UCC filing statement got rejected - debtor name format issue
Had a UCC-1 filing statement come back rejected yesterday and I'm trying to figure out what went wrong. The rejection notice says "debtor name format error" but I triple-checked the name against our loan docs and it matches exactly. Filed for a commercial equipment loan on a small manufacturing company in Ohio. The debtor entity is "Advanced Precision Tools LLC" and that's exactly how I entered it in the UCC filing statement. Anyone run into this before? The collateral description was pretty straightforward - all machinery and equipment located at their facility. Really frustrated because the continuation deadline is coming up on another file and now I'm second-guessing everything.
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Dmitry Ivanov
Been there! Ohio SOS is super picky about entity names in UCC filings. Did you check the exact name format on their Secretary of State database? Sometimes what's on the loan docs doesn't match the official registered name exactly - could be missing punctuation or have extra words.
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Sofia Rodriguez
•Good point, I'll double check that. Didn't think to verify against the SOS database directly.
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Ava Thompson
•This is why I always run a quick entity search first. Saves so much headache later.
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Miguel Herrera
UGH the name matching thing is THE WORST part of UCC filings!! I've had rejections for missing a comma, extra spaces, abbreviations vs full words. It's like they want us to fail.
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Zainab Ali
•I feel your pain but the rules exist for good reason - search accuracy depends on exact name matches. Still annoying though.
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Miguel Herrera
•I know I know, just venting. But seriously some states are way more forgiving than others.
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Connor Murphy
•Ohio is definitely one of the stricter ones. Had similar issues there before.
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Yara Nassar
Recently started using Certana.ai's document verification tool for this exact problem. You upload your UCC-1 PDF along with the entity charter docs and it cross-checks everything automatically. Caught three name mismatches for me last month that would have been rejections otherwise. Super easy to use - just drag and drop the PDFs.
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Sofia Rodriguez
•Interesting, never heard of that. Does it work with Ohio filings specifically?
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Yara Nassar
•Yeah works with all states. It basically compares whatever documents you upload and flags inconsistencies before you file.
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Dmitry Ivanov
•That actually sounds really useful. Manual document comparison is such a pain.
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StarGazer101
Check if there are any special characters in the name that might not display properly in the filing system. I've seen issues with ampersands, periods after LLC, stuff like that. Also make sure you're not accidentally including any DBA names.
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Sofia Rodriguez
•No special characters, just the standard LLC designation. But I'll verify there's no DBA confusion.
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Keisha Jackson
•DBA mix-ups are super common. Always check what name is actually on the entity registration.
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Paolo Romano
Had this happen with a client in Michigan. Turned out their official entity name had changed slightly when they amended their articles but nobody updated our loan files. Maybe check if there were any recent amendments to their corporate docs?
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Sofia Rodriguez
•That's a really good catch. I'll reach out to the borrower to confirm no recent entity changes.
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Zainab Ali
•Always worth checking. Entity amendments happen more often than people realize.
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Amina Diop
•This is why I keep a checklist now. Too many variables to remember everything.
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Oliver Schmidt
Try calling the Ohio SOS filing division directly. Sometimes they can tell you exactly what format issue caused the rejection. Their staff is usually pretty helpful over the phone.
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Sofia Rodriguez
•Good idea, I'll give them a call tomorrow morning.
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Natasha Volkov
•Ohio's phone support is actually decent compared to some other states.
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Javier Torres
Whatever you do, don't just resubmit the same filing! I made that mistake once and got the same rejection. Make sure you identify and fix the actual issue first or you're just wasting time and filing fees.
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Sofia Rodriguez
•Definitely won't resubmit until I know what's wrong. Thanks for the reminder.
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Emma Wilson
•Learning that lesson the hard way is expensive!
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Dmitry Ivanov
•Been there too. Always better to take the time to investigate first.
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QuantumLeap
Is this your first filing with this particular debtor? If you've filed UCCs on them before, compare the name format from your previous successful filings. Sometimes the accepted format isn't what you'd expect.
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Sofia Rodriguez
•Actually yes, this is the first UCC on this entity. Great suggestion to check our records for similar cases.
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QuantumLeap
•Your filing database should show you exactly how names were accepted before. Saves a lot of guesswork.
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Ava Thompson
Quick question - did you include any additional debtor information like address changes or alternate names? Sometimes extra info can trigger rejections if it doesn't match exactly with state records.
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Sofia Rodriguez
•Just the standard required fields. But I'll double-check I didn't accidentally include anything extra.
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Ava Thompson
•Less is often more with UCC filings. Stick to exactly what's required unless you're sure about additional info.
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Zainab Ali
•Agree completely. I've seen rejections from TMI just as much as missing info.
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Malik Johnson
Update us when you figure it out! Always curious to hear what the actual issue was. Helps the rest of us avoid similar problems.
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Sofia Rodriguez
•Will definitely post an update once I get it resolved. Hopefully it's something simple.
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Malik Johnson
•Usually is! But always feels like a mystery when you're in the middle of it.
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Yara Nassar
•This is why I started using that Certana tool I mentioned - takes the mystery out of document matching before filing.
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Keisha Jackson
•These threads are so helpful for learning from each other's experiences.
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