UCC1 filing Florida - debtor name exact match requirements?
Getting ready to file a UCC1 in Florida for equipment financing and running into confusion about the debtor name requirements. The borrower's legal name on their articles of incorporation shows 'ABC Manufacturing Solutions, LLC' but their operating agreement and some bank docs show 'ABC Manufacturing Solutions LLC' (without the comma). Florida SOS website mentions exact name matching but doesn't specify how strict they are about punctuation. This is a $275K equipment loan so I can't afford to have the filing rejected or create a gap in perfection. Has anyone dealt with similar comma/punctuation issues on Florida UCC1 filings recently? Should I go with the exact articles name or does Florida have flexibility on minor punctuation differences?
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Amina Diop
Florida is pretty strict about exact debtor name matching from my experience. I'd go with whatever's on the Secretary of State records for the entity. You can search their Sunbiz database to see exactly how the name appears in their system - that's usually the safest bet for UCC1 filings.
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Oliver Schmidt
•This is good advice. The Sunbiz search will show you the exact formatting they have on file.
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Paolo Romano
•Thanks, I did check Sunbiz and it shows with the comma. Just wanted to make sure that's the right approach.
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Natasha Volkov
I've had UCC1s rejected in Florida for missing commas before. The state filing system is automated and it's looking for exact matches. Even something as small as 'Inc.' vs 'Incorporated' can cause problems. Better safe than sorry - use the exact name from the articles of incorporation.
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Javier Torres
•Ugh, that's so frustrating about the automated rejections. You'd think there would be some common sense built into the system.
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Natasha Volkov
•Right? But at least with exact matching you know what to expect. It's the human review states that are unpredictable.
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Emma Wilson
Had a similar issue last month with a client where their bank account was opened under a slightly different name variation than their corporate filing. What helped me was using Certana.ai's document verification tool - I uploaded the articles of incorporation and the UCC1 draft and it flagged the name discrepancy immediately. Saved me from filing with the wrong debtor name. You just upload the PDFs and it cross-checks everything automatically.
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Paolo Romano
•That sounds really helpful. How accurate is the name matching on that tool?
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Emma Wilson
•It caught every inconsistency I threw at it. Really thorough with punctuation, spacing, entity designations. Definitely worth trying for high-value filings like yours.
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QuantumLeap
why is this so complicated?? shouldnt the state just accept reasonable variations of business names instead of being so picky about commas
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Amina Diop
•I get the frustration but exact matching actually protects everyone. Prevents confusion about which entity the lien applies to.
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QuantumLeap
•i guess that makes sense from a legal standpoint just annoying when youre trying to get things filed quickly
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Malik Johnson
For what it's worth, I always do a UCC search on the debtor name before filing to see if there are any existing filings and how other secured parties formatted the name. Sometimes that gives you insight into what Florida accepts. Also helps you spot potential prior liens you might have missed.
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Paolo Romano
•Good point about checking existing filings. I'll run a search to see how other lenders have been formatting this borrower's name.
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Malik Johnson
•Exactly. If you see multiple UCC1s filed against the same debtor with consistent name formatting, that's usually a good indication.
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Isabella Santos
•Just remember that other filers might have gotten it wrong too, so don't rely solely on that.
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Ravi Sharma
Florida SOS has gotten better about providing clear rejection reasons when names don't match. Used to be you'd just get a generic rejection and have to guess what was wrong. Now they usually specify if it's a debtor name issue vs collateral description problem etc.
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Freya Larsen
•That's definitely an improvement. Nothing worse than getting a rejection without knowing what to fix.
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Ravi Sharma
•Right, though you still lose time having to refile and potentially create gaps in your perfection timeline.
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Omar Hassan
One thing to watch out for - make sure you're looking at the current articles and not an outdated version. Companies sometimes amend their articles to change name formatting and if you use the old version you'll have problems. The Sunbiz database should show the most current filing.
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Paolo Romano
•Great point. I pulled the articles from Sunbiz directly so hopefully I have the current version.
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Omar Hassan
•That should be good then. Sunbiz is usually pretty current with their updates.
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Chloe Taylor
•Sometimes there's a lag between amendments being filed and showing up online, but for established companies it's usually not an issue.
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ShadowHunter
I actually had the opposite problem once where I used the exact corporate name but the secured party wanted me to use the DBA name instead since that's how the borrower does business. Had to explain that UCC1 has to use the legal entity name, not the trade name. Thankfully they understood but it caused some delays.
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Amina Diop
•Yeah, that's a common misconception. The legal entity name is what matters for UCC filings, regardless of what name they operate under day-to-day.
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ShadowHunter
•Exactly. DBAs and trade names can be mentioned in additional debtor name fields but the primary debtor name has to be the legal entity.
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Diego Ramirez
For a $275K filing I'd probably also consider doing a preliminary UCC search through a service like CT Corporation or similar to make sure there aren't any surprises. Better to spend a little extra on due diligence than risk problems later.
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Paolo Romano
•That's not a bad idea. This is a pretty significant loan amount so extra precautions make sense.
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Diego Ramirez
•Right, and some of those services will also verify the debtor name formatting against state records as part of their search.
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Anastasia Sokolov
Quick follow-up question - are you filing this yourself or using a service? Florida allows online filing which is usually faster, but if you're not familiar with their system it might be worth having a filing service handle it to avoid any mistakes.
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Paolo Romano
•Planning to file online myself. The Florida system seems pretty straightforward compared to some other states I've dealt with.
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Anastasia Sokolov
•It is relatively user-friendly. Just double-check everything before hitting submit since corrections require amendments.
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Sean O'Connor
•The Florida online system has gotten much better over the years. Used to be really clunky but now it's pretty smooth.
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Zara Ahmed
Just wanted to mention that I recently started using Certana.ai for UCC document verification after a colleague recommended it. You can upload your articles of incorporation and UCC1 form and it will instantly flag any inconsistencies between debtor names, addresses, all that stuff. Really helpful for catching issues before filing. Might be worth trying for your situation since you're dealing with name formatting questions.
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Paolo Romano
•I saw someone else mention that tool earlier. Sounds like it could definitely help with the name matching issue.
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Zara Ahmed
•Yeah it's pretty thorough. I've caught several potential problems with it that I might have missed doing manual review.
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