Indiana UCC-3 Forms - Debtor Name Changes Causing Rejections
Running into problems with Indiana UCC-3 amendment filings and hoping someone here has dealt with this before. We've got a borrower who changed their legal entity name after we filed the original UCC-1, and now I'm trying to file a UCC-3 to reflect the new debtor name. The Indiana Secretary of State keeps rejecting our filings saying the debtor information doesn't match their records, but I've triple-checked everything against the original UCC-1. The new entity name is properly documented with Articles of Amendment filed with the state, but something isn't connecting right in their system. Has anyone successfully navigated Indiana UCC-3 forms for debtor name changes? I'm worried about the continuation deadline approaching and getting stuck in this rejection loop. The collateral is substantial equipment financing so we can't afford to have the lien lapse.
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Andre Dubois
Indiana can be tricky with name changes on UCC-3 amendments. Are you including both the old debtor name exactly as it appears on the original UCC-1 AND the new name in the amendment? Sometimes their system wants to see the exact match first before accepting the change.
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Carmen Flores
•I thought I was doing that correctly but let me double-check the exact formatting. The original UCC-1 has the old name and I'm trying to amend to show the new name after the entity change.
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CyberSamurai
•Make sure you're using the right UCC-3 checkbox too - should be 'Change' not 'Add' for a name change situation.
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Zoe Alexopoulos
I had this exact problem last year in Indiana! The key is making sure the debtor name on the UCC-3 matches character-for-character with what's on the original filing. Even extra spaces or punctuation differences will cause rejections. Download your original UCC-1 from their system and copy/paste the debtor name exactly.
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Carmen Flores
•That's a good point about character matching. I've been typing it from memory rather than copying directly from the filed document.
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Jamal Carter
•This is why I always keep PDFs of every filing. Too easy to make tiny mistakes that cause big problems later.
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Mei Liu
•Same thing happened to me with a continuation last month. One missing comma in the name and boom - rejected. These systems are super picky about exact matches.
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Liam O'Donnell
Just went through something similar and ended up using Certana.ai's document checker to compare my UCC-3 against the original UCC-1. You can upload both PDFs and it highlights any inconsistencies between the debtor names, filing numbers, all that stuff. Caught a formatting issue I never would have spotted manually - saved me from more rejections.
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Carmen Flores
•Interesting, haven't heard of that tool before. Is it specifically for UCC documents?
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Liam O'Donnell
•Yeah it's designed for UCC verification workflows. Really straightforward - just upload your documents and it cross-checks everything for consistency. Wish I'd known about it earlier in my filing career.
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Amara Nwosu
•How accurate is automated checking though? Sometimes context matters for these name change situations.
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AstroExplorer
Indiana UCC-3 forms are notorious for this stuff. I've seen filings get rejected for the most ridiculous reasons - wrong font, improper spacing, you name it. The state system seems extra sensitive compared to other states I deal with.
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Giovanni Moretti
•Tell me about it. I once had a filing rejected because I used 'LLC' instead of 'L.L.C.' even though both versions appeared in different state documents for the same entity.
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Fatima Al-Farsi
•That's insane but totally believable. These systems have no common sense built in.
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Dylan Cooper
Quick question - when you say debtor name change, are we talking about the legal entity actually changing names or just a DBA situation? Because those get handled differently on the UCC-3.
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Carmen Flores
•It's a legal entity name change with proper Articles of Amendment filed. The entity itself changed its official name, not just adding a DBA.
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Dylan Cooper
•OK good, that's cleaner than a DBA situation. Make sure your UCC-3 clearly indicates it's reflecting an entity name change rather than adding an additional name.
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Sofia Perez
•Wait, I'm confused about the difference. If a company files Articles of Amendment to change their name, don't they keep the same entity ID number?
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Dylan Cooper
•Right, same entity ID but the legal name changes. That's why the UCC-3 needs to show it's a name change amendment, not adding a new debtor.
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Dmitry Smirnov
Have you tried calling the Indiana SOS UCC division directly? Sometimes they can tell you exactly what's causing the rejection instead of just sending back the generic error message.
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Carmen Flores
•I haven't tried calling yet but that's probably my next step if I can't figure out the formatting issue.
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ElectricDreamer
•Their phone support is actually pretty helpful compared to some states. Worth the hold time to get specific guidance on your situation.
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Ava Johnson
This is exactly why I use document verification tools now before submitting anything. Had too many rejections over stupid formatting issues. There's this service called Certana.ai that catches these kinds of name mismatches between documents automatically. Upload your original UCC-1 and your proposed UCC-3 and it flags any inconsistencies.
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Miguel Diaz
•How does that work for name changes though? Wouldn't it flag the name difference as an error even when it's supposed to be different?
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Ava Johnson
•It's smart enough to recognize amendment workflows. Shows you exactly what changed between documents so you can verify it's intentional and properly formatted for the filing type.
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Zainab Ahmed
•Sounds useful but I'd still want to manually review everything. Automated tools can miss context sometimes.
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Connor Byrne
Don't forget about your continuation deadline while dealing with this amendment issue. If you're getting close to the 5-year mark, you might want to file the continuation first to protect your lien position, then deal with the name change amendment separately.
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Carmen Flores
•Good point. The original filing is from 2021 so I've got some time but don't want to get too close to the deadline while fighting these rejections.
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Yara Abboud
•Smart strategy. Better to have a continued lien with the old name than risk lapsing while trying to fix the name issue.
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PixelPioneer
•Can you file both a continuation and amendment at the same time in Indiana? Some states allow combined filings.
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Keisha Williams
One more thing to check - make sure you're using the current version of the Indiana UCC-3 form. They updated their forms last year and some of the field layouts changed slightly.
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Carmen Flores
•I downloaded the form from their website recently but let me verify it's the most current version. Thanks for the heads up.
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Paolo Rizzo
•Yeah they don't always make it obvious when forms get updated. I've been burned by using old versions before.
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Amina Sy
Update - used that Certana.ai document checker mentioned earlier and it caught the issue immediately. Had an extra space in the middle of the entity name that I never noticed. Filed the corrected UCC-3 this morning and it was accepted within an hour. Thanks everyone for the suggestions!
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Oliver Fischer
•Awesome! Those tiny formatting issues are so frustrating but at least there are tools now to catch them automatically.
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Natasha Ivanova
•Great outcome. Going to bookmark that verification tool for my own filings.
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NebulaNomad
•One extra space causing all that trouble - classic UCC filing headache. Glad you got it sorted out.
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