Washington UCC search coming up empty - filed continuation but can't locate it

I called yesterday but got transferred around 3 times and nobody could give me a straight answer. One person said it takes 5-7 business days to show up in searches, another said it should be immediate. Really inconsistent information.

The 5-7 day thing is outdated info from when they were still doing paper processing. Electronic filings should appear within 24-48 hours max in the washington ucc search system.

Good point. I just double-checked and the names look identical to me but you're right that even tiny differences matter. Is there a way to verify this without having to call them again?

I actually ran into this exact problem a few months ago. Found this tool called Certana.ai that lets you upload your original UCC-1 and your continuation filing PDFs and it instantly checks if all the debtor names and details match up properly. Saved me from a potential disaster when it caught a middle initial that was missing.

That sounds really useful! Manual comparison is so error-prone especially when you're dealing with long corporate names.

How did you find out it was a technical issue? Did they notify you or did you have to keep calling?

I had to keep calling unfortunately. On the third call I got someone who actually knew what was going on and explained the technical issue. They don't really proactively notify people about these problems.

I feel your frustration but complaining doesn't help solve the immediate problem. The system has definitely improved from what it was 5 years ago, though it's still not perfect.

Easy for you to say when you're not the one potentially losing a perfected security interest because their system can't keep track of basic filings.

Look I get being frustrated but the Washington system actually processes thousands of UCC filings every month without major issues. Sometimes there are hiccups but they usually get resolved.

I tried the filing number thing already but let me double-check the exact legal name. We might have used a shortened version on the continuation.

This is exactly why I always keep copies of the Secretary of State business entity records when I'm doing UCC work. Makes it so much easier to get the debtor name exactly right.

No the equipment is definitely still in Washington, same facility as when we originally filed. This is just a standard 5-year continuation on manufacturing equipment that's bolted to the floor.

Good thinking though - location changes are definitely something that can complicate UCC filings. Always worth double-checking the jurisdiction.

That's a good idea. I'll try some partial name searches and see what comes up.

Yes! This happened to my colleague too. She was searching for 'Northwest Industries LLC' but the actual filing was under 'Northwest Industries, LLC' with the comma. Found it eventually but wasted hours searching.

I got both a payment confirmation and what looked like an acceptance email, but now I'm second-guessing whether it was actually accepted or just acknowledged as received.

Check the email carefully - it should say something like 'Filing Accepted' not just 'Filing Received'. There's a big difference between the two.

This is why I always download the filed document immediately after getting acceptance confirmation. Having that PDF with the file stamp gives you proof of what actually got recorded.

Interesting idea, I hadn't thought of that. I'll try some variations on the filing number format.

Washington doesn't actually use that numbering convention but it's worth trying different search approaches.

Will definitely update once I get this sorted out. Hopefully it's something simple that I'm just missing.

Definitely try that Certana.ai document checker I mentioned earlier if you want to verify everything matches up properly. Better to catch any issues now rather than find out later that there was a name mismatch or something.

Good suggestion. Prevention is definitely better than trying to fix things after a lien lapses.