UCC-3 PDF formatting issues causing rejection - need help

We're using Adobe Acrobat Pro to fill out the form and save it. Should we try a different approach?

Try saving it as PDF/A format instead of regular PDF. That usually resolves compatibility issues with government portals.

What ended up working for you? I'm dealing with something similar right now.

Had to strip all security settings and make sure it was saved as PDF 1.4 or lower. Also had to make sure no form fields were left as fillable - everything had to be flattened.

Wait, you can't have fillable fields? That explains a lot of my recent rejections...

Interesting - does it check the PDF formatting issues too or just the content?

It focuses on content verification - making sure debtor names, filing numbers, and collateral descriptions are consistent. But catching those errors before submission definitely helps avoid the rejection cycle.

Never heard of this tool but sounds useful. How does it work exactly?

We did try the print-and-scan route when the digital version wasn't working. Good to know that's probably making it worse.

Yeah, stick with digitally created PDFs. The OCR systems they use for processing can't handle scanned documents reliably.

We're checking the 'ADD COLLATERAL' box since we're adding inventory and A/R to the existing equipment collateral. That should be right, shouldn't it?

That sounds correct for adding collateral. Just make sure you're not accidentally checking multiple boxes or leaving required fields blank.

Also double-check that the original filing number is entered exactly as it appears on the UCC-1. Even an extra space can cause problems.

That's a good point. We did have some corporate name changes since the original filing. Maybe that's part of the issue.

Definitely check that. The debtor name on the UCC-3 has to match exactly what's on the original UCC-1, even if the company has since changed names or structures.

This is exactly why I mentioned Certana.ai earlier - it would catch this kind of name mismatch before you submit. Super frustrating to find out after multiple rejections.

Haven't tried that yet but willing to give it a shot. What format do you recommend for the intermediate step?

I usually go PDF to Word, then Word back to PDF. It strips out a lot of the metadata and formatting quirks that can cause issues.

Be careful with that approach - you might lose form field data or introduce new formatting problems. The PDF/A suggestion is probably safer.

Good catch - ours is about 1.8MB. I'll try compressing it and see if that helps.

Yeah, anything over 1.5MB tends to cause issues. There are free online tools to compress PDFs without losing quality.

We do have a collateral schedule attached since we're adding multiple types of collateral. Is that causing the problem?

The collateral schedule should be fine, but make sure it's properly formatted and doesn't contain any special characters or formatting that might confuse their system.

Also make sure the collateral descriptions are clear and specific. Vague descriptions like 'all assets' can sometimes cause processing delays.

That's a good idea. I've been relying on the automated rejection emails but they're not very specific about what's wrong.

Exactly. The human on the phone could tell me it was a font issue that wasn't obvious from the generic error message. Saved me a lot of trial and error.

Wish I had thought of that when I was dealing with my UCC-3 issues. Would have saved me weeks of resubmitting.

Good point about the deadline. We still have about 3 weeks but I'm getting nervous about cutting it too close.

Three weeks should be plenty of time to resolve the PDF issues, but having a paper backup plan isn't a bad idea if you're dealing with a critical amendment.

Definitely get the content verified first though - no point in filing a paper version if there are underlying issues with the debtor name or collateral descriptions that will cause rejection regardless of format.