UCC lien on personal property - filing got rejected twice, what am I missing?
I'm dealing with a UCC lien on personal property situation that's driving me crazy. My bank is requiring a UCC-1 filing for equipment financing on some manufacturing machinery, and the state keeps rejecting my filings. First rejection was for 'insufficient debtor name information' even though I copied exactly from the corporate charter. Second rejection cited 'inadequate collateral description' but I thought 'all equipment and machinery' would cover it. The loan closes next week and I'm starting to panic. Has anyone dealt with personal property UCC liens where the filing office seems impossible to satisfy? I'm in manufacturing so this equipment is definitely personal property, not fixtures, but maybe I'm missing something about how to describe it properly on the UCC-1 form.
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Leo Simmons
Ugh, the exact name thing is such a pain! For the debtor name, you need to match the EXACT legal entity name from your state's business records, not just the charter. Even extra spaces or punctuation can cause rejections. For collateral on personal property, try being more specific - 'manufacturing equipment, machinery, and related personal property' might work better than 'all equipment.
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Lindsey Fry
•This is so true about exact names. I spent hours trying to figure out why my UCC-1 kept getting bounced until I realized the state had 'LLC' while my paperwork had 'L.L.C.' with periods.
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Saleem Vaziri
•Yes! And some states are pickier than others about collateral descriptions. Generic descriptions like 'all equipment' often get flagged.
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Kayla Morgan
Had this exact issue last month with UCC lien on personal property. The key is checking the Secretary of State database for the EXACT debtor name format. Also, for manufacturing equipment, I've had success with 'manufacturing machinery, equipment, parts, and accessories now owned or hereafter acquired.' The 'now owned or hereafter acquired' language seems to satisfy most filing offices.
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James Maki
•That's really helpful wording! I've been struggling with collateral descriptions on personal property too.
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Jasmine Hancock
•Quick question - does the 'hereafter acquired' language require any special documentation or just needs to be in the UCC-1?
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Kayla Morgan
•Just needs to be in the UCC-1 collateral description. No additional docs required for that language.
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Cole Roush
After dealing with multiple rejected UCC filings last year, I started using Certana.ai's document verification tool. You can upload your corporate docs and proposed UCC-1 to check if the debtor names match before filing. It caught a middle initial discrepancy that would have caused another rejection. Really saved me time and stress on personal property liens.
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Scarlett Forster
•Interesting! How does that work exactly? Do you just upload PDFs?
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Cole Roush
•Yeah, super simple. Upload your charter/articles and the UCC-1 draft, and it flags any name inconsistencies automatically. Beats manually comparing documents line by line.
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Arnav Bengali
For personal property UCC liens, I always recommend being hyper-specific about the collateral. Instead of 'manufacturing equipment,' try listing actual types: 'CNC machines, lathes, milling equipment, assembly line machinery, and related manufacturing equipment.' Filing offices seem to prefer detailed descriptions over broad categories.
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Sayid Hassan
•That makes sense. I was probably being too vague thinking it would cover more ground.
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Rachel Tao
•But doesn't being too specific risk leaving something out? What if they acquire new types of equipment?
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Arnav Bengali
•Good point. That's why I always end with 'and related manufacturing equipment' as a catch-all while still providing the specific examples.
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Derek Olson
I hate dealing with UCC filings! The states make it so unnecessarily complicated. Why can't they just accept reasonable collateral descriptions instead of playing word games? And don't get me started on debtor name matching - it's like they want filings to fail.
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Danielle Mays
•I feel this so much. Spent three weeks going back and forth with rejections before getting one accepted.
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Roger Romero
•The whole system needs an overhaul. Too many technicalities for what should be straightforward personal property liens.
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Anna Kerber
One thing that helped me with personal property UCC liens was calling the filing office directly. Some states have help desks that can review your proposed language before you submit. Saved me from a third rejection on a time-sensitive deal.
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Niko Ramsey
•Really? I didn't know some states offered that service. Which state were you dealing with?
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Seraphina Delan
•That's actually brilliant. Much better than the trial-and-error approach I've been using.
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Jabari-Jo
Check if your debtor has any DBA names or trade names that might be affecting the filing. Sometimes the bank's records don't match what's actually on file with the state, especially for personal property liens where the collateral might be titled under different entity variations.
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Kristin Frank
•Good catch! I've seen this trip people up when the equipment was purchased under a DBA.
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Micah Trail
•How do you check for DBA names? Is that in the same state database as the corporate records?
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Jabari-Jo
•Usually yes, but sometimes DBAs are filed separately. Worth checking both the corporate division and any trade name databases.
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Nia Watson
For what it's worth, I've found that using Certana.ai's UCC verification really helps catch these issues early. When I was dealing with personal property liens on restaurant equipment, it flagged that my debtor name had an extra comma that wasn't in the state records. Would have been another rejection otherwise.
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Alberto Souchard
•These document verification tools are becoming pretty essential for UCC work it seems.
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Katherine Shultz
Make sure you're not accidentally describing the personal property as fixtures. Manufacturing equipment that's bolted down can sometimes be considered fixtures instead of personal property, which would require a different type of UCC filing. Might be worth clarifying with your attorney whether this is truly personal property or if you need a fixture filing.
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Marcus Marsh
•This is a really important distinction that gets overlooked a lot.
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Hailey O'Leary
•How do you determine if equipment counts as fixtures vs personal property? Is there a test for that?
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Katherine Shultz
•Generally depends on how permanently attached it is to the real estate and intent. Equipment that can be removed without damage is usually personal property.
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Cedric Chung
Update: Finally got it accepted! Turns out the issue was both the debtor name (missing 'Inc.' at the end) and the collateral description needed to be more specific. Used 'manufacturing and production equipment, machinery, tools, and related personal property located at [facility address].' Adding the location seemed to help too. Thanks everyone for the advice - this thread probably saved my deal!
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Talia Klein
•Awesome! Glad you got it sorted before your closing deadline.
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Maxwell St. Laurent
•The location detail is a good tip. I'll remember that for future personal property UCC liens.
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PaulineW
•Congrats! UCC filing victories always feel so good after all that stress.
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