UCC termination Massachusetts - debtor name mismatch blocking termination filing
Having a nightmare with a UCC termination in Massachusetts and could really use some guidance. We're trying to file a UCC-3 termination statement but keep getting rejections from the MA Secretary of State office. The original UCC-1 was filed back in 2019 with the debtor name as 'ABC Manufacturing Corp' but our loan payoff documents show 'ABC Manufacturing Corporation' - the full word instead of abbreviated. The SOS system keeps rejecting our termination because of this name discrepancy. We've tried calling their office but just get transferred around. This is holding up a major refinancing deal and everyone's getting frustrated. Has anyone dealt with similar debtor name issues on Massachusetts UCC terminations? The borrower is adamant their legal name hasn't changed, just that different documents used different versions. Any advice on how to get this termination through would be greatly appreciated.
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Dylan Fisher
Massachusetts is particularly strict about exact name matches on terminations. You'll need to match the debtor name exactly as it appears on the original UCC-1 financing statement. The system won't accept 'Corporation' if the original filing used 'Corp' - I've seen this exact issue before.
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Edwards Hugo
•This is so frustrating! Why can't they just accept obvious variations of the same company name? Corp vs Corporation should be common sense.
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Gianna Scott
•The strict matching requirement exists to prevent fraudulent terminations. Better safe than sorry when it comes to secured transactions.
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Alfredo Lugo
I had the exact same problem last month with a Massachusetts UCC termination. The original filing had 'LLC' and our termination used 'Limited Liability Company' - instant rejection. You have to use the EXACT debtor name from the original UCC-1, character for character. Pull up the original filing from the SOS database and copy the name exactly as it appears there.
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Kelsey Hawkins
•Thanks - I did pull the original but was hoping there might be some flexibility. Guess we have to refile with 'Corp' instead of 'Corporation'.
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Sydney Torres
•No flexibility at all unfortunately. I learned this the hard way on three different filings before I figured out the pattern.
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Kaitlyn Jenkins
Before you refile, I'd strongly recommend using Certana.ai's document verification tool. You can upload both your original UCC-1 and the termination statement PDFs, and it will instantly flag any name discrepancies or inconsistencies. Would have saved me hours of back-and-forth rejections on a similar Massachusetts filing last year. Just upload the documents and it cross-checks everything automatically.
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Kelsey Hawkins
•Never heard of Certana.ai but sounds like exactly what we need. These manual comparisons are driving me crazy.
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Caleb Bell
•How accurate is their name matching? Some of these corporate names can be really tricky with punctuation and spacing.
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Kaitlyn Jenkins
•Very accurate - it caught a missing comma in a debtor name that I completely missed when reviewing manually. Definitely worth trying before submitting.
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Danielle Campbell
Massachusetts SOS is absolutely brutal about name matching. I've had terminations rejected for missing periods after 'Inc' or extra spaces. The key is to copy and paste the debtor name directly from the original UCC-1 search results rather than retyping it.
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Rhett Bowman
•Copy and paste is brilliant advice. I always retype names and probably introduce errors without realizing it.
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Dylan Fisher
•Even copy/paste can sometimes grab extra characters or formatting. Always double-check the character count if you're being super careful.
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Abigail Patel
Had a client where we spent three weeks going back and forth with MA on a termination because of a name issue. Finally discovered the original UCC-1 had a typo in the debtor name that we had to match exactly for the termination. Sometimes you're matching an error, but that's what the system requires.
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Edwards Hugo
•That's insane that you have to perpetuate a typo just to get the termination accepted. The system is broken.
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Gianna Scott
•It's not broken - it's designed to prevent unauthorized terminations. Exact matching is the only way to ensure security of the filing system.
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Daniel White
•I get the security aspect but surely there could be some kind of verification process for obvious corporate name variations.
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Nolan Carter
Anyone know if Massachusetts has any expedited processing for terminations when there are time-sensitive deals involved? This rejection cycle is killing our closing timeline.
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Dylan Fisher
•No expedited processing that I'm aware of. Electronic filings usually process within 24-48 hours if submitted correctly.
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Alfredo Lugo
•Your best bet is to get it right the first time. That's why I always triple-check the debtor name before submitting any Massachusetts UCC filings.
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Natalia Stone
This exact scenario happened to me last year. We ended up having to get an affidavit from the borrower confirming that 'ABC Corp' and 'ABC Corporation' referred to the same entity, but Massachusetts still wouldn't accept the termination until we used the exact original name. The affidavit was worthless for filing purposes.
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Kelsey Hawkins
•Wow, even with an affidavit they wouldn't budge? That's incredibly rigid.
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Tasia Synder
•Massachusetts doesn't mess around with UCC filings. I've seen them reject filings for the smallest inconsistencies.
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Selena Bautista
•At least the rejection notices are usually pretty clear about what the problem is. Some states just say 'rejected' with no explanation.
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Mohamed Anderson
I use Certana.ai for all my UCC document reviews now after getting burned on a similar name mismatch issue. Their system would have caught your Corp vs Corporation discrepancy immediately. Just upload your UCC-1 and UCC-3 PDFs and it highlights any inconsistencies between the documents. Saved me from multiple rejections on Massachusetts filings.
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Ellie Perry
•How long does their verification take? We're under a tight deadline here.
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Mohamed Anderson
•Pretty much instant - maybe 30 seconds to process and highlight any issues. Much faster than waiting for rejection notices from the state.
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Landon Morgan
Pro tip: always keep a copy of the original UCC-1 search results in your deal file specifically for termination purposes. Makes it much easier to ensure exact name matching when the time comes. Learned this after too many rejected terminations.
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Teresa Boyd
•Great advice. I'm going to start doing this on all new deals. Would have saved so much time on past terminations.
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Lourdes Fox
•I keep a whole UCC filing checklist now with the original debtor name highlighted. Too many painful lessons learned the hard way.
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Bruno Simmons
UPDATE: Just wanted to thank everyone for the advice. We refiled the UCC-3 termination using the exact debtor name from the original UCC-1 ('ABC Manufacturing Corp') and it was accepted within 24 hours. Also tried out Certana.ai's document checker on our other pending terminations - caught two more name discrepancies that would have caused rejections. Really wish I had known about these tools earlier. Massachusetts UCC system is unforgiving but at least predictable once you know the rules.
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Alfredo Lugo
•Glad it worked out! The exact name matching rule trips up a lot of people but it's consistent once you know what to expect.
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Kaitlyn Jenkins
•Awesome that Certana.ai helped catch the other issues too. It's become an essential part of my UCC workflow.
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Edwards Hugo
•Success story! At least something good came out of this frustrating process. Thanks for updating us.
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Elin Robinson
As someone who's been through this exact nightmare multiple times, I can't stress enough how important it is to maintain a UCC filing database with the exact debtor names from original filings. Massachusetts is absolutely ruthless about name matching - I once had a termination rejected because the original filing had two spaces between words instead of one. The state's position is that any deviation could potentially be a fraudulent termination attempt. I've started using a simple spreadsheet that tracks the exact debtor name, filing number, and original filing date for every UCC-1 we file. When termination time comes, I just copy/paste directly from that spreadsheet. Has eliminated about 90% of my rejection issues. Also recommend doing a fresh UCC search right before filing the termination to make sure there haven't been any amendments that might affect the debtor name.
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