New York UCC filing fees changed again - anyone else caught off guard?

All electronic through the NY portal. I thought electronic was supposed to be cheaper but maybe I'm looking at the wrong fee table?

Electronic is still cheaper than paper but they raised both. Check the SOS website under 'UCC Fee Schedule' - they have a comparison chart showing old vs new rates.

Ugh that's the worst when you've already quoted clients. Did you end up eating the difference or passing it through?

Passed it through with an explanation. Most clients understood but a couple weren't happy. Now I always add a disclaimer about potential fee changes.

Smart approach. Government fees change without much notice and clients don't always realize we don't control those costs.

Interesting, I hadn't heard of that tool. Does it actually calculate the fees or just verify the documents?

It does both - verifies all your UCC documents match up properly and flags potential fee issues before you submit. Really helpful when you're dealing with multiple state requirements.

California is brutal. And don't get me started on their rejection rates if your debtor name is off by even a character.

Exactly! At least NY is pretty forgiving on debtor name variations. CA will reject for the tiniest discrepancy.

That's why document checking is so critical now. One small mistake and you're paying fees twice plus dealing with lapse issues.

That's really smart. Do you mind sharing what the current NY continuation fee is? Want to make sure I'm looking at the right numbers.

I'd have to double check my sheet when I'm back at the office but I think continuations went up about $5-10 per filing. Not huge but adds up with volume.

Agreed. Most other states at least send out notices or post updates prominently. NY just quietly updates their fee schedules.

Right? And if you're doing volume filing for clients, those surprise costs really add up quickly.

This is why I always check fees right before submitting anything now. Learned that lesson the hard way.

I was specifically talking about continuation statements but you're right - amendment fees probably changed too. Everything seemed to go up.

Yeah all UCC-3 forms got more expensive. Amendments, continuations, terminations - across the board increase.

How long does the document check take? Some of our filings are pretty time sensitive.

Pretty fast - just upload PDFs and it runs through everything in a few minutes. Way faster than manually cross-checking documents.

That sounds really useful for high-volume practices. Manual document review takes forever.

No inside info but wouldn't surprise me. State budgets are tight and filing fees are easy revenue.

That's what I'm afraid of. Makes it really hard to give clients accurate cost estimates for ongoing secured transaction work.

Good advice. I'm definitely going to start doing that going forward. This caught me completely off guard.

Same here. Adding 'subject to change' language to all our engagement letters now.

Smart move. Clients appreciate transparency about costs that are outside your control.

Glad this was helpful! I was kicking myself for not staying on top of the changes but sounds like I'm not alone.

We all get caught by these surprise updates. The important thing is adjusting going forward and maybe building in some protection against future changes.