Montana UCC search results showing weird discrepancies - anyone else seeing this?

Good point about entity type. This is a LLC so I've been searching under organization. Should I also run an individual search for the members?

Depends on your collateral and the loan structure. If it's equipment tied to the LLC specifically, the organizational search should be sufficient. But if there are personal guarantees involved, you might want to check the individual members too.

Thanks for the number! I'll give them a call tomorrow morning. Did they charge you anything for the phone verification?

No charge for basic verification, but if you need certified copies or detailed reports they'll charge fees. Just asking if a filing exists should be free.

Be prepared for long hold times though. Montana SOS phone lines are always backed up.

Never heard of that service. Does it actually search the databases or just verify documents you already have?

It verifies the documents you upload. So you'd run your Montana search, download the results, then upload them to check for inconsistencies. It caught a debtor name mismatch on a filing that I would have missed otherwise.

How accurate is their name matching? Some of these databases have such weird formatting quirks.

I left the date fields blank which should give me everything active. The filing that disappeared was from 2019 so it should definitely show up in an unlimited search.

Try setting specific date ranges like 2015-2025 instead of leaving it blank. Sometimes their system interprets blank fields differently than you'd expect.

I feel your pain. At least it's not as bad as Wyoming's system though. That one makes Montana look modern.

Don't even get me started on Wyoming! I spent 2 hours trying to do a simple search there last month.

Have you guys tried using the mobile version? Sometimes it works better than the desktop site for some reason.

That's a good thought. The original filing I'm looking for was pretty straightforward equipment collateral. How would I check for amendments without the original filing number?

You might need to do a broader search and manually review each filing. Look for any UCC-3 forms that reference the debtor, even if they don't show the original UCC-1.

Oh wow, I hadn't thought of that. How do you search for name changes in Montana?

You'd need to check the Secretary of State's business entity database separately. Look up the LLC and see if there's any history of name changes or amendments to their articles.

This is why entity due diligence is so important. Can't just rely on the UCC search alone.

That's actually really smart. I'll try that tomorrow from my home computer.

Clear your browser cache too. Sometimes that helps with the Montana site.

How long does that usually take? My client wants to close next week.

In Montana they usually turn around certified searches in 2-3 business days if you pay for expedited service. Might be worth it for this deal size.

Agree with this approach. Online searches are fine for preliminary due diligence but for closing you want the official certified results.

How long did it take to get results from their system?

Pretty much instant. You just upload your search result PDFs and it analyzes them right away. Found the issue within minutes of uploading.

Will do! Planning to call the SOS office first thing tomorrow and also try some of the other suggestions from this thread.

Same here, following this thread. Montana is one of my regular states and any insights would be helpful.