UCC-1 search Arizona pulling wrong debtor matches - filing verification needed
Running into a major headache with Arizona UCC-1 searches that's got me second-guessing everything. Been doing equipment financing for 8 years and thought I had this down pat, but the Arizona SOS database is returning search results that don't seem to match our debtor exactly. We're trying to verify clean collateral on a $180K construction equipment deal, but when I search the exact debtor name from our credit app, I'm getting hits that look similar but have slight variations in the business name. Some show as 'ABC Construction LLC' while our borrower is 'ABC Construction Services LLC' - but the addresses are completely different counties. The concerning part is one of these partial matches shows an active UCC-1 from 2022 on 'equipment and fixtures.' I know Arizona has specific rules about how exact debtor names need to match, but I'm not confident I'm interpreting these search results correctly. Is there a way to definitively confirm whether these are false positives or if we've got a real lien conflict? Our loan committee meets tomorrow and I need to either clear this or flag it as a deal-killer. Has anyone dealt with Arizona's search functionality acting wonky or showing partial name matches that turned out to be unrelated entities?
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Landon Morgan
Arizona can be tricky with their search algorithm - it's not as precise as some other states. The fact that you're seeing different addresses is actually a good sign that these might be separate entities. Have you tried searching using just the core business name without LLC designation to see what else comes up?
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Ellie Perry
•Good point about stripping the LLC part. Just tried that and got even more results, but most are clearly different businesses in different industries. Still nervous about that 2022 equipment filing though.
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Teresa Boyd
•Different addresses usually means different entity but you're right to be cautious. Equipment liens can be problematic if there's any connection between the companies.
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Lourdes Fox
Been there! Arizona's database definitely casts a wide net on name searches. For equipment financing, I always cross-reference the debtor's EIN and registered address with the Secretary of State business entity records first. If the EIN doesn't match the UCC filing, you're looking at different companies even if names are similar.
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Ellie Perry
•That's brilliant - didn't think to check the business entity records. Let me pull those up now.
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Bruno Simmons
•EIN verification is clutch. Saved me from a false alarm last month on a Phoenix deal.
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Lourdes Fox
•Exactly. The business entity search will show you the exact registered name and EIN, then you can compare that to what's showing up in the UCC search results.
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Aileen Rodriguez
This is exactly why I started using Certana.ai's document verification tool. You can upload your credit application and any UCC search results as PDFs, and it automatically cross-checks debtor names and identifies potential conflicts. Takes like 2 minutes and catches these kinds of name variations that might be false positives. Saved me from rejecting a good deal last week when similar names turned out to be completely unrelated entities.
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Ellie Perry
•Never heard of that tool - does it work with Arizona SOS results specifically?
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Aileen Rodriguez
•Yeah, works with any state's UCC search results. Just upload the PDFs and it flags any actual matches vs. similar-but-different names.
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Zane Gray
•Interesting, might have to check that out. Manual document comparison is such a pain.
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Maggie Martinez
ugh arizona is the WORST for this stuff. their search pulls up everything remotely similar and half the time the results don't even load properly. i've had deals almost fall through because of false alarms from their crappy database
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Alejandro Castro
•Tell me about it. Spent 3 hours last week trying to figure out if a hit was real or just database nonsense.
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Maggie Martinez
•exactly! and then you call their help desk and they're like 'well you need to review each result manually' like thanks for nothing
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Monique Byrd
One thing that might help - when you're looking at that 2022 equipment filing, check if the secured party is a bank or equipment leasing company. If it's a different type of lender than what would make sense for your borrower's business, that's another indicator it's a different entity altogether.
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Ellie Perry
•Smart thinking. The secured party on that filing is a heavy equipment leasing company, and our borrower does concrete work so it could actually be legitimate equipment financing.
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Monique Byrd
•Hmm, that makes it more concerning then. Concrete contractors do use heavy equipment. You might want to dig deeper on this one.
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Jackie Martinez
•Could still be a different company though. Lots of concrete contractors in Arizona with similar names.
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Lia Quinn
Quick question - when you say the addresses are in different counties, are we talking Phoenix metro area vs. rural Arizona, or completely different regions? Sometimes companies relocate but old filings still show previous addresses.
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Ellie Perry
•Our borrower is in Maricopa County, the UCC hit shows Pinal County. About 45 minutes apart so not impossible they're related.
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Lia Quinn
•That's close enough to be concerning. I'd definitely verify the EIN like others suggested.
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Haley Stokes
Have you considered calling your borrower directly and asking if they've ever operated under that slightly different name or if they know of any related entities? Sometimes there are DBA situations or predecessor companies that don't show up clearly in the records.
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Ellie Perry
•Actually just got off the phone with them. They said they've never gone by 'ABC Construction' without the 'Services' part, and they've never operated in Pinal County.
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Haley Stokes
•That's good intel. Sounds like you're probably looking at a different company then.
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Asher Levin
•Borrower confirmation is always helpful, but I'd still verify independently through the business records just to be thorough.
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Serene Snow
Just went through something similar in Arizona last month. Turned out the 'similar' company was actually a subsidiary of my borrower's competitor, so completely unrelated. The key was matching up the EIN numbers like others mentioned. Arizona's search is just overly broad.
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Ellie Perry
•That makes me feel better. Going to pull the business entity records now and compare EINs.
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Serene Snow
•Good plan. Once you see the EINs don't match, you'll have confidence it's a false positive.
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Issac Nightingale
For future Arizona deals, I always recommend doing the UCC search AND the business entity search at the same time. The business entity database is actually more reliable than their UCC search for getting exact company information. Then you can cross-reference to make sure any UCC hits are actually against your specific borrower.
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Ellie Perry
•Great workflow suggestion. I'll definitely start doing both searches upfront.
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Romeo Barrett
•Smart approach. Saves a lot of back-and-forth later when you find questionable results.
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Issac Nightingale
•Exactly. The few extra minutes upfront can save hours of research when you find ambiguous hits.
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Marina Hendrix
Update us on what you find with the EIN verification! Always curious to hear how these situations resolve, especially in Arizona since their system is so quirky.
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Ellie Perry
•Will do! Pulling the business records now. Thanks everyone for the guidance - feeling much more confident about how to sort this out.
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Justin Trejo
•Yeah, would love to hear the resolution. These Arizona search issues come up all the time.
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Alana Willis
Just wanted to add another vote for that Certana tool someone mentioned. Used it on a messy Nevada deal recently where we had similar name confusion, and it quickly flagged which results were actual matches vs. false positives. Definitely worth checking out for these kinds of verification headaches.
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Tyler Murphy
•How accurate is it? Always skeptical of automated tools for this kind of legal verification work.
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Alana Willis
•It's not making legal determinations, just highlighting discrepancies in names, addresses, and document details that you should investigate further. Still need human judgment but it speeds up the review process.
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Ellie Perry
•That sounds exactly like what I need - something to help organize all these search results and flag the real concerns vs. the noise.
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