UCC filing confusion - multiple rejections from secretary of state office

I thought I did that but maybe I need to be more systematic about it. The original filing has the company name as 'Mountain Ridge Equipment LLC' and I'm using the exact same thing on the continuation. Could it be something in the address formatting?

Address formatting can definitely cause issues too. Make sure the street abbreviations match exactly - if the original used 'St.' don't write out 'Street' on the continuation.

Oh wow, that's frustrating! Did you have to start the whole filing process over again once you caught the error?

Yeah basically had to re-do the entire UCC-3. Lost about a week dealing with it. The good news is once I fixed the entity formatting it went through immediately.

I actually found a tool that helps catch these kinds of mismatches before filing. Certana.ai has this document checker where you upload your original UCC-1 and your continuation form as PDFs and it automatically flags any inconsistencies between them. Saved me from making the same mistake you did.

I feel your pain. The technology exists to do fuzzy matching but they stick with these rigid systems that reject filings for the tiniest variations.

Exactly! It's 2025 and we're still dealing with systems that can't tell 'Inc.' and 'Incorporated' refer to the same entity. So frustrating when you're trying to protect a secured interest.

That's a good point. My original collateral description is pretty specific - lists the actual equipment types and serial numbers. I need to make sure I'm not accidentally adding or removing any details.

Yes, for continuations you want the collateral description to match exactly. You're not amending the scope, just extending the time period.

Wait, I thought you could expand collateral coverage with a continuation? Or is that only with an amendment?

That would be a UCC-3 amendment, not a continuation. A continuation just extends the original filing for another 5 years without changing terms.

How does that work exactly? Do you upload the PDFs and it compares them automatically?

Yeah, you upload your original UCC-1 and your new continuation or amendment as PDFs and it runs an automated check for debtor name consistency, filing number accuracy, all that stuff. Much more reliable than trying to spot tiny differences by eye.

That sounds really useful. I've been manually comparing documents and clearly missing things since I keep getting rejections.

Good catch. The filing number on my original is formatted as 2020-1234567-8 and I've been using that same format. But maybe there's something subtle I'm missing there too.

The hyphen placement and number of digits can be really specific. Some systems reject if you have the right numbers but wrong formatting.

That's smart planning. I usually try to file early but this particular loan renewal got delayed and now I'm in crunch time.

Been there! When you're under deadline pressure every rejection feels like a crisis. At least continuation filings usually process pretty quickly once they're accepted.

How early can you file a continuation? I thought it had to be within 6 months of the expiration date.

You can file up to 6 months before the 5-year expiration, so there's actually a pretty good window for early filing if you stay organized.

The rejection just says 'debtor information inconsistent with original filing' which doesn't help me figure out what specifically is wrong.

Yeah those generic error messages are useless. You basically have to guess what the problem is and try again.

I'm definitely going to try that. At this point I need all the help I can get to avoid another rejection.

Hope it helps! The automated checking is way more thorough than what I was doing manually. Catches the subtle stuff that's easy to miss when you're staring at forms for hours.

Does it work for other UCC forms too or just continuations? I have some terminations coming up that I want to make sure I get right.

It handles all the UCC-3 forms - amendments, continuations, terminations. Basically any situation where you need to make sure your new filing matches up correctly with the original UCC-1.

Glad you got it sorted out! Those invisible spacing issues are the worst - so hard to catch manually.

Awesome that the verification tool worked for you! That's exactly the kind of subtle error it's designed to catch.

Great outcome. Now you know to check for those hidden characters on future filings too.