New Mexico Secretary of State UCC search - debtor name variations causing issues?

Totally agree on the name variations. I learned this the hard way when a prior lender had filed under 'ABC Mfg, LLC' with a comma and our search missed it completely.

Wait, does punctuation really matter that much? I thought the systems were smarter about that stuff now.

Unfortunately yes, punctuation absolutely matters. Each state system handles it differently but New Mexico is particularly strict about exact matches.

Interesting, never heard of that tool. How does it work exactly? Does it just suggest variations or actually run the searches?

It analyzes the charter document you upload and creates a list of all possible name variations based on common filing patterns. You still have to run the actual searches yourself but at least you know what to look for. Super helpful for complex entity names.

That sounds really useful. I've been manually creating variation lists but I'm sure I miss some obvious ones.

This is gold, thank you. Do you have any tips for searching foreign entities that are registered to do business in New Mexico? The name matching gets even trickier there.

Foreign entities are definitely tricky. You need to search both their home state name and their New Mexico registered name if they're different. Sometimes they have to add clarifying language when they register.

Also don't forget to check if they've had any name changes in the corporate records. A UCC filing might be under an old name that's still technically valid.

Oh no, that's awful. Apostrophes are definitely one of those things that can get dropped or added depending on who's doing the filing. Did you end up having to restructure the whole deal?

We had to negotiate with the prior lender to subordinate their lien. Took weeks and cost us a lot in legal fees. Now I triple-check everything.

This is exactly why I document every single search I run with screenshots. CYA when something like this happens.

New Mexico follows the standard UCC Article 9 filing rules for debtor names. They don't ignore articles and punctuation matters. The key is that they index exactly as filed, so if someone made a mistake on the original UCC-1, that's how it's searchable.

That's why I always pull the actual charter or articles of incorporation before doing searches. Gets you the exact legal name as registered with the state.

This is really helpful. I think I need to be more systematic about collecting all the corporate docs upfront. Right now I'm just working off what the borrower gives me.

Definitely get them directly from the Secretary of State when possible. Borrowers sometimes have outdated versions or miss amendments that changed the legal name.

Good point about trade name registrations. I've seen UCC filings under DBA names that would never show up in a charter-based search.

Good reminder. This particular deal does involve a parent company guarantee so I should probably search them too.

And don't forget to check if there are any pending name changes in the corporate records. Those can affect UCC filings too.

I might need to look into that. Manual searching is taking forever and I'm always worried I'm missing something.

Same here. The time saved alone would probably justify it, not to mention the peace of mind.

That's a great point. Priority can definitely get complicated when there are multiple filings with name variations.

Also check for any amendments or assignments that might affect those priorities. The UCC search is just the starting point.

Better to over-search than under-search. The cost of missing a filing is way higher than the time spent on extra searches.

Exactly. I'd rather run 20 searches and find nothing than run 3 searches and miss something important.

This is why I always budget extra time for UCC due diligence. It's too important to rush.