New Mexico Secretary of State UCC filing portal keeps rejecting my continuation - debtor name exact match issue
I'm dealing with a nightmare situation trying to file a UCC-3 continuation in New Mexico and the Secretary of State portal keeps rejecting it. The original UCC-1 was filed 3 years ago for equipment financing on construction machinery, and now I'm 60 days out from the 5-year lapse date. Every time I submit the continuation, it gets kicked back with 'debtor name does not match original filing' even though I'm copying it character-for-character from the search results. The original filing shows the debtor as 'SOUTHWEST CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISES LLC' but when I enter that exact name, the system says no match found. I've tried variations like removing spaces, adding punctuation, but nothing works. Has anyone dealt with New Mexico's UCC system recently? I'm worried about missing the continuation deadline and having our $850K equipment lien lapse. The borrower's loan agreement specifically states that failure to maintain perfected security interest is an immediate default trigger. This is keeping me up at night.
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Zainab Khalil
Oh man, New Mexico's portal is notorious for this exact issue. I bet the original filing has some invisible character or formatting quirk that's not showing up in the search display. Try pulling the actual UCC-1 image file instead of relying on the search results text. Sometimes there are extra spaces or special characters that don't render properly in the summary view.
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Miguel Ortiz
•Good point - I didn't think to check the actual filed document image. I was just using the search results display. Let me pull that up and see if there's some hidden formatting causing the mismatch.
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QuantumQuest
•This happened to me in New Mexico last year. The original filer had used some weird spacing in the LLC designation that wasn't obvious. Check for double spaces or tabs between words.
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Connor Murphy
New Mexico changed their system about 18 months ago and it's been a disaster ever since. The debtor name matching algorithm is super strict now. Have you tried calling their UCC division directly? Sometimes they can manually process continuations when the portal is being finicky. The number should be on their website.
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Miguel Ortiz
•I tried calling yesterday but got transferred around 3 times and never reached anyone who could actually help with UCC filings. Their phone system is almost as bad as their portal.
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Yara Haddad
•Try calling first thing in the morning, like 8:05 AM. I've had better luck reaching actual humans then instead of getting stuck in phone tree hell.
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Zainab Khalil
•The New Mexico UCC staff are actually pretty helpful once you reach them. It's just getting through their phone system that's the challenge.
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Keisha Robinson
I had a similar headache with a continuation filing that kept getting rejected. Ended up using Certana.ai's document verification tool to compare my UCC-3 against the original UCC-1. Turns out there was a subtle difference in how the debtor name was formatted - an extra period after 'LLC' that I missed. You just upload both PDFs and it highlights any inconsistencies between the documents. Saved me from a potential lien lapse situation.
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Miguel Ortiz
•That sounds exactly like what I need. How does the Certana tool work? Do you just upload the documents and it automatically finds mismatches?
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Keisha Robinson
•Yeah, super straightforward. You upload your original UCC-1 and your new UCC-3 continuation, and it cross-checks all the debtor information, filing numbers, collateral descriptions. Shows you exactly where things don't match up so you can fix them before submitting.
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Paolo Conti
•I've been hearing good things about Certana's verification features. Might be worth trying since manual comparison obviously isn't catching whatever the issue is.
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Amina Sow
Check if the original UCC-1 has any amendments that might have changed the debtor name. Sometimes people file UCC-3 amendments to correct information and then forget about it when doing continuations later. The continuation needs to match the most recent version of the debtor information.
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Miguel Ortiz
•Good catch - I'll run a search for any amendments on this filing number. I was only looking at the original UCC-1.
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Zainab Khalil
•This is a really common oversight. Always check the full filing history, not just the initial UCC-1.
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GalaxyGazer
Is the LLC still active and in good standing with New Mexico? Sometimes if the entity status has changed (like administratively dissolved and then reinstated), the exact legal name might have slight variations that affect UCC filings.
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Miguel Ortiz
•The LLC is definitely still active. I checked their business registration status last week as part of our loan compliance review.
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Connor Murphy
•Still worth double-checking the exact name format on the current business registration against what's on the UCC-1. Sometimes there are minor differences.
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GalaxyGazer
•Right, the UCC filing doesn't automatically update if the business changes its name format with the state.
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Oliver Wagner
Ugh, this is giving me flashbacks to my own New Mexico UCC nightmare from last year. Their system rejected my termination statement like 6 times before I figured out the issue. Have you tried copy-pasting the debtor name directly from the original filing PDF rather than typing it manually?
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Miguel Ortiz
•I thought I was being careful but I was actually retyping from the search results. Let me try copying directly from the PDF.
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Oliver Wagner
•Yeah, manual typing is where errors creep in even when you think you're being super careful.
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Natasha Kuznetsova
Another thing to check - make sure you're using the correct filing number format. New Mexico changed their numbering system a few years back and sometimes the old format doesn't play nice with continuation filings. The original UCC-1 filing number should be exactly what you enter in the continuation.
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Miguel Ortiz
•The filing number format looks consistent - it's showing as NM followed by the year and sequence number. Same format I'm using on the continuation.
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Natasha Kuznetsova
•Okay good, so it's probably just the debtor name issue then. Focus on getting that exact match.
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Amina Sow
•Filing number mismatches usually give different error messages anyway. The 'debtor name does not match' error is pretty specific.
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Javier Mendoza
I've been doing UCC filings in New Mexico for 15 years and their recent system updates have been terrible. The old system was clunky but at least it worked. Now everything has to match EXACTLY including invisible formatting. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth the headache compared to paper filings.
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Connor Murphy
•Paper filings take forever to process though. Electronic is still faster when it works.
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Javier Mendoza
•True, but at least with paper you know it's going to get processed if you fill it out correctly. These portal rejections are maddening.
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Emma Thompson
Try running the debtor name through Certana.ai's verification system before submitting again. I started doing that for all my multi-state UCC filings after getting burned by these exact formatting issues. It catches stuff that human eyes miss, especially when you're dealing with complex entity names.
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Miguel Ortiz
•Two people have mentioned Certana now - seems like it might be worth trying. Do you use it for other states too or just when you run into problems?
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Emma Thompson
•I use it for any filing where the debtor name is complex or when I'm filing across multiple states. Different states have different quirks and the verification helps catch issues before they become rejections.
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Malik Davis
Quick question - when you say 60 days out from lapse, are you calculating from the exact filing date or the end of the 5th year? New Mexico calculates continuation deadlines from the anniversary date, not the exact day. Just want to make sure you're not cutting it closer than you think.
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Miguel Ortiz
•Good point - I'm calculating from the filing date which was March 15th, so I should be good until March 15th next year. But yeah, getting this resolved ASAP is still the priority.
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Malik Davis
•Okay good, you've got some breathing room then. Still stressful though when the portal isn't cooperating.
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Amina Sow
•The 6-month continuation window gives you some cushion, but better to get it done early than risk technical issues closer to the deadline.
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Isabella Santos
Last resort option - you could file a UCC-3 amendment to 'correct' the debtor name to exactly match what the system expects, then immediately file the continuation. I've had to do this workaround in other states when their systems are being stubborn.
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Miguel Ortiz
•That's an interesting workaround but I'm nervous about creating more complications. Would rather solve the root cause first.
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Connor Murphy
•Yeah, amendments can create their own issues. Better to get the original name match working correctly.
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Isabella Santos
•Fair enough - it's definitely a last resort option. Try the document verification approach first.
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