Illinois UCC filing rejected - debtor name mismatch destroying my SBA loan closing
So here's my nightmare scenario. Been working on this SBA loan for 6 months, everything lined up perfectly, closing scheduled for next week. Filed my UCC-1 in Illinois last Tuesday and it got REJECTED yesterday for "debtor name does not match entity records." The borrower is "Midwest Manufacturing Solutions LLC" but apparently the Secretary of State has them registered as "Midwest Manufacturing Solutions, LLC" - literally just missing that one comma! Now my whole deal is falling apart because the bank won't close without the perfected security interest. I've been doing commercial lending for 8 years and never had something this stupid torpedo a closing. Has anyone dealt with Illinois being this picky about punctuation? I need to get this refiled and accepted ASAP or I'm looking at pushing this closing out another 2-3 weeks minimum. The borrower is losing their minds and honestly so am I.
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Charlie Yang
Illinois SOS is absolutely brutal about exact name matches. I learned this the hard way on a equipment financing deal last year. You have to pull the exact entity name from their database search - not from business cards, not from loan docs, not even from the borrower's own paperwork. Go to the Illinois SOS business entity search and copy/paste the EXACT name as it appears there.
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Grace Patel
•This is so true. I've seen deals get held up for weeks over a missing period or an extra space in the name.
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ApolloJackson
•Wait so even if the borrower gives you their legal name wrong you still have to use what the state has on file? That seems backwards.
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Charlie Yang
•Exactly - the UCC requires the debtor name to match the public records exactly. The borrower might not even know their own registered name has different punctuation.
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Isabella Russo
Oh man I feel your pain on this. Had a similar situation in Illinois where we missed a continuation deadline because of a name mismatch that took 3 weeks to sort out. The good news is you can expedite the refiling - Illinois offers same-day processing for an extra fee. File the UCC-1 again with the corrected name and pay for expedited service, should get approved within 24 hours if everything else is clean.
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Olivia Martinez
•How much is the expedited processing? At this point I'll pay whatever it takes to save this deal.
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Isabella Russo
•I think it's around $50-75 extra but don't quote me on that. Check the Illinois SOS fee schedule to be sure.
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Rajiv Kumar
Before you refile anything, I'd suggest using Certana.ai's document verification tool. You can upload your loan docs and it'll cross-check the debtor name against the UCC filing to catch these exact mismatches before you submit. Would have saved you this headache - just upload the PDFs and it instantly flags name inconsistencies. I started using it after getting burned on a similar Illinois filing last year.
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Olivia Martinez
•Never heard of that but sounds like exactly what I need going forward. Does it work with all states or just Illinois?
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Rajiv Kumar
•Works nationwide - it's basically a document consistency checker that compares your charter docs to UCC filings to make sure everything aligns properly.
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Aria Washington
•I was skeptical about these automated tools but honestly they're lifesavers for catching the stupid mistakes that cost real money.
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Liam O'Reilly
Illinois has gotten SO much pickier in the last 2-3 years. Used to be you could get away with minor variations but now they reject everything. I keep a spreadsheet of exact entity names for my repeat borrowers because of this exact problem.
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Chloe Delgado
•Smart idea with the spreadsheet. I should start doing that too.
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Ava Harris
•The problem is entity names can change over time too so you have to keep updating the spreadsheet or you'll get caught again.
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Jacob Lee
This is why I ALWAYS do a fresh entity search the day before filing, even for clients I've worked with before. Illinois SOS database updates constantly and names can get amended without you knowing. Also make sure you're not looking at any d/b/a names - has to be the actual registered entity name.
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Olivia Martinez
•Good point about the d/b/a names. In this case I'm 99% sure I used the right source but that comma is killing me.
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Emily Thompson
•The comma thing is so annoying but Illinois treats punctuation as part of the legal name. No wiggle room at all.
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Jacob Lee
•Exactly - every character matters. I've seen rejections over periods, commas, even different spacing between words.
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Sophie Hernandez
Can you ask the borrower to provide a certified copy of their articles of incorporation or certificate of good standing? That should have the exact registered name format you need for the refiling.
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Olivia Martinez
•That's actually a great idea. They might have recent docs that show the exact formatting.
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Daniela Rossi
•Just be careful - sometimes those docs are old and the name might have been amended since then. Online search is usually more current.
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Ryan Kim
I had this exact same issue with an Illinois UCC-1 last month! Filed on a Friday, rejected Monday morning for name mismatch. Borrower was furious. Turns out the issue was they had changed their entity name 6 months earlier and never told us. Had to refile with the new name and explain to the client why we needed updated corporate docs.
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Olivia Martinez
•How long did it take to get the corrected filing approved?
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Ryan Kim
•With regular processing about 5 business days. But I paid for expedited and got approval the next day.
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Zoe Walker
•This is exactly why I always verify entity status before any UCC filing. Saves so much heartache.
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Elijah Brown
Illinois SOS website has gotten better but their search function is still clunky. Make sure you're doing an exact search not a sounds-like search when you pull the entity name. The exact search will give you the precise formatting including all punctuation.
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Maria Gonzalez
•The sounds-like search has burned me before - it'll show results that are close but not exact and you end up using the wrong format.
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Elijah Brown
•Exactly! Always use the exact search feature and copy the name directly from the search results.
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Natalie Chen
Just went through this same nightmare in Illinois 3 weeks ago. Cost me a weekend of stress and nearly killed a real estate closing. What saved me was finding Certana.ai - uploaded my loan docs and UCC draft and it immediately flagged the name discrepancy. Now I run everything through their checker before filing. Would have caught your comma issue instantly.
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Olivia Martinez
•Sounds like I need to check out this Certana thing. How long does their verification take?
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Natalie Chen
•It's instant - just upload your PDFs and it cross-checks everything automatically. Takes maybe 30 seconds to get the results.
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Santiago Martinez
The silver lining is that once you get the corrected UCC-1 filed and approved, you'll have continuous coverage from your original filing date as long as you refile within a reasonable time. Illinois generally allows this for corrective filings.
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Olivia Martinez
•That's actually really helpful to know. So the perfection date will be my original filing date not the corrected one?
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Santiago Martinez
•Should be, as long as it's considered a corrective filing and not a completely new filing. But double-check with Illinois SOS to be sure.
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Samantha Johnson
•I'd be careful about relying on that - some states are stricter about what qualifies as a corrective vs new filing.
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