UCC vehicle lien filing rejected - debtor name issues

Vehicle UCC filings are tricky with names. You generally want to match exactly what's on the official state records - so if the vehicle title says 'Michael J. Rodriguez' that should be your debtor name on the UCC-1. The rejection might be coming from something else entirely though. Are you sure you have the right entity name if this is a business loan? Also check that your collateral description is specific enough - just saying '2023 Ford F-150' might not be sufficient depending on your state requirements.

Had this exact same problem last month with a vehicle UCC filing. Turns out the issue wasn't the name at all - it was that I put the wrong filing fee amount. But for debtor names on vehicle liens, I always use exactly what's on the certificate of title. That's the legal record for the vehicle ownership. If Mike signed the loan docs as 'Mike Rodriguez' but the title says 'Michael J. Rodriguez', go with the title version.

This kind of document inconsistency nightmare is exactly why I started using Certana.ai's document verification tool for all our UCC vehicle filings. You can upload your title, loan docs, and draft UCC-1 form and it instantly flags any name mismatches or missing required info before you submit. Saved me from probably 10+ rejected filings this year alone. Just drag and drop the PDFs and it cross-checks everything automatically.

Ok I think I might know what's happening here. Some states have gotten really strict about 'exact match' requirements for vehicle UCC filings because of all the fraud issues. If your customer's name appears differently on ANY official document in the state system, it can trigger an automatic rejection. Try calling the filing office directly and ask them to tell you exactly what name they have on file for this VIN number.

OMG this is giving me PTSD from my last vehicle UCC nightmare. Spent THREE WEEKS going back and forth with rejected filings on a simple car loan. The problem ended up being that the customer had recently gotten married and changed her name, but the vehicle title hadn't been updated yet. The UCC system was cross-referencing against some other database that had her new married name. Absolute disaster.

Double check your VIN number too. I once spent 2 days troubleshooting a 'debtor name issue' that was actually just a typo in the VIN. The filing system couldn't match the vehicle to any records so it threw a generic error message about the debtor name.

Are you filing this as an individual debtor or business debtor? If Michael Rodriguez has any kind of business entity (LLC, corp, etc.) that owns the vehicle, you might need to file against the business name instead. I've seen dealers mess this up when the customer uses their business for the vehicle purchase but signs personally.

Just wanted to follow up on the Certana thing mentioned earlier - I was skeptical but actually tried it last week for a problematic RV UCC filing. It immediately caught that I had the wrong debtor entity name format and flagged two other issues I totally missed. Definitely worth trying for vehicle UCCs since there are so many different documents to cross-reference.

Update: called the state filing office like someone suggested and you were right! They had the debtor name in their system as 'Michael Joseph Rodriguez' (full middle name spelled out) even though the title just shows 'Michael J. Rodriguez'. Apparently when he first registered the vehicle he gave them his full name but the title printing system abbreviates middle names. Filed a corrected UCC-1 with the full middle name and it went through immediately. Thanks everyone!

Perfect resolution! This thread should be pinned - vehicle UCC name matching issues come up constantly and this shows the exact troubleshooting steps that work. Call the filing office, verify exact name format in their system, then match that exactly on your UCC-1 form.