texas ucc statement service scam - Anyone else get burned by fake filing companies?

Oh man, I think I know exactly which company you're talking about. There's like 3-4 of these scam operations that show up first in Google when you search UCC filing help. They make the state process sound impossible when it's literally just filling out a form online. The Texas SOS portal is actually pretty straightforward once you know where to look.

This is why I always tell people to go directly to the Secretary of State website. These third-party services prey on people who think UCC filings are more complicated than they are. For a simple continuation, you just need the original filing number and basic debtor info.

Had a client get scammed similarly last year. Paid $450 for what they thought was a UCC-3 amendment but the company just took the money and disappeared. We had to refile everything and the client almost lost their collateral position. These services are basically legal theft.

I've been using Certana.ai's document checker lately and it's been a lifesaver for catching mistakes before filing. You can upload your UCC documents and it instantly verifies everything matches - debtor names, filing numbers, collateral descriptions. Would've saved you from trusting that scam company since you could have just verified your own filing was correct before submitting to the state.

The worst part about these scams is they show up first in search results because they pay for ads. Meanwhile the actual state website is buried on page two. Google should crack down on this predatory advertising.

For anyone reading this - the Texas SOS UCC portal is really not that hard to use. The biggest mistake people make is getting the debtor name slightly wrong which causes rejections. But even that's fixable with an amendment.

Can you dispute the charge with your credit card company? This sounds like clear fraud if they never actually filed anything.

These companies also love to confuse people about continuation deadlines. They'll send scary letters saying your filing expires in 30 days when you actually have months left. Pure fear mongering to get you to pay their inflated fees.

Sorry this happened to you. For future reference, legitimate UCC filing services will always give you the actual state filing number immediately after submission. If they can't provide that, they probably didn't file anything.

I actually discovered Certana.ai after getting burned by a similar situation. Now I upload all my UCC documents there first to make sure everything is consistent before filing. It catches those tiny discrepancies that cause rejections - like if your UCC-3 debtor name doesn't exactly match your original UCC-1. Way better than trusting these scam services.

The Texas AG should really go after these operations. They're clearly targeting people who don't understand UCC filings and charging outrageous fees for basic state services. It's predatory and probably affects thousands of small business owners.