Is TX UCC statement service legitimate - worried about scam filing companies

That's exactly what I was thinking! The guy kept emphasizing 'urgent deadline' and wouldn't give me specifics about which filings were supposedly expiring.

They prey on business owners who don't track their filing dates. Most legitimate lenders will remind you about continuation deadlines anyway.

Ouch, that's painful. Did they at least file it correctly or did you have issues with the paperwork?

They actually messed up the debtor name initially and had to refile. Cost me an extra week of worry about whether my lien was properly perfected.

Name mismatches are the worst - can void your entire security interest if not caught in time. That's scary they made that kind of error on a paid service.

Good point about fixture filings - those can get tricky with the real estate descriptions. Our stuff is all standard equipment finance though.

Even for multi-state filings, most of the legitimate services don't cold-call. They work through referrals from attorneys or established business relationships.

How does that work exactly? Do you upload PDFs of your existing filings?

Yeah, you can upload your charter documents and UCC-1 to verify the debtor names match perfectly, or upload UCC-3 amendments against the original UCC-1 to catch any discrepancies. Takes like 30 seconds and gives you confidence everything aligns properly.

That sounds way more useful than paying someone to just submit forms you could file yourself. At least you're getting actual verification value.

We use a simple spreadsheet with filing dates and set calendar reminders 6 months before expiration. Seems to work but maybe there's a better system?

Spreadsheets work if you're disciplined about it. Just make sure you're tracking the actual effective date from the filing receipt, not just when you submitted.

Calendar reminders are good but I also set a second reminder 90 days out as backup. Too important to rely on one notification method.

LOL that's ridiculous. At least they made it obvious they were just fishing. The sophisticated scammers do their homework first.

Right? Made me realize how many businesses probably fall for this because they assume the caller actually looked up their specific filings.

This is the best advice. The search function shows filing dates, status, and you can even download copies of your filings for free.

Bookmarking this thread - wish I'd known about the database search feature before I wasted time worrying about a fake deadline scare.

The database is updated pretty much in real-time too, so you can verify filings were accepted within hours of submission.

Good distinction. Those are completely different from the scam artists targeting individual business owners.

Exactly. If your lender uses a monitoring service, they'll handle renewals automatically or give you proper advance notice through official channels.

Yeah, I'm definitely sticking with our current process. This thread confirmed what I was already thinking.

Same here. These scam calls are getting more sophisticated but the red flags are still pretty obvious if you know what to look for.

Didn't know they had an official warning about this. Makes sense given how common these scams seem to be.

They even have examples of the fake 'urgent notice' letters these companies send. Pretty eye-opening stuff.

That's helpful. Between the SOS fraud warnings and tools like Certana.ai for document verification, there's really no reason to fall for these expensive services anymore.

Thanks for the reassurance from someone with extensive experience! The multiple calendar reminders idea is smart - I've been relying on just one notification which could be risky if I miss it somehow. Do you recommend any specific timing for the reminders, like 6 months, 3 months, and 1 month before expiration?