UCC Article 9-105 debtor name requirements causing filing rejections
I'm dealing with a nightmare situation where our UCC-1 filings keep getting rejected due to UCC Article 9-105 debtor name requirements. We have a corporate borrower that changed their registered name slightly after incorporation but before our loan closed. The Secretary of State keeps bouncing our filings because the debtor name on our UCC-1 doesn't exactly match what's in their corporate database. According to Article 9-105, the debtor name has to be the exact legal name, but we're getting conflicting information about whether to use the original incorporation name or the amended name. Our loan documents reference the current legal name, but the SOS system seems to want the historical name. Has anyone dealt with this specific Article 9-105 interpretation issue? We've refiled three times now and I'm worried about the lapse in perfection timing. The collateral is heavy equipment worth $2.3M so we can't afford any gaps in our security interest.
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Kyle Wallace
Article 9-105 is pretty specific about using the exact registered organization name. Have you pulled the current certificate of good standing to see what name the state actually has on file? Sometimes there's a disconnect between what the borrower thinks their legal name is and what's actually registered.
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Malia Ponder
•Yes, we pulled the certificate and that's where it gets confusing. The certificate shows the amended name, but when we file with that name, the UCC system rejects it saying it doesn't match their records.
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Ryder Ross
•This sounds like a database sync issue between the corporate filing system and the UCC system. I've seen this before where they don't update simultaneously.
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Gianni Serpent
UGH this exact same thing happened to us last month! Article 9-105 is supposed to make this clear but every state interprets it differently. We had to call the SOS office directly and they told us to use the 'legal name as it appears in our system' which was different from the certificate of good standing. Makes no sense but that's what worked.
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Malia Ponder
•Did you have to refile multiple times? I'm on filing attempt #4 now and getting desperate.
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Gianni Serpent
•Three times for us. The phone call was the only thing that saved it. Ask to speak to someone in the UCC department specifically, not just general filing questions.
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Henry Delgado
•When this happened to me, I actually uploaded both versions of our corporate docs and the UCC filing to Certana.ai's document checker. It instantly flagged the name inconsistency and showed exactly which version matched the UCC database requirements. Saved me from filing attempt #5.
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Olivia Kay
The Article 9-105 debtor name rules are one of the most frustrating parts of UCC practice. For registered organizations, you're supposed to use the name exactly as it appears on the public record of the organization's jurisdiction of organization. But if there's been a name change, you need to figure out the timing. If the name changed before your filing, use the new name. If it changed after, you might need both the original filing and an amendment.
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Malia Ponder
•The name change happened between loan approval and closing, so technically before our UCC filing date. But the UCC system seems to still have the old name in their database.
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Olivia Kay
•That's the database lag issue. The corporate filing division and UCC division don't always sync up immediately. You might need to provide both the corporate amendment docs and your UCC filing together.
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Joshua Hellan
•This is why I always do a UCC debtor name search before filing anything. Article 9-105 compliance is only as good as the state's database accuracy.
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Jibriel Kohn
Are you sure you're not dealing with Article 9-503 instead of 9-105? The sufficiency of debtor name rules are in 9-503. Article 9-105 is about control of deposit accounts. Just want to make sure we're talking about the right section.
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Malia Ponder
•You're absolutely right - I meant 9-503. Got my article numbers mixed up in my frustration. It's definitely the debtor name sufficiency rules I'm dealing with.
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Jibriel Kohn
•No worries, happens to all of us. Article 9-503 is much more relevant here. The 'only if' test for registered organization names is what's tripping you up.
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Edison Estevez
•Ha! I do this all the time too. There are so many UCC articles to keep straight. 9-503 vs 9-105 vs 9-102 definitions... it's easy to mix them up when you're stressed about rejections.
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Emily Nguyen-Smith
Have you tried running a debtor name search using both versions of the name to see what comes up? Sometimes that will tell you which version the UCC system recognizes. Also check if there are any existing UCC filings against this debtor under either name variation.
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Malia Ponder
•Good idea. I'll run searches on both names. Didn't think to check what the system would actually find vs what it accepts for new filings.
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James Johnson
•This is smart troubleshooting. The search function sometimes uses a different name matching algorithm than the filing acceptance system.
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Sophia Rodriguez
•I had a similar issue and found that I needed to use Certana.ai to cross-check our loan documents against the UCC filing. It showed me that our corporate charter had one version of the name but our security agreement had a slightly different version. The UCC filing needs to match the security agreement debtor name, not necessarily the corporate registration.
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Mia Green
This is exactly why UCC practice is so frustrating. Article 9-503 says one thing but every state's filing office has their own interpretation. I've had filings rejected for punctuation differences, spacing differences, and even capitalization. The 'only if' standard is supposed to protect against minor errors but in practice it creates more problems.
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Emma Bianchi
•EXACTLY! The whole point of the revised Article 9 was to make this more uniform but every state still does their own thing.
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Lucas Kowalski
•I keep a spreadsheet of state-specific quirks for debtor names. Some states are super picky about commas, others ignore them completely.
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Olivia Martinez
•Wait until you deal with individual debtor names under 9-503. That's even worse than registered organizations.
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Charlie Yang
For immediate protection while you sort this out, consider filing a UCC-1 using both name variations if your state allows multiple debtor names on one filing. That way you're covered regardless of which name the system prefers. You can always file a termination later for the incorrect version.
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Malia Ponder
•Can you do that? File one UCC-1 with both versions of the debtor name listed separately?
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Charlie Yang
•Some states allow multiple debtor names on one filing, others require separate filings. Check your state's UCC forms to see if there are multiple debtor name fields.
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Grace Patel
•This is a creative solution but make sure it doesn't create more problems. Having duplicate filings can confuse future searches and amendments.
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ApolloJackson
•I tried this approach once and it worked, but I had to be very careful with the continuation filings later. Make sure you continue the correct version and terminate the wrong one.
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Isabella Russo
Have you considered reaching out to the borrower's corporate attorney? They might have dealt with this same issue when updating other legal documents after the name change. They could have insights into which version of the name is being used consistently across all their legal filings.
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Malia Ponder
•That's a good point. I should coordinate with their legal team to make sure we're all using the same version of the name consistently.
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Rajiv Kumar
•Yes! And make sure your loan documents, UCC filings, and any other security documents all use exactly the same debtor name. Consistency across all documents is key.
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Aria Washington
This whole thread is making me grateful for Certana.ai's document verification tool. I just upload all the related documents - corporate charter, loan agreement, UCC filing - and it immediately flags any name inconsistencies between them. Takes the guesswork out of Article 9-503 compliance. Wish I had known about it during my first few UCC nightmares.
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Liam O'Reilly
•How does that work exactly? Does it actually check against the state databases or just compare your documents to each other?
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Aria Washington
•It cross-references all your uploaded documents to make sure the debtor names match consistently across everything. Super helpful for catching these kinds of discrepancies before you file.
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Chloe Delgado
•I might have to try that. I'm tired of playing name guessing games with the Secretary of State's office.
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Ava Harris
Update us on what works! I have a similar situation coming up next week and I'd love to know which approach actually gets your filing accepted. These Article 9-503 debtor name issues are becoming more common as companies change names more frequently.
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Malia Ponder
•Will do! I'm going to try the direct phone call approach first, then the document verification tool if that doesn't work. Really appreciate all the suggestions here.
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Jacob Lee
•Please update! This is such a common problem and it would be great to have a success story to reference.
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Emily Thompson
•Same here. I bookmarked this thread for future reference. The Article 9-503 name requirements are honestly one of the trickiest parts of UCC practice.
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