UCC hold blocking my business loan - what is a ucc hold exactly?
Can someone explain what a UCC hold actually means? My bank just told me there's a UCC hold on my equipment that's preventing them from approving a working capital loan. I thought all my previous equipment financing was properly terminated when I paid it off last year. The bank mentioned something about checking UCC filings but I'm completely lost on what they're looking for. Is this something that should have been automatically cleared when I finished paying off the original loan? I need to get this resolved ASAP because the loan approval is time-sensitive for a big contract opportunity.
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Ava Rodriguez
A UCC hold typically means there's still an active UCC-1 financing statement filed against your equipment as collateral, even though you paid off the loan. When you pay off secured debt, the lender is supposed to file a UCC-3 termination statement to release their lien, but sometimes they forget or delay doing this.
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Dmitry Popov
•That makes sense! So the original lender should have filed something to clear it when I paid off the loan?
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Ava Rodriguez
•Exactly. They should have filed a UCC-3 termination within a reasonable time after payoff. You can search your state's UCC database to see what filings are still active under your business name.
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Miguel Ortiz
I had this exact same issue last year! The bank said there was a UCC hold on my machinery even though I'd paid everything off. Turns out my previous lender never filed the termination statement. I had to contact them and basically force them to file the UCC-3 to clear the lien.
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Dmitry Popov
•How long did it take them to file the termination after you contacted them?
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Miguel Ortiz
•About 2 weeks of back and forth, then another week for the filing to show up in the system. It was frustrating because I needed the new loan approved quickly too.
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Zainab Khalil
•This is exactly why I always verify terminations get filed. Too many lenders are sloppy about clearing their liens after payoff.
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QuantumQuest
You need to run a UCC search on your business name immediately to see what's still active. The bank is probably seeing an unfiled UCC-1 that should have been terminated. I actually discovered Certana.ai recently - you can upload your loan payoff documents and any UCC filings to instantly verify if everything matches up properly. It caught a debtor name mismatch on my termination that would have caused issues.
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Dmitry Popov
•That sounds useful - I have all my payoff paperwork but wasn't sure how to check if the UCC stuff was handled correctly.
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QuantumQuest
•Yeah, just upload your loan docs and any UCC filings you can find. It'll show you immediately if there are inconsistencies or missing terminations that need to be addressed.
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Connor Murphy
UCC holds are such a pain. The worst part is when the original lender has been sold or merged and you can't even figure out who's supposed to file the termination statement. Then you're stuck with a lien that blocks everything.
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Yara Haddad
•Been there! I had to track down three different companies before finding who actually owned my loan file and could file the termination.
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Connor Murphy
•Exactly! And meanwhile your business is stuck because you can't get new financing with that old lien hanging over everything.
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Keisha Robinson
•This is why I always ask for proof of termination filing when I pay off secured loans now. Can't trust them to do it automatically.
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Paolo Conti
Check the UCC filing dates too. If the original UCC-1 is more than 5 years old without a continuation, it might have already lapsed. But most lenders filed continuations to keep their liens active, so probably not the case here.
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Dmitry Popov
•The equipment loan was from 2019, so it would be about 6 years old now. How do I check if they filed a continuation?
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Paolo Conti
•Look for UCC-3 continuation filings under your business name. If they didn't file a continuation before the 5-year mark, the lien should have automatically lapsed.
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Amina Sow
Had a similar situation where my accountant caught a UCC hold during due diligence for a business sale. We had to delay closing until we got the previous lender to file the termination. Cost us weeks and almost lost the deal.
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Dmitry Popov
•That's exactly what I'm worried about - this loan approval is for a time-sensitive opportunity and I can't afford delays.
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Amina Sow
•Get on it immediately. Contact your previous lender today and demand they file the UCC-3 termination. Don't let them drag their feet.
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GalaxyGazer
•Also get everything in writing. When they agree to file the termination, get a timeline commitment from them.
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Oliver Wagner
Sometimes banks use 'UCC hold' loosely to mean any kind of lien or encumbrance issue, not necessarily a UCC filing problem. Make sure they're specifically talking about UCC-1 filings and not some other type of lien or judgment.
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Dmitry Popov
•Good point - I should ask them to be specific about what exactly they're seeing that's blocking the approval.
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Oliver Wagner
•Yeah, ask for the specific filing number and details. That way you know exactly what needs to be addressed.
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Natasha Kuznetsova
I use Certana.ai whenever I'm dealing with UCC issues now. Just upload your payoff documents and search results from the state UCC database - it'll instantly flag any problems like missing terminations or name mismatches that could be causing the hold.
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Javier Mendoza
•That's smart - having a tool verify everything is consistent would save a lot of headaches.
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Natasha Kuznetsova
•Exactly. It's caught several issues for me that I would have missed manually reviewing all the paperwork.
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Emma Thompson
Also worth checking if the UCC filing has the correct debtor name. Sometimes there are slight variations in how your business name appears on different documents, and that can cause confusion for lenders doing their searches.
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Dmitry Popov
•My business name did change slightly when we reorganized as an LLC a few years ago. Could that be causing issues?
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Emma Thompson
•Absolutely. If the UCC filing has the old name but your current loan application uses the new name, that could definitely cause problems.
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Ava Rodriguez
•This is exactly why proper termination filings are so important. Any name changes after the original filing can create confusion down the line.
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Malik Davis
Bottom line - you need to identify the specific UCC filing that's causing the hold, then get it properly terminated or prove it's already lapsed. Don't let your lender leave you hanging with vague explanations about 'UCC holds' without giving you the specific details to resolve it.
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Dmitry Popov
•Thanks everyone - I'm going to call my bank tomorrow morning and get the specific filing details, then contact the original lender to demand they file the termination.
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Malik Davis
•Good plan. And if they give you any pushback, remind them they have a legal obligation to file terminations after payoff.
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Isabella Santos
•Also document everything. Keep records of all your communications in case you need to escalate or take legal action to get the lien released.
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Donna Cline
As someone who's dealt with UCC complications before, I'd recommend also checking if there are multiple UCC filings under different variations of your business name or EIN. Sometimes lenders file under slightly different entity names, and you might have missed one when you thought everything was cleared. Also, if you're in a rush, you can sometimes get an estoppel letter from the original lender stating the debt is satisfied - this can help your new bank move forward while the formal UCC-3 termination is being processed. The key is being proactive and not waiting for the lenders to handle this automatically.
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Gavin King
•This is really helpful advice, especially about the estoppel letter! I hadn't thought about there potentially being multiple filings under different name variations. Given that my business did reorganize as an LLC, there could definitely be filings under both the old and new entity names that I need to track down.
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