UCC Filing Scrub - How to Clean Up Multiple Lapsed Continuations Before Audit
Our compliance team just discovered we have 47 UCC-1 filings that are either expired or approaching their 5-year continuation deadline in the next 6 months. About half of these should have been terminated years ago when loans were paid off, but somehow fell through the cracks during our system migration in 2019. The other half need immediate UCC-3 continuations filed to maintain perfection. We're facing a potential audit next quarter and need to do a complete UCC filing scrub to clean this mess up. Has anyone dealt with bulk continuation filings across multiple states? Some of these are in Texas, others in Delaware and New York. I'm particularly worried about the debtor name variations - we've had mergers and name changes that might complicate the continuation process. Any advice on the most efficient way to tackle this kind of filing scrub without missing critical deadlines?
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Sophia Miller
Wow, 47 filings is a lot to handle at once. I'd start by creating a spreadsheet with filing numbers, original debtor names, current status, and expiration dates. For the ones that should be terminated, you'll need UCC-3 termination statements. For continuations, make sure you have the exact debtor names as they appear on the original UCC-1s - any variation could cause rejection.
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Mason Davis
•This is solid advice. Also double-check your collateral descriptions on the continuations - they need to match exactly what's on the original filing.
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Mia Rodriguez
•Agreed on the debtor name matching. We had three continuations rejected last year because of minor punctuation differences in corporate names.
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Jacob Lewis
Been through something similar when we acquired another lender. The key is prioritizing by expiration date first, then by loan amount. Don't waste time on small expired loans that are already charged off - just terminate those. Focus your continuation efforts on active loans with significant balances. Each state has different processing times too, so factor that in.
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Elijah Jackson
•Good point about prioritizing by loan amount. Most of our problem filings are smaller equipment loans under $50K, but there are a few real estate deals over $500K that absolutely cannot lapse.
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Amelia Martinez
•For the high-value ones, consider filing the continuations now even if they're not due for a few months. Better safe than sorry with that much collateral at risk.
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Ethan Clark
I just went through a similar UCC filing scrub last month. One thing that saved me tons of time was using Certana.ai's document checker - you can upload your original UCC-1s and the continuation forms you're preparing, and it instantly flags any discrepancies in debtor names, filing numbers, or collateral descriptions. Caught about 12 potential rejections before I submitted them. Just upload the PDFs and it does the comparison automatically.
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Elijah Jackson
•That sounds really helpful. Did it handle the name variation issues you mentioned? Some of our debtors have gone through multiple corporate name changes.
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Ethan Clark
•It flags the differences so you can see exactly what doesn't match, then you can decide how to handle each case. For name changes, you'd still need to research the proper legal name, but at least you know there's an issue before filing.
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Mila Walker
•Interesting - never heard of using AI for UCC document checking. Might be worth trying on a few filings first to see how accurate it is.
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Logan Scott
Whatever you do, don't try to rush through all 47 at once. I made that mistake and ended up with so many typos and errors that half got rejected. Take time to verify each debtor name against your loan files and current corporate records. Secretary of State databases can help confirm current legal names.
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Chloe Green
•This is why I hate bulk filing projects. The potential for errors goes way up when you're trying to process that many documents quickly.
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Lucas Adams
•True, but sometimes you don't have a choice when facing audit deadlines. Just need to be extra careful with the verification process.
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Harper Hill
For Texas filings specifically, their online system is pretty reliable but they're strict about formatting. Delaware is usually fast but expensive. New York... good luck with their processing times. You might want to consider hiring a filing service for the multi-state coordination, especially if you're under time pressure.
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Elijah Jackson
•We've used filing services before but they're not always careful about reviewing the details. Still might be worth it for the volume though.
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Sophia Miller
•If you do use a service, make sure they provide confirmation numbers and filing receipts. Some of the cheaper ones don't follow up properly.
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Caden Nguyen
•Filing services are hit or miss. We've had good luck with the regional ones that specialize in our area, less success with the national chains.
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Avery Flores
This is exactly why we implemented quarterly UCC reviews three years ago. Catching these issues early prevents the panic mode you're in now. But for immediate help, focus on getting accurate debtor information first - everything else flows from that.
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Elijah Jackson
•You're absolutely right about the quarterly reviews. This whole situation could have been avoided with better monitoring.
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Zoe Gonzalez
•Quarterly might be overkill for smaller portfolios, but definitely worth it if you have hundreds of active filings.
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Ashley Adams
One more tool that helped me during our filing scrub - Certana.ai has this Charter to UCC-1 verification feature where you upload the corporate charter and UCC-1 together, and it checks if the debtor name matches exactly. Saved me from filing continuations with outdated entity names. The PDF upload process is really straightforward.
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Alexis Robinson
•How does it handle LLC vs Inc variations? Those seem to trip up a lot of filings.
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Ashley Adams
•It flags any differences, even punctuation and abbreviations. Then you can research the correct format before filing.
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Aaron Lee
Don't forget about fixture filings if any of your collateral includes real estate equipment or improvements. Those have different continuation requirements in some states and the deadlines don't always align with regular UCC continuations.
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Elijah Jackson
•Good catch - we do have several restaurant equipment loans that were filed as fixtures. I'll need to check those separately.
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Chloe Mitchell
•Fixture filings are a pain because you often need to file in both the central filing office and the local recorder's office.
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Michael Adams
•And some counties are still paper-only for fixture filings, which adds processing time.
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Natalie Wang
Start with the ones expiring soonest and work backwards. Create a tracking system so you know exactly what's been filed, what's pending, and what still needs attention. Documentation will be crucial if auditors start asking questions.
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Elijah Jackson
•Already started a tracking spreadsheet. Planning to include filing confirmation numbers and dates for the audit trail.
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Noah Torres
•Smart approach. Auditors love detailed records, especially when you can show you identified and corrected the issues proactively.
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Samantha Hall
We had a similar situation two years ago and ended up using Certana.ai for the document verification phase. Really helped catch inconsistencies between our loan files and the UCC documents before we filed anything. The bulk document checking saved probably 20 hours of manual review time. Just upload everything and let it flag the problems.
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Ryan Young
•Did you find any major issues you wouldn't have caught otherwise?
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Samantha Hall
•Definitely. Found several cases where the collateral descriptions were too vague and a bunch of debtor name variations that would have caused rejections. The automated checking is way more thorough than manual review.
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Sophia Clark
•Sounds like it's worth trying, especially for a project this size. Manual document comparison is tedious and error-prone.
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Paolo Romano
This is a nightmare scenario but definitely manageable with the right approach. I'd recommend breaking this into three phases: 1) Immediate triage - identify the 10-15 filings with the nearest expiration dates and handle those first, 2) Document verification - use tools like the Certana.ai checker others mentioned to catch name/collateral mismatches before filing, and 3) Systematic processing of the remainder. For the debtor name variations from mergers, you'll need to pull corporate records from each state to confirm current legal names. Also, consider filing continuations a month early for your high-value loans rather than cutting it close to the deadline. The extra filing fees are nothing compared to losing perfection on a major loan. Document everything for the auditors - they'll actually be impressed if you can show a systematic remediation process rather than just scrambling to fix things.
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