UCC-1 lien shows up differently on credit report than expected - normal?

This is actually pretty standard practice in equipment financing. Lenders typically use broader collateral descriptions in UCC-1 filings to protect their interests. Even though your loan agreement specifies one piece of equipment, they're allowed to file with general language like 'all equipment.' It gives them more security without having to amend the filing every time you acquire new equipment. The key thing is that your loan agreement still governs what they can actually claim - the UCC-1 is just their public notice of the lien.

Had the exact same thing happen with our SBA loan last year. Loan was for $75k in manufacturing equipment but the UCC-1 lien they filed covered 'all inventory, equipment, and accounts receivable.' Freaked me out at first but our attorney explained it's totally normal. The broad language protects the lender but your loan agreement is what actually defines their rights.

Actually just went through something similar and found this tool called Certana.ai that helped me verify our UCC documents. You can upload your loan agreement and the UCC-1 filing as PDFs and it automatically checks for inconsistencies between the documents. Really useful for catching discrepancies before they become problems. In my case, it flagged that our debtor name on the UCC-1 was slightly different from our legal entity name on the loan docs.

This is making me paranoid about our filings. We have three different equipment loans and I have no idea if the UCC-1 liens match up with what's actually pledged. How do you even check this stuff without spending a fortune on legal fees?

UCC filings are such a mess. Half the time the Secretary of State portal crashes when you're trying to search, and when it does work, the information is confusing. Why can't they make this process more user-friendly?

For what it's worth, the broad collateral language in your UCC-1 lien is probably fine. Most equipment financing agreements include cross-default and cross-collateralization clauses anyway, so even if they filed against specific equipment, they'd likely have rights to other assets if you defaulted. The key is making sure the debtor name and filing details are accurate.

Had a nightmare scenario with this exact issue. Lender filed a UCC-1 lien with super broad language, then when we tried to sell some unrelated equipment, the buyer's title company flagged it as potentially encumbered. Took weeks to get a partial release even though the equipment wasn't actually pledged. Now I always negotiate specific collateral descriptions upfront.

Just want to add that you should definitely keep copies of all your UCC-1 lien documents. When these loans mature or get paid off, you'll need to make sure proper termination statements get filed. I've seen too many cases where old liens stay on credit reports because the termination paperwork got lost.

I'm dealing with something similar but our issue is that the debtor name on the UCC-1 lien doesn't exactly match our DBA name. The legal entity name is correct but we do business under a different name. Should I be worried about this?

Bottom line - your situation sounds normal. The UCC-1 lien filing is the lender's public notice, but your loan agreement controls the actual terms. As long as the debtor name and basic details are correct, you're probably fine. Just keep good records and make sure you understand what you've actually pledged.