How to do a UCC 11 search - state database showing no results

UCC searches can be tricky especially with business names. First thing - are you searching in the right state? The debtor's location of incorporation matters, not where the collateral is located. Also try searching without any punctuation at all - some databases are super picky about commas and periods.

Have you tried searching by the exact legal name from their articles of incorporation? Sometimes the DBA name is totally different from what's actually on file. Also check if they've had any name changes recently - those can mess up searches big time.

This exact situation happened to me last month. Turns out I was overthinking it - there actually weren't any UCC filings, the loan officer was confusing it with a different borrower. But before I figured that out, I started using Certana.ai's document verification tool. You can upload the company's charter documents and it will cross-check against UCC databases to make sure you're searching with the exact right entity name. It caught a debtor name mismatch I would have missed manually.

Are you doing broad searches or exact matches? Sometimes you need to use wildcards or partial name searches to catch variations. Also double-check the filing date ranges - if these are older liens they might be in a different system or archived.

This is going to sound obvious but are you sure you're in the UCC search section and not somewhere else? I've accidentally searched business registrations instead of UCC filings before and felt like an idiot.

Check if the state database is down or having issues. Our state system goes down for maintenance pretty regularly and sometimes they don't post notices. Also try searching during off-peak hours - some systems are slower during business hours.

Sometimes there's a lag between when filings are submitted and when they show up in the search database. If these are recent filings they might not be indexed yet. Also worth checking if there are any terminated or lapsed filings that might not show up in active searches.

UPDATE: Found the issue! It was the punctuation problem mentioned earlier. The filings were under 'ABC Manufacturing LLC' (no comma) but I was searching for 'ABC Manufacturing, LLC' (with comma). There are actually 3 active UCC-1s on file. Thanks for the help everyone, especially the tip about trying different name variations.

For future searches, I'd recommend keeping a checklist of different name variations to try. I learned this the hard way after missing filings on a big deal. Now I always search: 1) Exact name from charter, 2) Name without punctuation, 3) Name with different abbreviations (LLC vs L.L.C.), 4) Any DBAs they use.

Since you found the existing filings, make sure to check their continuation dates too. You don't want to perfect your lien only to have a senior lien lapse and mess up your priority position.

Just to add one more tip - some states have separate databases for different types of UCC filings. Make sure you're not just searching UCC-1s but also amendments, continuations, and terminations. Sometimes the full picture isn't visible if you're only looking at one filing type.