UCC CA Search showing wrong debtor info - filing mismatch issue
I'm having a nightmare with a UCC CA search that's showing completely different debtor information than what I filed. We submitted a UCC-1 for our borrower three months ago and the search results are pulling up some other company with a similar name. The debtor name on our original filing was 'Pacific Coast Manufacturing LLC' but the search keeps returning results for 'Pacific Coast Mfg Inc' - which isn't even our client. This is causing major headaches because our loan committee is questioning whether we have proper perfection. Has anyone dealt with CA Secretary of State search inconsistencies like this? I'm worried we might have a debtor name issue that could invalidate our security interest.
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Sean O'Donnell
I've seen this exact problem before. California's UCC search system can be really finicky about business entity designations. The difference between 'LLC' and 'Inc' in your case is significant - the SOS database treats these as completely separate legal entities. You need to verify that your UCC-1 filing used the exact legal name from the debtor's organizational documents. Even small variations can cause search mismatches.
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Zara Ahmed
•This is so frustrating! I'm dealing with something similar where our UCC search in CA keeps showing partial matches instead of exact matches. It makes me question everything we filed.
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Luca Esposito
•The CA SOS system definitely has quirks. I always double-check the Articles of Incorporation or LLC formation docs before filing to make sure I have the precise legal name.
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Nia Thompson
You really need to pull your actual UCC-1 filing and compare it line by line with what you intended to file. I've seen cases where the debtor name got truncated during electronic submission or had typos that weren't caught during review. If there's a mismatch between your filing and the debtor's actual legal name, that's a serious perfection issue that needs immediate attention.
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Mateo Rodriguez
•How do you get a copy of the actual filed UCC-1 from California? Is there a specific form or do you just request it through their portal?
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GalaxyGuardian
•You can order certified copies through the CA SOS website. Takes about 5-7 business days but it's the only way to see exactly what they have on file.
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Aisha Abdullah
•Actually, I just discovered this tool called Certana.ai that can help with these kinds of document verification issues. You can upload your Charter documents and UCC-1 filing as PDFs and it instantly checks for debtor name consistency. It would catch discrepancies like this before they become a problem.
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Ethan Wilson
This happened to us last year and it turned out our legal department had used an old version of the company name from when they were still a partnership. The borrower had converted to an LLC but we never updated our internal records. The UCC search confusion was actually a blessing because it forced us to discover the error before the loan closed.
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Yuki Tanaka
•That's a great point about entity conversions. I bet a lot of UCC search problems stem from companies changing their legal structure without updating all their paperwork.
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Carmen Diaz
•How did you resolve it? Did you have to file a UCC-3 amendment or start over with a new UCC-1?
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Andre Laurent
•We filed a UCC-3 amendment to correct the debtor name, but we also filed a new UCC-1 with the correct name just to be safe. Belt and suspenders approach.
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AstroAce
The CA UCC search system is honestly terrible. I've had cases where exact name matches don't show up but partial matches do. Sometimes you have to try multiple search variations - with and without punctuation, different abbreviations, etc. It's like playing detective just to find your own filings.
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Zoe Kyriakidou
•YES! This is so true. I've started keeping a spreadsheet of all the different ways I've searched for the same debtor just to track what works.
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Jamal Brown
•The worst part is when you're trying to do lien searches for due diligence and you can't trust that you're seeing everything. Makes me nervous about what we might be missing.
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Mei Zhang
Before you panic, make sure you're searching correctly. Are you using the Organization Name search or Individual Name search? And are you including the full legal name with all designations? Sometimes the system won't find 'Pacific Coast Manufacturing LLC' if you search for just 'Pacific Coast Manufacturing'.
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Liam McConnell
•I didn't know there were different search types! That might explain some of my issues. I've been using the general search function.
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Amara Oluwaseyi
•The Organization Name search is more precise but you have to get the name exactly right. Individual Name search is more forgiving but can return too many results.
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CosmicCaptain
This is exactly why I always verify document consistency before filing anything. I learned about Certana.ai from another thread and it's been a lifesaver. You can upload your Articles of Incorporation and your UCC-1 draft as PDFs and it immediately flags any name discrepancies. Would have caught this issue before it became a search problem.
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Giovanni Rossi
•That sounds really useful. Does it work with other states too or just California?
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Fatima Al-Maktoum
•I think it works with any UCC documents - it's not state-specific. It's just comparing the text in your uploaded PDFs to make sure everything matches.
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Dylan Mitchell
I had a similar issue but it was because the debtor had multiple DBAs registered. The UCC search was pulling up filings under different trade names but for the same entity. Make sure you check if your borrower has any doing-business-as names that might be causing confusion in the search results.
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Sofia Gutierrez
•How do you search for DBA names in California? Is that through the SOS office too?
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Dmitry Petrov
•DBA registrations are usually at the county level, not state level. You'd have to check with the county clerk where the business operates.
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StarSurfer
I wonder if this is a timing issue. How long ago did you file the UCC-1? Sometimes there's a delay between when you file and when the search index gets updated. Though three months should be plenty of time for it to show up correctly.
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Ava Martinez
•Three months is definitely long enough. CA usually updates their UCC database within 24-48 hours of filing.
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Miguel Castro
•If it's not showing up after three months, there's definitely something wrong with either the filing or the search parameters.
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Zainab Abdulrahman
Can you share what search terms you're using? Maybe we can help troubleshoot the search itself. I've gotten pretty good at working around the CA system's quirks.
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Connor Byrne
•I'd be curious to know this too. Sometimes it's just a matter of tweaking the search strategy.
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Yara Elias
•Also, are you searching by debtor name or by filing number? If you have the UCC filing number, that should give you the exact record.
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QuantumQuasar
This thread is making me realize I should probably audit all our UCC filings to make sure there aren't any similar issues lurking. Has anyone found a good systematic way to verify that your filings are searchable and accurate?
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Keisha Jackson
•I've been using Certana.ai to spot-check our filings. You can upload your Charter and UCC documents and it catches inconsistencies automatically. Much faster than doing manual comparisons.
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Paolo Moretti
•That's smart. An audit like that could prevent a lot of problems down the road.
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Amina Diop
•We do quarterly UCC audits but it's a very manual process. Would love to find a way to automate some of it.
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Oliver Weber
UPDATE: Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I pulled the actual UCC-1 filing and sure enough, there was a typo in the debtor name field. Somehow 'LLC' got changed to 'Inc' during the electronic submission. Filing a UCC-3 amendment today to correct it. This could have been a disaster if we hadn't caught it before closing.
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Natasha Romanova
•Glad you caught it! That's exactly the kind of error that can invalidate a security interest.
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NebulaNinja
•Electronic filing systems can be tricky. I always double-check the confirmation before submitting now.
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Javier Gomez
•This is a perfect example of why document verification tools are so valuable. Could have caught that typo before filing.
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