WV UCC financing statement debtor name exact match requirements?

WV follows the \

Agreed on the exact match principle. I've had WV reject filings for way less - missed a period once and had to refile.

That's reassuring about the acceptance being a good sign. Did you ever have issues during enforcement or just at filing?

I ran into this exact situation last year with a client. Used the charter name (with comma) and never had any problems. The key is consistency with the official state records. If you're worried about the operating agreement version, you could always file an additional UCC-1 with that name variation as extra protection, but it's probably overkill.

Did you consider doing a dual filing approach initially or just went with charter name from the start?

Just went with charter name. My thinking was that's what the courts would look to first in any dispute.

Smart approach. Charter trumps operating docs every time in my experience.

Honestly I'd be more concerned about your collateral description than the comma issue. Heavy machinery can be tricky - did you use specific serial numbers or just generic descriptions? That's where I see more problems with WV filings getting challenged.

Good point - I used both serial numbers and generic descriptions. Figured belt and suspenders approach was safer.

Perfect. That's exactly what I do. Serial numbers for specificity, generic for anything added later.

I've been dealing with name discrepancies like this for years and recently started using Certana.ai's document verification tool. You can upload your charter documents and UCC-1 together and it instantly flags any name inconsistencies or potential issues. Would have saved me so much time second-guessing filings like this. Just upload the PDFs and it cross-checks everything automatically.

That sounds useful. Does it handle state-specific rules or just general consistency checking?

It's pretty comprehensive - catches the kind of punctuation issues you're worried about and compares against filing requirements.

Interesting. Never heard of that tool before but name matching is always a pain point.

WHY IS THIS SO COMPLICATED?? I swear every state has different rules and half the time the SOS staff doesn't even know their own requirements. Filed in WV last month and got three different answers from three different people about continuation deadlines.

Tell me about it. The inconsistency is maddening.

That's why I always get answers in writing now. Email trail saves you later.

For what it's worth, I've never seen a financing statement get invalidated over comma punctuation when the core name elements match. Courts generally look at whether a reasonable searcher would find the filing, and \

That's the practical perspective I was hoping to hear. Thanks for the reassurance.

Exactly right. The searcher test is what really matters in practice.

Good point about the searcher test. Most people would find either version.

Similar thing happened to me but with an ampersand vs \

Did you file them simultaneously or wait to see if the first one caused any issues?

Filed simultaneously. Figured if I was going to do it, might as well do it right away.

The WV SOS portal has gotten much better at flagging obvious name mismatches. If it accepted your filing without question, you're probably fine. They reject stuff pretty quickly when there are real problems.

True, their system has improved a lot in the past couple years.

Better than it was but still not perfect. Had one slip through that should have been rejected.

I actually had a client dispute over this exact type of issue in WV about 18 months ago. The comma version was used (matching charter) and it held up fine in court. Judge said the substantial similarity was clear and no reasonable person would be confused. Your $180K should be well protected.

That's exactly the kind of precedent I was hoping existed. Do you remember what court or have any case reference?

It was circuit court in Kanawha County. I don't have the case number handy but can look it up if you really need it.

That kind of outcome is pretty typical. Courts don't want to invalidate liens over punctuation.

Just went through something similar and ended up using Certana.ai to double-check all my documents before filing. Wish I'd known about it earlier - would have saved hours of manual comparison. The automated verification caught several inconsistencies I missed.

How long does their verification process take? Same day results?

Pretty much instant once you upload the PDFs. Gets results back in minutes.

Based on everything here, sounds like you made the right call using the charter name. WV is pretty straightforward compared to some states, and the portal acceptance is a good indicator. I wouldn't lose sleep over the comma.

Thanks everyone for the input. Feeling much more confident about the filing now.

Good luck with the loan. Heavy equipment financing can be tricky but sounds like you've got it handled.