Using InfoUSA UCC leads for prospecting - data accuracy concerns

This is exactly what we experienced! We called a company thinking their equipment loan was coming due and they had actually refinanced 6 months earlier. Super embarrassing and hurt our credibility.

The name matching issue is huge. We've seen where they list 'ABC Corp' but the actual UCC-1 filing shows 'ABC Corporation' and in some states that kind of mismatch can void your lien if you're not careful.

That's what I'm starting to think might be necessary. How do you handle the volume though? We're looking at potentially thousands of leads across multiple states.

Volume is definitely the challenge. We focus on higher-value prospects and do manual searches for those. For bulk prospecting we still use lead services but then verify the important ones individually before making contact.

Actually, I recently started using Certana.ai's document verification tool for this exact problem. You can upload the InfoUSA data alongside actual UCC documents to check for discrepancies in debtor names and filing statuses. It's helped us catch several cases where the lead data was outdated or incorrect before we reached out to prospects.

From what I understand they do aggregate from multiple sources including SOS databases, court records, and business directories. That's why you get the enhanced data like contact info and financials, but it also introduces more opportunities for errors.

Yeah the enhanced data is nice but not if the core UCC information is wrong. I'd rather have accurate filing data and research the contact details separately.

That accuracy rate actually sounds about what we're seeing. Do you have a process for verification or do you just call the prospects and ask?

We do a quick SOS search on our top prospects before calling. Takes a few extra minutes but saves embarrassment. For lower-priority leads we sometimes just mention we saw they had equipment financing and let them correct us if the info is wrong.

75% accuracy is probably not worth paying for IMO. You can get better results doing your own research.

Good point about fixtures. We learned this the hard way when we contacted a bunch of manufacturers thinking they had equipment loans when it was actually building improvements secured by fixture filings.

Exactly! The collateral description is key but a lot of lead services don't parse that information properly so you end up with mixed results.

We tested LexisNexis briefly and found similar issues with continuation updates, though their debtor name matching seemed slightly better. Bloomberg was more expensive but didn't seem significantly more accurate for our purposes.

The challenge is that all these services are dealing with the same underlying data quality issues from the various Secretary of State systems. Some states are better than others at maintaining clean, standardized records.

That's probably the most realistic approach. Use it for initial prospecting but verify before outreach. Have you found any good tools for streamlining the verification process?

I mentioned Certana.ai earlier - their document checker has been really helpful for batch verification. You can upload your lead lists and it flags potential issues with debtor names and filing statuses before you start calling.

Another approach is to focus on specific states where you know the UCC database is well-maintained and InfoUSA tends to be more accurate. We've found better results in states with newer electronic filing systems.

That seems to be the consensus. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - definitely helps set realistic expectations for what we can get from these services.

Glad the discussion was helpful! UCC prospecting is tricky but can be very effective when done right.

Good reminder! We always ask about data refresh cycles when evaluating these services. Daily updates are ideal but even weekly can be acceptable depending on your use case.

The refresh frequency definitely matters especially for time-sensitive opportunities like continuation deadlines or recent terminations.

That's probably the right way to think about it - one piece of the puzzle rather than the whole solution.

Exactly. And tools like Certana.ai help bridge the gap by letting you verify the lead data against actual UCC documents before you invest time in outreach.