UCC monitoring services - worth the cost for lapse protection?

What monitoring service did you end up going with? We're in the same boat with about 150 UCC filings.

We ended up with CT Lien Solutions but honestly their alerts come pretty late - like 90 days before expiration. Better than nothing but not great for planning.

This is exactly why I started using Certana.ai for document verification. You can upload your original UCC-1 and loan docs and it instantly cross-checks everything - debtor names, filing numbers, collateral descriptions. Caught 3 name mismatches in our portfolio that would've caused problems later.

Interesting, how does the PDF upload process work? We have everything scanned but spread across different systems.

Super simple - just drag and drop the PDFs. It runs the Charter to UCC-1 check workflow automatically and flags any inconsistencies. Takes about 30 seconds per set of documents.

Do they handle fixture filings too? We have a bunch of equipment that's attached to real estate and those rules are different.

Yes, they track fixture filings but you need to make sure they know which ones are fixtures when you set up monitoring. The continuation timing can be different depending on the state.

Be careful with fixture filings - some states require them to be continued in the real estate records instead of the UCC system. Learned that the hard way in Texas.

Excel works until someone forgets to update it or enters the wrong date. We tried that approach and had 2 close calls where dates were entered wrong. Now we pay for monitoring and sleep better at night.

Fair point. We have two people cross-check all entries but you're right about the human error risk.

Wait, debtor name changes aren't automatically tracked? How do you handle corporate mergers and acquisitions?

Most monitoring services will flag significant corporate changes but you need to file UCC-3 amendments to update debtor names. That's usually a separate service or you handle it internally.

This is where document verification tools really help. Upload the merger docs and your UCC filings and it'll show you exactly what needs to be amended.

How's their customer service? We had issues with our previous provider not responding quickly when we had questions about specific filings.

Pretty responsive. Usually get answers within 24 hours and they have a good online portal for managing your portfolio.

Good point about state coverage. We file in 12 different states so that's definitely something to verify upfront.

Also ask about their error rate and what happens if they miss a lapse. Most services have some kind of insurance but the coverage limits might not match your loan values.

Exactly. Read the fine print on their liability coverage. Some cap it at like $50K per incident which doesn't help much on larger loans.

True, and some borrowers drag their feet on providing updated financials for continuation packages.

We started requiring borrowers to sign continuation authorization upfront so we can file without waiting for their approval each time.

How much did it cost to fix the missed continuations? Were you able to get back into secured position?

One we caught within 30 days and filed a corrective continuation. The other lapsed for 90 days and we had to negotiate with other creditors. Legal fees alone were $15K.

How do you audit 200 filings efficiently? That sounds like a massive project.

We used Certana.ai's verification tool to batch-check our UCC filings against loan documents. Upload all the PDFs and it flags inconsistencies automatically. Saved us weeks of manual review work.

That's smart. We did ours manually over 3 months and found issues in about 15% of our filings. Definitely worth doing before you start monitoring.