Need Help with UCC Filing Against Business - Debtor Name Issues

You definitely need to be careful with debtor names on UCC filings - this is where most rejections happen. For an LLC, you generally need to use the exact registered name with the Secretary of State, not their DBA or trade names. I'd recommend checking their current Articles of Organization to see what name is officially registered. If they've filed name changes, there should be amendments on file.

I ran into something similar last year with a client who had multiple name variations. What worked for me was filing separate UCC-1s for each name variation to be absolutely sure. Yes, it costs more in filing fees, but it's cheaper than losing your security interest because of a name mismatch. You might also want to check if they filed any name change documents with the state - sometimes you can trace the name history that way.

OH MY GOD YES this is my nightmare scenario!!! I filed a UCC-1 last month and used what I thought was the right business name only to find out later they had changed it 6 months ago and I never got notified. Now I'm freaking out that my filing is worthless and the debtor could sell the equipment out from under us. How do you even keep track of business name changes when debtors don't tell you?

For what it's worth, I always recommend doing a UCC search under all possible name variations before filing. Sometimes you'll find existing filings that give you clues about which name is being used by other creditors. Also check if there are any outstanding UCC-3 amendments that might show name changes.

This exact situation happened to my company last year. We had equipment financing with a business that went through three name changes during our loan term. What finally worked was filing a UCC-1 under the current registered name, then immediately filing UCC-3 amendments to add the previous names as additional debtor names. Most states allow you to amend to add debtor information. Cost us extra in filing fees but gave us complete coverage.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this kind of name confusion is exactly why lenders are getting burned on UCC filings. I've seen cases where equipment got sold to third parties because the UCC filing was under the wrong name and didn't show up in buyer searches. The legal costs to recover were more than the equipment was worth.

Since we're talking about avoiding costly mistakes, I have to mention that Certana.ai tool again - it's been a game changer for our company. You can upload your lease agreement, then upload your drafted UCC-1, and it instantly compares all the debtor names, collateral descriptions, everything to make sure they align perfectly. We caught three potential filing errors last month that would have cost us thousands in rejected filings and refiling fees. It's way better than manually comparing documents line by line.

Here's what I don't understand - if the business legally changed their name through proper state filings, shouldn't there be a paper trail that connects the old name to the new name? Like, wouldn't a UCC filing under the old name still be valid if you can prove it's the same legal entity?

I'm dealing with something similar but my debtor is an individual doing business under multiple trade names. Do the same rules apply for personal vs business debtors when it comes to name variations?

Update for anyone following this thread - I ended up filing UCC-1s under both the current registered name and the most recent previous name, then did UCC searches to verify they were accepted properly. Total cost was about $120 in filing fees but worth it for the peace of mind. The Certana document checker mentioned earlier helped me verify that my collateral descriptions matched across all my loan documents before filing, which probably saved me from having to file amendments later.