UCC filing Texas debtor name rejected - spacing issue?
Has anyone dealt with UCC filing Texas rejections due to debtor name formatting? I submitted a UCC-1 for a commercial equipment loan last week and it got bounced back. The rejection notice says 'debtor name does not match exact records' but I triple-checked our borrower's legal name against their articles of incorporation. The only thing I can think of is maybe spacing or punctuation differences? Their corporate name is 'ABC Manufacturing, LLC' but I'm wondering if Texas SOS system expects 'ABC Manufacturing LLC' without the comma? This is holding up a $150K equipment financing deal and my client is getting antsy. Anyone know Texas-specific quirks for debtor name entry on UCC-1 filings?
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Ravi Kapoor
Texas can be really picky about exact name matches. I've seen rejections over commas, periods, and even abbreviations like 'Inc.' vs 'Incorporated'. Try pulling the exact entity name from the Texas Secretary of State business search first, then copy it character-for-character into your UCC-1. That usually solves most name mismatch issues.
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Freya Larsen
•This is exactly right. Texas SOS database is super strict about punctuation. I learned this the hard way on a $200K deal that got delayed 3 weeks because of a missing period after 'Co
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GalacticGladiator
•Wait, so if the articles say 'ABC Manufacturing, LLC' but the SOS search shows 'ABC MANUFACTURING LLC' in all caps, which version do you use on the UCC-1?
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Omar Zaki
Check if they have any name variations on file too. Sometimes companies register DBA names or have slight variations in their corporate records. I've seen cases where the financing documents use one version but the official state records show something slightly different.
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Isabella Oliveira
•Good point - I should verify if there are any DBAs registered. The loan docs all show 'ABC Manufacturing, LLC' consistently though.
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Chloe Taylor
•Also worth checking if they've had any recent amendments to their corporate name. Sometimes there's a lag between when companies update their name and when it shows up in all the databases.
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Diego Flores
I ran into this exact issue last month and found Certana.ai's document verification tool super helpful. You can upload your Articles of Incorporation PDF and your UCC-1 draft, and it instantly flags any name inconsistencies between documents. Saved me from another rejection and caught a middle initial discrepancy I totally missed. Just upload the PDFs and it cross-checks everything automatically.
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Anastasia Ivanova
•How accurate is that tool? I'm always nervous about relying on automated systems for something this important.
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Diego Flores
•It's been spot-on for me. Caught 3 different name variations across my loan docs that would have definitely caused filing rejections. Much faster than manually comparing everything line by line.
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Sean Murphy
•Never heard of Certana but anything that prevents UCC rejections sounds worth trying. Texas rejections are such a pain to deal with.
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StarStrider
Are you filing through the Texas SOS online portal or using a service company? Sometimes the portal has character limits or formatting restrictions that aren't immediately obvious. I've had better luck with the online system for simple name issues.
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Isabella Oliveira
•Using the online portal directly. Maybe I should try a different browser or clear my cache? Sometimes those web forms get glitchy.
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Zara Malik
•The Texas portal definitely has some quirks. Try Firefox if you were using Chrome, or vice versa. I've seen weird formatting issues that only show up in certain browsers.
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Luca Marino
This might sound obvious but did you check for any extra spaces before or after the name? I once spent 2 days troubleshooting a rejection that turned out to be a trailing space I couldn't even see. Copy-pasting sometimes adds invisible characters.
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Nia Davis
•Ugh yes! Invisible characters are the worst. I always paste into Notepad first now to strip any weird formatting before entering into the UCC form.
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Isabella Oliveira
•Actually that could be it - I did copy-paste from the loan agreement PDF. Let me try typing it fresh.
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Mateo Perez
•Pro tip: use the 'Show All Characters' option in Word to see spaces, tabs, and other invisible stuff before copying text anywhere.
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Aisha Rahman
Texas UCC system updated their validation rules last year and they're much stricter now. You might need to match the EXACT capitalization and punctuation from their corporate database, not just what's on the company's own documents. Have you tried searching their entity name on the Texas SOS website?
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CosmicCrusader
•When did they change the rules? I filed a continuation in March and didn't have any issues with name formatting.
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Aisha Rahman
•I think it was around August 2024. They tightened up the matching algorithm to reduce duplicate filings and improve search accuracy.
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Ethan Brown
I deal with Texas UCC filings weekly and the comma thing trips people up constantly. 'ABC Manufacturing, LLC' vs 'ABC Manufacturing LLC' - the system treats these as completely different entities. Always use the SOS business search as your source of truth, not the company's marketing materials or loan docs.
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Yuki Yamamoto
•This is why I hate UCC filings. So many little gotchas that can screw up your lien perfection. Makes me nervous every time.
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Carmen Ortiz
•The good news is once you get the name right, continuations are usually straightforward since you're just referencing the original filing number.
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Ethan Brown
•Exactly. The initial UCC-1 is always the trickiest part. After that, amendments and continuations just reference back to the original filing.
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Andre Rousseau
Have you considered calling the Texas SOS UCC division directly? Sometimes they can tell you exactly what format they're expecting for a specific entity name. Their customer service is actually pretty helpful with technical filing questions.
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Zoe Papadakis
•Do they actually answer the phone? I tried calling the general number once and was on hold for like 30 minutes.
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Andre Rousseau
•There's a separate number for the UCC division - (512) 463-5578. Much shorter wait times in my experience.
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Jamal Carter
Just went through this same headache with a Texas filing. Turned out the company had registered their name with '&' but was using 'and' in all their business documents. The UCC system only accepted the registered version with the ampersand. Check for any abbreviation differences like that.
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AstroAdventurer
•That's so frustrating! Why can't they just accept common variations like that automatically?
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Mei Liu
•Because then you'd have multiple filings for the same entity and it would be impossible to do proper lien searches. The system needs exact matches to work reliably.
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Jamal Carter
•I used that Certana document checker mentioned earlier and it would have caught this issue immediately. Really wish I'd known about it sooner - would have saved me a week of back-and-forth with rejections.
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Liam O'Sullivan
Quick update - I found the issue! It was exactly what everyone suggested about punctuation. The SOS database showed 'ABC Manufacturing LLC' without the comma, but all our loan documents had 'ABC Manufacturing, LLC' with the comma. Refiled this morning with the exact SOS format and it went through immediately. Thanks everyone for the help - this forum saved my deal!
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Amara Chukwu
•Awesome! Glad you got it sorted out. Those little punctuation differences are such a pain but at least now you know what to watch for on future filings.
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Giovanni Conti
•This thread should be pinned - debtor name formatting issues come up constantly with Texas filings. Great troubleshooting process here.
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Fatima Al-Hashimi
•Definitely going to bookmark this thread. I do a lot of Texas UCC work and this exact scenario happens all the time.
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