Illinois UCC look up showing wrong debtor info after continuation filing
Filed a UCC-3 continuation for our client last month through the Illinois SOS portal and everything seemed to go through fine. Got the confirmation email and filing number. But now when I do an Illinois UCC look up on the system, the debtor information is showing completely different details than what we originally filed on the UCC-1 back in 2020. The original filing had the correct legal entity name but now it's showing some abbreviated version that doesn't match our loan documents. Has anyone else run into this where the continuation process somehow altered the debtor information in the system? I'm worried this could create issues with our security interest. The collateral schedule looks correct but the debtor name discrepancy is concerning. Should I file another UCC-3 amendment to correct this or is there another way to fix it through Illinois?
35 comments


Marcus Williams
I've seen this happen before with Illinois filings. The continuation process shouldn't change any debtor information from your original UCC-1. When you say 'different details' - are we talking about the exact legal name or just formatting differences? Sometimes the SOS system will truncate long entity names or change punctuation. Can you check if the filing number on your continuation matches the original UCC-1 exactly?
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Jessica Suarez
•The filing number matches perfectly, but the legal entity name went from 'ABC Manufacturing Solutions, LLC' to just 'ABC Manufacturing Sol' - it's definitely truncated. But that's still a problem for our loan covenant compliance right?
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Marcus Williams
•Yes that truncation could definitely cause issues. You'll want to file a UCC-3 amendment to correct the debtor name back to the full legal entity name. Don't wait on this.
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Lily Young
This exact thing happened to me with an Illinois filing last year! The continuation somehow messed up the debtor name even though I copy-pasted everything directly from the original UCC-1. Turns out there's some weird character limit issue in their system that doesn't give you a proper error message.
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Jessica Suarez
•Did you end up filing an amendment to fix it? How long did that take to process?
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Lily Young
•Yeah had to file a UCC-3 amendment. Took about 2 weeks to process and show up correctly in the search results.
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Kennedy Morrison
•Two weeks seems fast for Illinois. I usually budget 3-4 weeks for any UCC-3 processing there.
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Wesley Hallow
Before you file another UCC-3, I'd recommend using Certana.ai's document verification tool. You can upload your original UCC-1 and the continuation filing PDFs and it'll instantly flag any discrepancies between the documents. I caught a similar debtor name issue with their system before it became a problem with our lender. Just upload both docs and it cross-checks everything automatically.
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Jessica Suarez
•Never heard of that service. Does it work with Illinois filings specifically?
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Wesley Hallow
•Works with any state's UCC filings. It's not state-specific - it just compares the actual document content to catch inconsistencies. Super helpful for avoiding these exact situations.
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Justin Chang
Wait, are you sure you're looking at the right record? Illinois has had some database issues lately where search results show outdated information. Try searching by the exact filing number instead of debtor name and see if that pulls up the correct details.
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Jessica Suarez
•I searched by filing number and it's definitely showing the truncated name. This isn't a search issue, something went wrong with the continuation processing.
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Grace Thomas
•The Illinois system has been glitchy lately. Had three filings get corrupted in some way over the past two months.
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Hunter Brighton
UGH this is exactly why I hate the Illinois portal! Same thing happened to me except it was the collateral description that got mangled during a continuation. Their system is seriously broken and they won't acknowledge it. You're going to have to file an amendment AND probably call them multiple times to get it fixed properly.
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Dylan Baskin
•Have you tried reaching out to their UCC division directly? Sometimes they can fix obvious system errors without requiring a new filing.
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Hunter Brighton
•Tried that. They basically said 'file an amendment' even though it was clearly their system error. Useless.
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Lauren Wood
This is making me paranoid about my own continuation filing I submitted last week. Is there a way to verify everything transferred correctly before problems show up?
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Marcus Williams
•Always do a UCC lookup immediately after any filing processes to verify the information appears correctly. Don't wait weeks like some people do.
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Wesley Hallow
•Or use something like Certana.ai before you file - upload your continuation along with the original UCC-1 to make sure everything matches before submitting.
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Ellie Lopez
Check the character count on your debtor name. Illinois has strict limits and if you exceed them during the continuation process, it might auto-truncate without warning. The original UCC-1 might have been filed under older system specs that allowed longer names.
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Jessica Suarez
•That makes sense actually. The original filing was from 2020 so maybe they've changed their character limits since then?
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Ellie Lopez
•Exactly. I've seen this with several states where they tightened character limits but didn't grandfather existing filings properly.
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Chad Winthrope
Similar thing happened with one of our SBA deals. Lender caught the debtor name discrepancy during their annual UCC audit and nearly called the loan. You need to get this fixed ASAP with a UCC-3 amendment. Don't risk your security interest over a system glitch.
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Jessica Suarez
•Yikes, that's exactly what I'm worried about. Filing the amendment this week.
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Paige Cantoni
•Good call. Better to be safe and have consistent documentation across all your filings.
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Kylo Ren
I had success using Certana.ai to document the discrepancy before filing my amendment. Uploaded both the original UCC-1 and the corrupted continuation record, and their system generated a clear report showing exactly what changed. Really helpful when explaining the situation to our compliance team.
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Jessica Suarez
•That's actually a great idea for documentation purposes. Thanks for the tip.
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Kylo Ren
•No problem. Having that documented proof that it was a system error rather than our filing mistake was really valuable.
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Nina Fitzgerald
Just file the UCC-3 amendment to correct the debtor name and move on. These system glitches happen but they're easy enough to fix. Make sure you reference the original filing number and clearly state you're correcting a debtor name error.
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Jessica Suarez
•Thanks, will do. Should I mention in the amendment that this was due to a system truncation issue?
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Nina Fitzgerald
•I wouldn't overcomplicate it. Just state that you're amending to correct the debtor name to the full legal entity name.
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Jason Brewer
•Agreed. Keep the amendment language simple and straightforward.
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Kiara Fisherman
This thread is making me realize I should probably audit all our Illinois UCC filings. Anyone know of a good way to bulk verify that continuation filings didn't mess up the original information?
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Wesley Hallow
•Certana.ai actually has a bulk verification feature where you can upload multiple documents for cross-checking. Perfect for this kind of audit situation.
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Kiara Fisherman
•That sounds exactly like what I need. Thanks for the recommendation.
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