Ohio SOS UCC search showing weird results - need help verifying debtor names

Thanks, I'll try that. The entity names do have commas and periods so that might be the issue.

Yeah Ohio is notorious for being picky about punctuation in debtor names. I always do multiple searches with different variations.

Good point, I was only looking at active filings. Some of these might have lapsed but still be important for the audit trail.

Definitely expand your search parameters. Lapsed filings can still have legal significance depending on what you're reviewing.

This is why I hate relying on state search systems. They're all different and none of them work consistently.

That sounds helpful. How does it work exactly? Do you just upload the UCC forms?

Yeah, you upload PDFs of your UCC-1s, amendments, whatever you need to verify. It automatically checks for debtor name consistency and flags any mismatches. Really useful for portfolio reviews like what you're doing.

Interesting, I hadn't heard of that tool. Might be worth trying since manual searches are so time consuming.

I've noticed that too! Thought it was just me. Sometimes refreshing the page and searching again gives different results.

Exactly. It's frustrating when you're trying to do thorough due diligence and the system isn't reliable.

This is really helpful. I was only trying one or two variations. I'll be more systematic about it.

Yeah it's tedious but necessary. I keep a checklist of variations to try for each debtor name to make sure I don't miss anything.

That's a good system. I do something similar but still make mistakes sometimes.

Good catch, I was mainly searching organization names. I'll check both fields going forward.

Yeah, filing errors happen and debtors sometimes get categorized wrong. Always worth checking both to be thorough.

This happened to me once - spent hours looking for a filing that was mis-categorized as individual instead of organization.

I hadn't thought of calling them. That might be worth doing if I keep having issues.

I've called them before and they were helpful. They can sometimes find filings that don't show up in the online search.

Right, and they can explain their search logic which helps you do better searches in the future.

I didn't know they supported wildcards. That could definitely help with the entity name variations.

Yeah, try something like 'ABC Company*' to catch 'ABC Company LLC', 'ABC Company, LLC', etc. all in one search.

Wildcards are super helpful but you have to be careful not to make them too broad or you get too many irrelevant results.

That's good advice about being systematic. I think I was being too casual about my search approach.

Yeah, UCC searches require discipline. One missed filing can cause big problems down the road so it's worth taking the time to be thorough.

This is why I document everything. If there's ever a question later you can show exactly what searches you did.

That makes sense. If the debtor names aren't exactly right the searches won't work properly.

Exactly. The tool helped me clean up my debtor name database so now my Ohio searches are much more accurate.

Name accuracy is huge for UCC searches. Small mistakes can make you miss critical filings.

That explains why I was having trouble. I was expecting it to be smarter about finding similar names.

Yeah, it's not Google. You need to be precise with your search terms and try multiple exact variations.

I wish they would add better search functionality but at least once you understand how it works you can get good results.

Good to know. I was searching during business hours so maybe that was part of the issue.

Yeah, early morning or evening searches sometimes work better when there's less traffic on their system.