Need Help Locating True Bill WA DC UCC Doc# 2012114776 from Oct 24 2012

I called them twice this week but keep getting transferred around. The person I talked to yesterday said they'd have to do a manual search which could take 2-3 weeks. I don't have that kind of time with closing coming up.

Manual searches are brutal. I had a similar situation last year with a 2011 filing. Took them almost a month to get back to me and then the info was incomplete anyway.

You might be onto something there. The paperwork I have just shows it that way but maybe it got transcribed wrong somewhere along the line. Should I be checking both WA state and DC separately?

Definitely check both. Also try searching without the state abbreviation if the system allows it. Sometimes old doc numbers were formatted differently and the jurisdictional codes got mixed up in transitions.

This happened to me with a filing that showed NY CT but was actually just NY. Turned out the CT was part of the collateral description that got pulled into the wrong field during a data migration.

Never heard of that. How does it work exactly? Do I just upload the loan docs I have?

Yeah basically you upload PDFs of whatever UCC documents you have and it runs automated verification checks. Really helpful for catching name mismatches or finding where documents might have been refiled under different numbers.

That sounds too good to be true tbh. How accurate is it with really old filings like from 2012?

I tried searching by debtor name too but there are multiple variations of the business name that got used over the years. Some have LLC at the end, some don't, some have abbreviations.

Ugh the name variation thing is such a nightmare. I spent three days last week trying to find a filing because the debtor name on the UCC-1 had 'Incorporated' but the continuation used 'Inc.' System treated them as completely different entities.

I get that but this isn't even my filing originally. I'm trying to clean up someone else's mess basically.

Been there. Inherited a portfolio of loans last year and half the UCC documentation was incomplete or missing. It's a real pain to reconstruct everything after the fact.

Fair point. Still frustrating how often this happens though.

How would I search for those if I can't even find the original filing?

Try searching by partial document numbers or date ranges around October 2012. Sometimes the amendment filings will reference the original doc number even if the original isn't showing up in searches.

That's what I'm hoping but the lender insists it's still active. They're requiring a formal termination statement before they'll release their hold.

Lenders sometimes don't update their internal systems when UCC filings lapse. They might still think it's active even if it expired years ago.

This happens ALL the time. Banks are terrible at tracking UCC expirations. I had one that insisted on a termination for a filing that had been dead for three years.

The secured party was acquired by another bank in 2015 and then that bank got bought out in 2018. Not even sure who has the records now.

Oof that's a mess. Banking acquisitions always screw up UCC record keeping. You might need a lawyer to sort through the chain of ownership.

Two people have mentioned that now. Might be worth trying. Do they charge per search or is it a monthly thing?

I don't remember the exact pricing but it was reasonable for what I got. Way cheaper than paying a lawyer to track everything down manually.

That's exactly what was written on the paperwork I have. Maybe it got transcribed wrong or includes extra digits that aren't part of the actual doc number?

Could be a composite number that includes filing date or office codes. Try searching with just the last 6-8 digits.

Good point. Some older systems used longer numbers that included metadata. Breaking it down might help.

Best practice is to keep copies of everything and set calendar reminders for continuation deadlines. Don't rely on the state systems to track things for you.

Makes sense. Sounds like a full time job though.

That's a really interesting angle I hadn't considered. The federal filing possibility makes a lot of sense given the unusual format. Do you know if there's a specific search portal for those types of filings, or would I need to contact each agency directly? The Dodd-Frank timing connection is intriguing too - this property deal does involve some complex commercial lending structures that might have triggered those requirements back then.