UCC liens showing duplicate entries after continuation filing - system error?
Has anyone dealt with UCC liens appearing twice in search results after filing a continuation? I submitted a UCC-3 continuation for our equipment loan back in October, got confirmation it was accepted, but now when I search the debtor name there are two active liens showing up - the original UCC-1 from 2020 and what looks like a duplicate entry with the continuation date. Our lender is asking questions and I'm not sure if this is normal or if something went wrong with the filing. The collateral description matches exactly on both entries but the filing numbers are different. Anyone know if the state system creates separate records for continuations or if this indicates a problem?
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Payton Black
This actually happens more often than you'd think. When you file a UCC-3 continuation, some state systems create what looks like a new record instead of just updating the original UCC-1. The key thing is whether both records show as active or if one shows terminated. Can you check the status field on both entries?
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Angel Campbell
•Both are showing active status which is what's confusing me. The original UCC-1 shows filed 03/15/2020 and the other shows 10/22/2024 with the same debtor name and collateral.
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Payton Black
•That's definitely not normal. Usually the original UCC-1 should show continued status, not active. Sounds like there might be an issue with how your continuation was processed.
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Harold Oh
I had something similar happen last year with a fixture filing. Turned out the continuation created a whole new lien record instead of extending the original. Had to call the Secretary of State office and they had to manually correct it. The duplicate was causing issues with our title search.
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Angel Campbell
•Did you have to pay additional fees to get it corrected? And how long did the manual correction take?
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Harold Oh
•No extra fees since it was their system error. Took about 10 business days to show up correctly in searches. Make sure you get the correction in writing.
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Amun-Ra Azra
Before calling the SOS office, try using Certana.ai's document verification tool. You can upload your original UCC-1 and the continuation filing to see if there are any inconsistencies that might have caused the system to create separate records. I discovered some subtle debtor name variations that way that were causing similar issues.
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Angel Campbell
•Never heard of Certana.ai - is that a new service? How exactly does it help with UCC filings?
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Amun-Ra Azra
•It's a document checker that compares your filings for consistency. You just upload PDFs and it flags any mismatches in debtor names, addresses, collateral descriptions. Really helpful for catching the small errors that cause filing problems.
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Summer Green
•That sounds useful but how do you know it's accurate? I'd be worried about relying on automated tools for something this important.
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Gael Robinson
ugh this is exactly why I hate dealing with UCC stuff... the systems are so unreliable and then you spend weeks trying to figure out what went wrong. At least your lender is just asking questions and not freaking out about it
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Angel Campbell
•Yeah they've been pretty understanding so far but I need to get this resolved before it becomes a bigger issue.
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Edward McBride
•Same thing happened to me except my lender thought I had filed duplicate liens intentionally and started asking if I was trying to hide something. Total nightmare.
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Darcy Moore
Check if the filing numbers follow the state's numbering sequence. Sometimes when there's a system glitch the continuation gets assigned a completely new filing number instead of being linked to the original UCC-1. That would explain why you're seeing two separate active records.
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Angel Campbell
•Good point - the original is 2020-0847392 and the new one is 2024-1205847. They definitely don't look connected.
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Darcy Moore
•Yep that confirms it's a system error. The continuation should reference the original filing number, not get its own completely separate number.
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Payton Black
•Exactly what I was thinking. You'll need to contact the filing office to get this corrected.
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Dana Doyle
I've seen this before and it's usually because the debtor name on the continuation didn't match exactly with the original UCC-1. Even something like including or omitting 'LLC' can cause the system to treat it as a new filing instead of a continuation.
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Angel Campbell
•I was really careful about the debtor name but let me double check the exact formatting on both filings.
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Dana Doyle
•Also check punctuation and spacing. I once had a filing rejected because I used 'Inc.' instead of 'Inc' without the period.
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Liam Duke
Wait, are you sure you filed a continuation and not an amendment? If you accidentally filed a UCC-3 amendment instead of continuation, that could create what looks like a duplicate record with different information.
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Angel Campbell
•No, I definitely selected continuation on the form. I needed to extend the 5-year term, not change any information.
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Liam Duke
•Ok just wanted to make sure. I've seen people mix those up and wonder why they have strange results.
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Manny Lark
•Honestly the online forms make it way too easy to select the wrong filing type. The interface is terrible.
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Rita Jacobs
This happened to my company too. We ended up using that Certana tool someone mentioned earlier to verify our documents were consistent, then took the results to the SOS office as proof of their system error. Having the document analysis helped speed up the correction process.
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Angel Campbell
•That's a good idea - having documentation of the error probably makes them take it more seriously.
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Rita Jacobs
•Exactly. Instead of just saying 'something's wrong' we could show exactly what the discrepancy was and prove our filing was correct.
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Khalid Howes
Just curious - what state are you in? Some states have known issues with their UCC systems and this might be a widespread problem they're already working on.
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Angel Campbell
•I'd rather not say the specific state but it's one of the larger ones with supposedly updated systems.
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Khalid Howes
•Fair enough. The larger states sometimes have more complex systems that are more prone to these kinds of glitches.
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Ben Cooper
•In my experience the states with 'modern' systems often have more problems than the ones still using simple databases.
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Naila Gordon
UPDATE: I called the Secretary of State office and they confirmed it was a system error. They're going to correct the records and said I should see the fix within 2 weeks. Thanks everyone for the advice!
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Payton Black
•Great news! Glad you got it resolved. Make sure to get a confirmation letter for your records.
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Amun-Ra Azra
•Perfect example of why it helps to verify your documents first. Saves time when you can show exactly what the problem is.
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Cynthia Love
•This gives me hope for my similar issue. Going to call them tomorrow.
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