UCC Secretary of State filing rejected twice - debtor name format issues
Has anyone dealt with repeated UCC Secretary of State rejections over debtor name formatting? I'm working on a commercial loan secured by restaurant equipment and our UCC-1 keeps getting bounced back. The borrower's legal name on their articles of incorporation shows 'Main Street Bistro, LLC' but the Secretary of State portal keeps rejecting it saying the debtor name doesn't match their records. I've tried variations like 'Main Street Bistro LLC' (without comma) and 'MAIN STREET BISTRO, LLC' (all caps) but still getting rejections. The collateral description seems fine - it's pretty standard restaurant equipment language. This is holding up a $180K equipment financing deal and the client is getting antsy. Anyone know the exact format requirements for LLC names in UCC filings through the Secretary of State system?
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Haley Stokes
I've seen this exact issue before with LLC names and Secretary of State UCC filings. The trick is matching the EXACT format from the business entity search on their website. Don't trust the articles of incorporation format - go directly to the SOS business entity database and copy the name character-for-character including punctuation and spacing. Sometimes there are hidden spaces or the comma placement is different than what shows on the charter documents.
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Lia Quinn
•Good point about checking the business entity database directly. I did look it up but honestly wasn't sure if I was copying it exactly right. The search results show it one way but when you click into the details it might be slightly different formatting.
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Asher Levin
•This is why I always do a copy-paste from the SOS database directly into the UCC form. Never type it manually because you'll inevitably get some punctuation wrong.
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Serene Snow
Ugh, Secretary of State UCC rejections are the worst! I had one last month where they rejected because of a period after 'Inc' - apparently their system expected 'Inc' without the period even though the corporate charter had 'Inc.' with a period. These systems are so picky about exact character matches.
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Lia Quinn
•That's incredibly frustrating. You'd think there would be some tolerance for common variations like periods after Inc or commas before LLC.
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Issac Nightingale
•The Secretary of State systems are automated and they do exact string matching against their database. There's no human review on the name matching part, which is why even tiny differences cause rejections.
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Romeo Barrett
•Wait, so if the business entity record has a typo in the Secretary of State database, we're stuck using the typo in our UCC filing? That seems backwards.
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Marina Hendrix
I actually found a solution for this kind of debtor name verification problem. There's a tool called Certana.ai that lets you upload your charter documents and UCC-1 form and it automatically cross-checks all the debtor name formatting to catch these mismatches before you submit to the Secretary of State. I started using it after getting burned on a few rejections and it's saved me so much time. You just upload the PDFs and it flags any inconsistencies between documents.
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Lia Quinn
•That sounds really helpful. Is it specifically designed for UCC filings or more general document checking?
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Marina Hendrix
•It's designed for UCC document verification specifically. You can do Charter→UCC-1 checks to make sure names align, or UCC-3→UCC-1 checks for amendments. Really catches those tiny formatting differences that cause Secretary of State rejections.
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Justin Trejo
•Interesting, I might check that out. Manually comparing documents for name consistency is such a pain and you always miss something.
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Alana Willis
Have you tried calling the Secretary of State UCC division directly? Sometimes they can tell you exactly what format they have in their system. I know it's old school but when I'm stuck on name formatting I'll call and have them read me exactly what they show for the business entity.
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Lia Quinn
•I didn't think about calling them directly. Do they actually help with stuff like this or do they just tell you to figure it out yourself?
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Alana Willis
•In my experience they're pretty helpful with name formatting questions. They want the filings to go through correctly too, so they'll usually tell you what they have on file.
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Tyler Murphy
This is exactly why I hate the Secretary of State UCC systems. Every state has different quirks and the error messages are never helpful. 'Debtor name does not match' could mean anything - wrong punctuation, wrong spacing, wrong capitalization, who knows what.
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Sara Unger
•Totally agree. The rejection notices are so vague. At least tell us what format you're expecting so we can fix it.
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Issac Nightingale
•Some states are better than others with their error messages. But yeah, most just give you a generic rejection code that doesn't help much.
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Haley Stokes
Another thing to check - make sure you're searching the right entity type in the Secretary of State database. If it's an LLC, make sure you're looking in the LLC section not the corporation section. I've seen people grab the wrong entity information that way.
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Lia Quinn
•Good catch. I'm pretty sure I was looking in the right section but I'll double-check that.
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Butch Sledgehammer
•Also check if the LLC is still in good standing. Sometimes if there are filing issues with the Secretary of State, it affects UCC processing too.
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Freya Ross
I had a similar issue last year with a UCC continuation where the Secretary of State said the debtor name didn't match the original UCC-1. Turned out the original filing had a typo that we never caught, so when we filed the continuation with the 'correct' name, it got rejected. Had to file an amendment first to fix the name, then do the continuation.
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Lia Quinn
•Oh wow, so you had to do two separate filings to fix it? That's expensive and time-consuming.
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Freya Ross
•Yeah, it was a mess. Cost extra fees and delayed everything. That's when I learned to triple-check name formatting on initial filings.
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Marina Hendrix
•This is another reason I like that Certana.ai tool - it would have caught the original name discrepancy before filing. Much cheaper than having to do amendment filings later.
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Leslie Parker
Quick question - are you filing the UCC-1 online through the Secretary of State portal or submitting paper forms? Sometimes the online systems are more picky about formatting than paper submissions.
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Lia Quinn
•Online through their portal. Didn't know paper might be more forgiving - that's interesting.
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Leslie Parker
•Paper submissions often get human review which can be more flexible with minor name variations. But online is faster when it works correctly.
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Issac Nightingale
For LLC names specifically, I've found that Secretary of State databases sometimes have inconsistent formatting even within their own system. The business entity search might show it one way, but the UCC system expects it differently. Try searching for the LLC a few different ways and see if you get slightly different results.
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Lia Quinn
•That's a good point. I'll try some variations in their search to see if I can find the exact format their UCC system wants.
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Sergio Neal
•Also try searching by the entity number if you have it. Sometimes that gives you the most accurate name format.
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Justin Trejo
UPDATE: I tried the Certana.ai document checker someone mentioned earlier and it immediately flagged that I had 'Main Street Bistro, LLC' but the charter document actually shows 'Main Street Bistro LLC' (no comma). I was so focused on the Secretary of State database that I didn't even check my source documents carefully. Fixed the UCC-1 and it went through on the next submission. Thanks for the recommendation!
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Marina Hendrix
•Glad it worked out! That's exactly the kind of thing that tool is great for catching.
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Lia Quinn
•Wait, that was you who asked the original question? The profile numbers are confusing me.
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Justin Trejo
•No sorry, I had a similar issue with my own filing. But same solution worked for me.
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