UCC where to file - confused about which state office handles my equipment loan filing

Wait, are you sure about that? I thought equipment had special rules depending on where it's used. This sounds like it could be considered mobile goods.

Mobile goods still follow the debtor location rule unless we're talking about certificate of title goods like vehicles. Construction equipment that's not titled follows standard UCC Article 9 location rules.

That makes sense but what if the equipment becomes semi-permanent at the job site? Some of these machines will be there for over a year.

Still not a fixture filing situation. Fixtures are things that become part of the real estate permanently. Your construction equipment remains movable personal property even if it sits in one spot for months.

Exactly right. I learned this the hard way when I filed a UCC in the wrong state for similar equipment. Had to do a termination and refile in the correct jurisdiction. Cost us time and money.

Good point - should I be pulling a certificate of good standing to verify the exact name format?

That's one way to do it. Delaware's online entity search is pretty reliable too. Just make sure you copy the name exactly as it appears in their system, including all commas and periods.

How does that work exactly? Do you just upload PDFs?

Yeah, super simple. You upload your documents and it cross-checks debtor names, filing details, collateral descriptions across all the docs. Takes like 2 minutes and flags any inconsistencies that could cause filing problems.

That sounds useful. I've had UCC filings rejected for stupid name mismatches before and it's always a pain to fix.

It's all standard construction equipment - excavators, bulldozers, compactors. Nothing that would be titled like road vehicles.

Good, then you're definitely in standard UCC territory. Delaware filing should handle everything.

Delaware's system is pretty user-friendly. Much better than trying to figure out some of the older state portals.

Exactly! Some states make you feel like you're filing paperwork in 1995.

It's a straight commercial loan, no SBA involvement. But that's a good reminder for future deals.

SBA loans definitely have extra hoops to jump through. Regular commercial financing is much cleaner from a UCC perspective.

The loan term is 7 years so yes, I'll need to handle a continuation filing. Good reminder to calendar that now.

Smart to calendar it early. I've seen lenders scramble when they realize their UCC is about to lapse.

I actually set up calendar reminders for 4 years and 6 months out, then again at 4 years 9 months. Gives plenty of buffer time for the continuation filing.

Good to know about the quick processing time. That's much better than some horror stories I've heard about other states.

Delaware is definitely one of the more efficient states for UCC filings. Their search function is reliable too if you need to check existing filings.

That's a really good point. The collateral description should probably include 'all attachments, accessories, and additions' language.

Exactly. Construction equipment tends to get modified and upgraded during its working life. You want to make sure your security interest covers everything.

I learned this lesson when a borrower added a $50k attachment to an excavator and we hadn't covered accessories in our original UCC. Had to file an amendment to pick up the new collateral.

Definitely will do. Thanks everyone for the help - feeling much more confident about getting this filed correctly now.

Good luck with the filing! Delaware should be straightforward for this type of deal.