UCC1 filing Maryland debtor name rejection - what am I missing?
Been dealing with a nightmare situation for the past week. Had a UCC1 filing rejected by Maryland's Department of Assessments and Taxation three times now, and I'm losing my mind trying to figure out what's wrong. The debtor is a Delaware LLC that we've financed equipment for ($275k transaction), and I swear I'm copying the exact name from their Articles of Organization. Each rejection notice just says 'debtor name does not match records' but gives zero specifics about what part is wrong. This is holding up our entire closing and the borrower is getting antsy. The entity name is something like 'Advanced Manufacturing Solutions, LLC' - I've tried with the comma, without the comma, with periods after abbreviated words, everything I can think of. Has anyone dealt with Maryland's system being this picky about UCC1 filing debtor names? Starting to wonder if there's some database issue on their end or if I'm just completely missing something obvious here.
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Kaylee Cook
Maryland can be really particular about exact name matching for out-of-state entities. When you say Delaware LLC, are you checking against Maryland's foreign entity registration database or Delaware's? Sometimes the issue is the entity isn't properly registered to do business in Maryland yet, so their system won't accept the filing.
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Morgan Washington
•Good point - I assumed since they're doing business in Maryland they'd be registered but I should double-check that. How do I verify their Maryland foreign registration status?
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Kaylee Cook
•Check Maryland SDAT's business entity search. If they're not showing up as a foreign LLC in good standing, that could be your whole problem right there.
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Oliver Alexander
I've seen this exact issue before. Maryland's UCC system cross-references against their business entity database, and if there's even a tiny discrepancy it gets rejected. Try searching their database first to see exactly how the name appears there, then copy it character for character. Also check if there are any assumed names or trade names registered that might be causing confusion.
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Lara Woods
•This is why I started using document verification tools. Had similar issues with name mismatches between formation docs and UCC filings. Certana.ai's document checker caught inconsistencies I missed when I uploaded the Articles and my draft UCC-1 - saved me multiple rejection rounds.
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Morgan Washington
•Never heard of that service but might be worth trying at this point. How does it work exactly?
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Lara Woods
•You just upload your entity formation documents and UCC-1 draft as PDFs and it automatically flags any name discrepancies or inconsistencies. Takes like 2 minutes and catches stuff you'd never notice manually.
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Adrian Hughes
Maryland rejected mine 4 times last month before I figured out the issue. The entity had a d/b/a registered that was slightly different from their legal name, and somehow that was interfering with the matching. Also make sure you're not including any extra spaces or hidden characters if you're copy-pasting the name.
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Molly Chambers
•Hidden characters are a real problem! I've had filings rejected because of invisible formatting characters copied from PDFs. Always retype names manually to be safe.
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Ian Armstrong
•Or paste into Notepad first to strip formatting, then copy from there. Learned that trick after too many rejections.
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Eli Butler
UGH Maryland's system is the WORST. I swear they reject things just to generate more filing fees. Have you tried calling their UCC office directly? Sometimes they'll tell you exactly what's wrong over the phone instead of making you guess from those useless rejection notices.
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Marcus Patterson
•I've called before and got someone helpful, but other times they just read the same rejection language back to me. Hit or miss depending on who answers.
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Eli Butler
•Yeah it's frustrating how inconsistent their help is. But worth trying, especially if you're on filing attempt #3.
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Lydia Bailey
Check if the LLC has any amendments to their Articles that changed the name slightly. I've seen cases where the formation docs show one version but amendments created a different official name. Also verify the exact legal name on their Certificate of Good Standing if you have one.
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Morgan Washington
•That's a good thought. I only looked at the original Articles of Organization from Delaware. Should I be checking for amendments or name changes filed after formation?
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Lydia Bailey
•Definitely. Delaware's Division of Corporations website lets you pull the complete filing history. Any amendments would show up there.
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Mateo Warren
•Also check if they've filed any annual reports that might show a different name format. Sometimes entities use slightly different versions on different filings.
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Sofia Price
I had this same problem with Maryland last year. Turned out the issue was punctuation - the entity had a period after 'LLC' in some filings but not others. Maryland's system is super literal about matching every character exactly. Try every possible variation you can think of.
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Alice Coleman
•This is exactly why I use automated checking now. Too easy to miss tiny differences like periods and commas when you're staring at names all day.
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Owen Jenkins
•What service do you use for that? Getting tired of playing guessing games with state filing systems.
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Alice Coleman
•Certana.ai - you upload your entity docs and UCC draft and it highlights any inconsistencies. Worth it just for the time savings alone.
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Lilah Brooks
Have you checked if there are multiple entities with similar names? Sometimes the system gets confused if there's another LLC with a nearly identical name and flags yours as potentially incorrect.
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Jackson Carter
•Good point. Maryland's entity search will show similar names that might be causing confusion.
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Kolton Murphy
Try filing with just the core business name without 'LLC' at the end, then in a separate field indicate the entity type. Some states prefer it formatted that way even though it's not obvious from their instructions.
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Evelyn Rivera
•I don't think Maryland allows that format for UCC-1 filings. The debtor name field requires the complete legal name including entity designation.
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Kolton Murphy
•You might be right. Worth checking their specific formatting requirements though.
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Julia Hall
This might sound weird but try typing the name in all caps. Some older state systems were built expecting uppercase input and get confused by mixed case, even though they don't specify that in their instructions.
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Arjun Patel
•That's actually not a bad idea. I've seen systems that are case-sensitive in weird ways.
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Morgan Washington
•At this point I'm willing to try anything. Will give the all-caps version a shot.
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Jade Lopez
Update us when you figure it out! I'm curious what the actual issue turns out to be. Maryland rejections are so frustrating because their error messages are useless.
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Morgan Washington
•Will definitely post an update once I get this resolved. Hopefully it's something simple that I'm just overlooking.
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Tony Brooks
•Same here, following this thread. Deal with Maryland UCC filings regularly and always looking for tips to avoid rejections.
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