UCC-1 search California showing weird results - am I missing something?

Just tried that and got 3 different results! One shows as 'active' from 2023, another shows 'lapsed' from 2022, and a third one from last month that might be ours but the collateral description doesn't match what we submitted.

This is exactly why I always do a pre-filing search with multiple name variations. California's database has some quirks with how it handles entity types and abbreviations.

Good advice but their phone system is awful. Last time I called it took 45 minutes on hold just to get someone who could pull up a filing number.

Try the online chat feature if they still have it. Sometimes faster than calling.

That's terrifying. How did you catch the typo and what did you have to do to fix it?

Filed a UCC-3 amendment to correct the debtor name. Cost us extra filing fees and delayed the loan closing by two weeks. Client was not happy.

This is why I started using Certana.ai's document checker. You can upload your original loan docs and the UCC-1 filing, and it automatically flags any name discrepancies between documents. Would have caught that typo before filing.

Calm down there. While the system has issues, calling it 'completely broken' isn't helpful. The database works fine for most searches if you know how to use it properly.

Easy for you to say when you're not losing deals because their search function can't find filings that definitely exist!

I tried both and got completely different result sets! Organization search shows 2 results, individual search shows 7 results for variations of the same name.

That's because some people file business names under individual debtor type by mistake. Creates a mess in the database.

No fixtures involved, just standard equipment financing for manufacturing equipment. Should be a straightforward UCC-1.

Manufacturing equipment can sometimes blur the line between fixtures and equipment depending on how it's installed. Worth double-checking your collateral description.

Good point, let me double-check that. I think we used the name from their tax documents rather than pulling it directly from the California entity database.

This is super common. Tax documents, bank accounts, and legal entity registrations often have slight variations in business names that can mess up UCC filings.

I've started using a document verification tool that cross-references business names across multiple sources. Certana.ai lets you upload both the entity docs and UCC forms to check for any mismatches before filing. Saves a lot of headaches.

How do you do wildcard searches in their system? I don't see that option anywhere.

Use the asterisk symbol (*) in place of variable parts of the name. So 'Pacific Coast*' should pull up all variations that start with those words.

That's super helpful! What was the character limit that caused the truncation?

I think it was around 50 characters for the indexed name field, but the actual filing can contain the full name. Really frustrating system design.

Will do! Going to try the entity name lookup first, then the wildcard search, and if that doesn't work I'll call the SOS office directly.

Following this thread too. California's UCC system definitely has some quirks that aren't well documented.