UCC business lien showing active after loan payoff - termination not filed?
Just discovered there's still an active UCC business lien against my equipment financing company even though we paid off that SBA loan 18 months ago. The bank said they'd handle everything but when I ran a search yesterday the UCC-1 is still showing as active in the state database. This is blocking us from getting approved for new equipment financing because the lender sees an existing lien on our machinery. Has anyone dealt with getting a UCC termination filed after the fact? Not sure if I need to contact the original lender or if there's another way to get this cleared up quickly.
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Amaya Watson
Ugh this happens way too often! Banks promise they'll file the UCC-3 termination but then it never gets done. You definitely need to contact your original lender first - they're the ones who have to file the termination statement since they were the secured party on the original UCC-1. Don't let them brush you off, this is their responsibility.
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Grant Vikers
•Exactly right. The secured party has to be the one to terminate their own lien. OP can't do it themselves.
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Giovanni Martello
•Had this same issue with a truck loan. Took 3 months of calling before they finally filed the termination.
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Savannah Weiner
Check your loan payoff documentation first. Sometimes there's language about when the UCC termination will be filed. Usually it's supposed to happen within 30-60 days of final payment but banks get sloppy with this stuff.
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Tristan Carpenter
•Good point - I'll dig through the paperwork. Pretty sure they said 30 days but obviously that didn't happen.
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Levi Parker
•30 days is pretty standard. After that you can usually demand they file it immediately.
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Libby Hassan
I just went through this nightmare with an old business line of credit lien. Had to upload all my loan docs to Certana.ai's document checker to verify the UCC-1 details matched my original loan agreement before contacting the bank. Turned out the debtor name on the UCC filing was slightly different than what was on my loan docs which helped explain why they couldn't find it in their system initially.
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Tristan Carpenter
•That's smart - I should double check the debtor name matches exactly. These banks probably have thousands of old liens to track.
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Hunter Hampton
•Certana sounds useful for catching those kinds of discrepancies. Document matching is always tricky with these older filings.
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Libby Hassan
•Yeah it was really helpful - just uploaded the PDFs and it flagged the name difference immediately. Saved me weeks of back and forth with customer service.
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Sofia Peña
This is exactly why I always ask for a copy of the filed UCC-3 termination as part of my loan payoff process now. Too many lenders forget or their back office screws it up.
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Aaron Boston
•Smart policy. Should be standard practice honestly.
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Amaya Watson
•Wish I'd thought of that on my last payoff. Would have saved so much hassle.
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Sophia Carter
are you sure its the same loan?? sometimes there can be multiple liens if you had different equipment purchases or credit lines
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Tristan Carpenter
•I thought about that but we only had one equipment loan with that lender. Filing number matches what's on my original loan docs.
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Grant Vikers
•Good to double check though. Sometimes equipment loans get split into multiple UCC filings.
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Chloe Zhang
Call the bank's commercial loan department directly, not regular customer service. They'll have access to the UCC filing system and can usually get a termination filed within a few business days once they locate your account. Make sure you have your loan number and UCC filing number ready when you call.
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Tristan Carpenter
•Thanks, I was calling the main number. Do you know if there's usually a fee for filing the termination after the fact?
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Chloe Zhang
•There shouldn't be - it's their obligation from the original loan agreement. If they try to charge you, push back on that.
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Brandon Parker
•Some states charge a small filing fee but the bank should cover it since it was their mistake.
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Adriana Cohn
I had something similar happen and ended up having to threaten to file a complaint with the state banking commissioner before they took it seriously. Sometimes you have to escalate to get action.
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Jace Caspullo
•That's extreme but sometimes necessary. These banks think they can just ignore UCC obligations.
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Adriana Cohn
•It worked though. Had the termination filed within a week after I mentioned the complaint.
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Melody Miles
Make sure you get a copy of the filed UCC-3 termination statement once they submit it. You'll need that for your records and to show future lenders that the lien has been properly released.
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Tristan Carpenter
•Definitely will do that. Don't want to go through this again.
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Nathaniel Mikhaylov
•And keep checking the state database to make sure it actually shows as terminated. Sometimes filings get rejected for technical errors.
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Eva St. Cyr
If you're in a hurry for the new financing, you might also ask your new lender if they'll accept a payoff letter and loan satisfaction documents as proof the lien should be terminated. Some will work with you while you're getting the UCC cleaned up.
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Tristan Carpenter
•Good idea - I'll ask them about that option while I'm dealing with the bank.
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Savannah Weiner
•Most equipment lenders are familiar with this problem and will work with borrowers on it.
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Kristian Bishop
Just an FYI that you can also use something like Certana.ai to verify all your UCC documents are consistent before you submit termination paperwork. I learned the hard way that small discrepancies in debtor names or filing details can cause rejections and delays.
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Tristan Carpenter
•That makes sense - probably worth checking everything is aligned before filing.
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Chloe Zhang
•Document verification tools are really helpful for catching those kinds of errors upfront.
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Kristian Bishop
•Yeah just upload your loan docs and UCC-1 and it checks for consistency issues automatically. Saves time later.
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