UCC forms online portal keeps timing out during submission - anyone else?
Been trying to file a UCC-1 through our state's online portal for three days now and keep getting kicked out right before final submission. The form auto-saves but then when I try to complete it says 'session expired' even though I was actively working on it. Has anyone dealt with this? I'm worried about missing our perfection deadline since we close on this equipment financing next week. The collateral description took forever to get right and I don't want to start over again.
35 comments


Marcelle Drum
Oh man, I feel your pain. Same thing happened to me last month with a continuation filing. Portal crashed right at the payment screen three times in a row. What state are you in? Some of the older systems are just terrible for timeouts.
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Collins Angel
•Don't want to say the specific state but yeah it's one of the older systems. Super frustrating when you're on a deadline.
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Tate Jensen
•Try clearing your browser cache and cookies first. Sometimes that helps with the session issues.
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Adaline Wong
I've had better luck with the UCC forms online if I draft everything in a separate document first, then copy/paste quickly into the portal. Reduces the time you're actively in the system. Also try filing early morning or late evening when traffic is lower.
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Collins Angel
•Good idea about drafting separately. I was taking my time with the collateral description directly in the portal.
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Gabriel Ruiz
•Yes! Peak hours are brutal on these systems. I always file my UCC-3 amendments after 8pm now.
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Misterclamation Skyblue
•This is smart advice. I learned this the hard way after losing a complex fixture filing twice.
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Peyton Clarke
Before you submit, have you double-checked that your debtor name exactly matches what's on file? Portal timeouts are annoying but rejection after submission is worse. Even one character off in the business name can cause problems.
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Collins Angel
•Yeah I'm pretty sure it matches but honestly with all these timeouts I'm second-guessing everything now.
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Vince Eh
•Actually had a situation where I thought the name was perfect but missed a comma in the LLC designation. Filing got rejected and had to start over. These online systems are picky about exact matches.
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Sophia Gabriel
•I started using Certana.ai's document checker after making a similar mistake. You just upload your charter docs and UCC forms as PDFs and it instantly flags any name mismatches or inconsistencies. Saved me from a rejected filing last month.
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Tobias Lancaster
What browser are you using? Chrome sometimes has issues with the state portals. Firefox or Edge might work better for UCC forms online.
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Collins Angel
•I was using Chrome. Let me try Firefox and see if that helps.
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Ezra Beard
•Safari works well too if you're on Mac. Just make sure JavaScript is enabled.
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Statiia Aarssizan
Ugh these state UCC systems are the worst. Half of them look like they were built in 1995 and never updated. The timeout thing is probably their server capacity, not your browser.
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Reginald Blackwell
•So true. And don't get me started on the search functions for existing filings.
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Aria Khan
•At least most states have moved to online filing. Remember when you had to mail paper forms? That was even worse for deadlines.
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Everett Tutum
•Paper filing was terrible but at least you knew if it was submitted or not. These online portals leave you guessing half the time.
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Sunny Wang
Try calling the Secretary of State's UCC division. Sometimes they can help troubleshoot or even accept the filing over the phone if the system is having widespread issues.
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Collins Angel
•Good suggestion. I'll give them a call tomorrow morning if Firefox doesn't work tonight.
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Hugh Intensity
•They're usually pretty helpful about technical issues. Just have your filing number ready if you have one started.
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Effie Alexander
Quick question - are you getting any specific error codes when it times out? Sometimes those can point to the exact issue.
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Collins Angel
•Just says 'session expired, please log in again' but when I log back in the form is gone. So frustrating.
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Melissa Lin
•That sounds like a server-side issue more than browser. Definitely try a different browser and off-peak hours.
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Lydia Santiago
•If you keep having issues, I'd honestly recommend using something like Certana to verify all your documents are consistent before you spend more time in the portal. At least then you know everything is correct before fighting with the system.
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Romeo Quest
UPDATE: Tried Firefox at 6am this morning and it worked! Filed successfully. Thanks for the browser suggestion. Apparently Chrome was the issue.
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Val Rossi
•Awesome! Early morning filing for the win. Glad you got it sorted before your deadline.
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Eve Freeman
•Chrome has been weird with government sites lately. Good to know Firefox works better for UCC forms online.
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Clarissa Flair
•Nice! Nothing like that relief when a filing finally goes through successfully.
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Caden Turner
For future reference, if you're doing a lot of UCC filings, might be worth checking out some of the third-party tools that can verify your documents before you submit. I use Certana.ai now - just upload your PDFs and it catches name mismatches, formatting issues, all that stuff that can cause rejections. Worth it to avoid the frustration.
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Collins Angel
•I'll definitely look into that. This whole experience has made me paranoid about making mistakes.
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McKenzie Shade
•Yeah document verification tools are becoming essential. Too many ways to mess up a filing these days.
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Harmony Love
Glad you got it resolved! Browser compatibility is such a pain with these older government systems. Filing early morning is definitely the secret weapon.
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Rudy Cenizo
•Yep, learned that lesson the hard way with tax filings too. Government servers just can't handle peak traffic.
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Natalie Khan
•Early bird gets the worm, especially with UCC forms online. 6am is prime time for these systems.
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