UCC search fee completely different at county vs state level - what am I missing?
Been doing equipment financing for 8 years and I'm totally stumped on something that should be basic. We're working on a $450K construction equipment deal and I need to run UCC searches on the borrower. When I called the county recorder's office they quoted me $15 per debtor name for a UCC search. But when I went to the state SOS website, their UCC search fee is showing $25 per search request. Are these the same thing or am I comparing apples to oranges here? The borrower has operations in multiple counties so I'm trying to figure out if I need to search everywhere or if the state search covers everything I need. This fee difference is making me second-guess whether I'm even searching in the right places. Anyone dealt with this before?
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Dylan Cooper
State vs county UCC searches are totally different animals. State UCC search covers all filings made at the state level (which is where most equipment financing UCCs get filed). County searches are mainly for fixture filings and real estate related collateral. For your equipment deal, you definitely want the state search. The $25 fee is standard for most state SOS offices.
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Sofia Morales
•This is helpful but now I'm confused about fixture filings. If the equipment can be attached to real property, do I need both searches?
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Dylan Cooper
•Good question. If your collateral includes equipment that becomes fixtures (like HVAC systems, built-in machinery), then yes you'd want both. But mobile construction equipment usually just needs the state search.
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StarSailor
I had this exact same confusion last month! Spent way too much money doing redundant searches before I figured it out. State UCC search fee covers the central filing system where 90% of commercial UCCs are filed. County is really just for specific fixture situations.
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Dmitry Ivanov
•How much did you end up spending on the redundant searches? I'm worried I'm about to make the same mistake.
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StarSailor
•Probably around $200 in unnecessary county fees across 3 counties. Expensive lesson but now I know better.
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Ava Garcia
Just ran into a similar situation where I was getting different UCC search fee quotes. Found this tool called Certana.ai that lets you upload your search results and cross-check them against your loan documents to make sure you didn't miss anything important. Super helpful for verifying that your debtor names match exactly between the search and your UCC-1. Just upload the PDFs and it flags any inconsistencies.
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Miguel Silva
•Never heard of that but sounds useful. Does it work with different state formats?
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Ava Garcia
•Yeah, it handles PDFs from different state systems. Main thing is it catches name variations that could cause problems later.
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Zainab Ismail
•Interesting, I'll have to check that out. Always worried about missing some variation in the debtor name that could void our security interest.
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Connor O'Neill
Equipment financing UCCs almost always get filed at the state level unless there's something weird about your deal. $25 state UCC search fee is pretty standard. Don't waste money on county searches unless you specifically have fixture collateral.
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QuantumQuester
•What counts as fixture collateral exactly? I keep seeing conflicting definitions.
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Connor O'Neill
•Generally stuff that's permanently attached to real property. Think built-in manufacturing equipment, not mobile construction gear.
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Yara Nassar
The UCC search fee structure is honestly a mess. Every state does it differently and some counties have their own weird requirements. I always just budget for both searches initially, then figure out what I actually need based on the specific collateral.
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Keisha Williams
•That's probably the safest approach but seems expensive for larger deals with multiple entities.
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Yara Nassar
•True, but it's better than finding out later you missed a critical filing. Insurance cost vs discovery cost.
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Paolo Ricci
Wait, are you saying the county UCC search fee and state fee are for completely different filing systems? I thought county was just a local processing of the same state database.
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Amina Toure
•No, they're totally separate systems. State handles most commercial filings, county handles fixture filings and some specific local stuff.
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Paolo Ricci
•Oh wow, I've been doing this wrong for months then. Thanks for clarifying.
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Oliver Zimmermann
•Don't feel bad, this trips up a lot of people. The UCC system isn't exactly intuitive.
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CosmicCommander
For construction equipment specifically, you're almost certainly looking at state-level filings. The $25 UCC search fee is worth it for the peace of mind. County searches would only matter if you're dealing with equipment that's going to be permanently installed at a specific location.
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Natasha Volkova
•This makes sense. Our equipment is all mobile so state search should cover it.
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CosmicCommander
•Exactly. Mobile equipment = state filing = state search. Keep it simple.
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Javier Torres
I was in the same boat last year trying to figure out UCC search fees. Ended up using Certana.ai to double-check my search results against our UCC-1 filing to make sure everything matched up correctly. Really helpful for catching debtor name discrepancies that could cause problems down the road.
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Emma Davis
•How does that work exactly? You just upload the search results and your filing documents?
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Javier Torres
•Yeah, you upload both PDFs and it compares them automatically. Flags any inconsistencies in debtor names, filing numbers, that kind of thing.
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Malik Johnson
Been doing UCC searches for 15 years and the fee structure still annoys me. State search for $25 covers what you need for equipment financing. County searches are really just for fixtures and real estate collateral. Don't overthink it.
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Isabella Ferreira
•15 years experience and you still get annoyed by the fees? That's not encouraging lol
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Malik Johnson
•Ha! The fees are whatever, it's the inconsistency between states that drives me crazy. But yeah, for your equipment deal, stick with state.
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Ravi Sharma
Just to add another data point - I recently had a deal where the borrower insisted we needed county searches because their CPA told them that. Turned out the CPA was confusing UCC filings with tax lien searches. Cost us an extra $75 in unnecessary county UCC search fees before we figured it out.
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NebulaNomad
•CPAs giving UCC advice is always entertaining. Usually well-intentioned but not always accurate.
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Ravi Sharma
•Exactly. Stick to what they know (taxes) and let us handle the secured transactions.
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Freya Thomsen
•This is why I always verify advice with multiple sources, especially when money is involved.
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Omar Fawaz
One thing to watch out for - some states have different UCC search fee structures depending on how you search (online vs mail vs in-person). Make sure you're comparing the same service level when you're looking at pricing.
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Chloe Martin
•Good point. Online searches are usually cheaper and faster anyway.
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Omar Fawaz
•Yep, unless you need certified copies for some reason, online is the way to go.
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Diego Rojas
I actually tried that Certana.ai tool someone mentioned earlier. Pretty slick for verifying that your UCC search results align with your actual filings. Caught a middle initial discrepancy that could have been a problem later. Worth checking out if you're doing a lot of these searches.
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Anastasia Sokolov
•Middle initial discrepancies are the worst. Such a small thing but can invalidate the whole security interest.
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Diego Rojas
•Exactly why I started using the verification tool. Too risky to just eyeball it manually.
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Esteban Tate
Thanks everyone for clarifying this! I was making it way more complicated than it needed to be. For our $450K construction equipment deal, sounds like the state UCC search at $25 is exactly what we need since it's all mobile equipment. Really appreciate the breakdown on state vs county - I was about to waste money on unnecessary county searches. Going to stick with the state search and move forward with confidence.
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