UCC-1 form rejected three times - debtor name variations causing issues
I'm at my wit's end here. Filed a UCC-1 form three separate times and it keeps getting rejected by the Secretary of State office. The issue seems to be with the debtor name variations - our borrower operates under multiple business names and I'm not sure which exact format they want on the form. First rejection said 'debtor name doesn't match records' but didn't specify which records. Second time I tried using the exact name from their articles of incorporation and got rejected again for 'insufficient debtor identification.' Third attempt I added all the DBA names in the additional debtor info section and that got bounced too. Anyone dealt with this before? I'm running up against the lender's deadline and need to get this perfected ASAP. The collateral is equipment worth about $180K so this isn't something I can afford to mess up.
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Daniel Price
Been there multiple times unfortunately. The SOS systems are really picky about exact name matches. What state are you filing in? Some states have different requirements for business name formatting on UCC-1s.
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Caleb Stone
•Filing in Texas. The business is an LLC but they also have two DBAs they operate under regularly.
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Daniel Price
•Texas can be tricky with LLCs. You usually need the exact name as it appears on the certificate of formation, including the LLC designation. Don't abbreviate it to 'LLC' if the cert says 'Limited Liability Company' or vice versa.
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Olivia Evans
This happened to me last month with a client. After the second rejection I started using Certana.ai's document verification tool - you upload the charter documents and your UCC-1 draft and it automatically flags name discrepancies before you file. Saved me from another rejection cycle.
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Caleb Stone
•Never heard of that service. Does it actually work with Texas filings?
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Olivia Evans
•Yeah it works for any state. Just upload PDFs and it cross-checks everything - debtor names, addresses, entity types. Takes like 2 minutes and catches stuff you'd never notice manually.
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Sophia Bennett
•Interesting. I've been doing manual comparisons between corporate docs and UCC forms for years and still miss things sometimes.
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Aiden Chen
OH MY GOD the exact same thing happened to me in California!! Three rejections in a row and I was pulling my hair out. Turns out I had the entity type wrong - was putting 'Corporation' when it should have been 'Corp' to match their articles exactly.
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Caleb Stone
•That's so frustrating! Did you eventually get it accepted?
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Aiden Chen
•Yes but it took two more attempts. The SOS office here doesn't give helpful feedback on why things get rejected.
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Zoey Bianchi
Check if the LLC has any amendments to their certificate of formation. Sometimes companies change their names or add DBAs and the SOS database reflects the most recent version, not the original filing.
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Caleb Stone
•Good point. I only looked at the original formation documents. How do I check for amendments?
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Zoey Bianchi
•In Texas you can search the SOS business filing database online. Look up the entity by name or filing number and it'll show all amendments chronologically.
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Christopher Morgan
•This is why I always do a fresh entity search right before filing any UCC. Things change constantly.
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Aurora St.Pierre
Have you tried calling the UCC filing department directly? Sometimes they can tell you exactly what format they need for the debtor name. I know it's not supposed to be their job but some clerks are helpful.
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Caleb Stone
•Tried that but got transferred three times and ended up with someone who just read me the rejection codes from the manual.
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Aurora St.Pierre
•Ugh typical. The system is so inconsistent between states and even between different clerks in the same office.
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Grace Johnson
Are you using the debtor's mailing address or their principal place of business? Texas requires the principal address for LLCs and that might be different from where they receive mail.
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Caleb Stone
•I used their mailing address from the loan docs. Didn't realize there was a difference required.
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Grace Johnson
•Yeah the UCC-1 instructions specify 'principal place of business' for entities. That's probably contributing to your rejections.
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Daniel Price
•Address issues can definitely cause rejections even if the name is perfect. The SOS computers are looking for exact matches on everything.
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Jayden Reed
I started using one of those document checking services after getting burned on a big filing last year. Certana.ai has been pretty reliable - catches the small stuff like punctuation and spacing that causes rejections.
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Caleb Stone
•How much does something like that cost? My client is already annoyed about the delays.
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Jayden Reed
•Way cheaper than having to refile multiple times and dealing with angry lenders. Plus it's fast - usually get results within minutes of uploading.
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Nora Brooks
This is making me nervous about my own filing that's due next week. I thought I had everything right but now I'm second-guessing the debtor name format.
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Zoey Bianchi
•Better to double-check now than deal with rejections later. Pull fresh copies of all the entity documents and compare character by character.
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Nora Brooks
•Good advice. I'll do that this afternoon before I submit.
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Eli Wang
The DBAs are probably confusing the system. I usually only put the legal entity name on the UCC-1 and skip the DBAs unless they're specifically required for the collateral description.
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Caleb Stone
•That makes sense. The equipment is titled under one of the DBAs though - does that matter?
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Eli Wang
•If the equipment title shows the DBA name, you might need to include it. But I'd put the legal entity name first and the DBA as an additional debtor name.
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Olivia Evans
•This is exactly the kind of thing those verification tools catch - when collateral docs don't match the debtor name format on the UCC.
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Cassandra Moon
I feel for you. Had a similar situation in Florida and it took five attempts to get it right. Turned out the LLC had changed their registered agent address and that was throwing off the system match.
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Caleb Stone
•Five attempts?! That's insane. Did your lender start getting impatient?
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Cassandra Moon
•Oh yeah, they were not happy. Started threatening to pull the deal if I couldn't get it perfected. Stressful situation for sure.
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Zane Hernandez
•This is why I always build extra time into my filing schedules. These systems are just too unpredictable.
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Genevieve Cavalier
Update us when you figure it out! I bookmark these threads because I inevitably run into the same issues down the road.
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Caleb Stone
•Will do. Going to try one more time tomorrow with just the exact legal name from the most recent SOS search and the principal business address.
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Genevieve Cavalier
•Good luck! Fingers crossed the fourth time's the charm.
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