipment. Generic terms like 'equipment' or 'inventory' sometimes get flagged.
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Liam O'Connor
I've had good luck calling DC's filing office directly. They're actually pretty helpful on the phone compared to their online system. Ask for the UCC department and explain your situation - they might tell you exactly what's wrong.
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Amara Adeyemi
•What's their phone number? I can never find it on their website.
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Liam O'Connor
•It's buried in their contact page but I think it's 202-442-4400. Ask for Business Services and then UCC filings.
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Giovanni Gallo
•Called them last week and got transferred three times before reaching someone who knew about UCC filings. But once I got the right person, they were super helpful.
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Fatima Al-Mazrouei
Quick question - did you check if the debtor has any existing UCC filings that might show how their name should be formatted? Sometimes you can search their system to see how other lenders filed against the same entity.
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StarSurfer
•Good idea! I'll run a search on both name variations and see what comes up.
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Dylan Wright
•DC's search function is pretty good for this. If you find existing filings, match that exact format even if it looks wrong to you.
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NebulaKnight
Are you filing online or by mail? Their online system has been glitchy lately. I had to switch to paper filing for a client last month because the portal kept timing out during submission.
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StarSurfer
•Online. The portal does seem slow but I haven't had timeout issues. Paper filing would probably take longer though.
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NebulaKnight
•Paper takes about 5-7 business days but at least you know it got there. Online can be instant if it works but useless if it keeps rejecting.
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Sofia Ramirez
•I've had mixed results with DC online. Sometimes it works perfectly, other times it's a nightmare. No middle ground.
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Dmitry Popov
One more thing to check - make sure the debtor's address matches what's on file with DCRA too. I've seen rejections for address mismatches even when the name was correct.
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StarSurfer
•Address should be right but I'll double-check. They did move their registered office last year around the same time as the name change.
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Ava Rodriguez
•If they moved and changed names in the same filing, that could definitely cause confusion. Make sure you're using the current registered address from their most recent DCRA filing.
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Miguel Ortiz
This thread is making me realize I should double-check all my DC filings. I usually just assume if it gets accepted, everything's fine, but sounds like their system might accept some filings that aren't actually correct.
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Zainab Khalil
•Yeah, I've heard of filings getting accepted with minor errors that only surface later if there's ever a dispute. Better to get it right the first time.
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QuantumQuest
•That's why I like using tools like Certana.ai now. Upload your documents and it catches inconsistencies before they become problems. Much better than finding out months later that your lien isn't properly perfected.
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Connor Murphy
Update us when you get it resolved! I'm dealing with a similar situation in Maryland and curious what ends up working for you.
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StarSurfer
•Will do. Going to try the exact name from DCRA records first, then call their office if that doesn't work.
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Yara Haddad
•Maryland has some of the same issues with entity name matching. Good luck with both of your filings!
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AstroExplorer
I've dealt with DC rejections before and found that their system is particularly strict about matching the exact legal name format from the Articles of Organization. Since your debtor added "Enterprises" to their name, I'd recommend downloading the most recent filing from DCRA's website and copying the name character-for-character, including any punctuation or spacing. Also, if they filed a Certificate of Amendment for the name change, make sure you're using the amended name, not the original. The banking records being outdated is common - banks can take months to update their systems after corporate changes. For the collateral description, try to be more specific than "mobile food service equipment" - DC likes detailed descriptions that clearly identify the assets.
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