wa state ucc search showing conflicting filing records - help needed
Been dealing with a nightmare situation where our lender is questioning some collateral we thought was clear. Running a wa state ucc search on our equipment shows two different UCC-1 filings that don't match up - one shows our company name as 'Pacific Northwest Manufacturing LLC' and another shows 'PNW Manufacturing, LLC' for what appears to be the same collateral. The filing numbers are completely different (202301234567 vs 202301298765) and filed about 6 months apart. Our attorney says this could create a priority issue since the debtor names aren't identical matches. Has anyone dealt with similar debtor-name variations in WA state filings? We're trying to figure out if these are duplicate filings or if someone else has a competing interest in our equipment. The collateral descriptions are slightly different too - one says 'manufacturing equipment' and the other lists specific serial numbers. This is holding up our refinancing and we need to get it sorted fast.
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Paige Cantoni
Wow, that's exactly the kind of mess that keeps me up at night. In WA state, the debtor name has to be an exact match to what's on the organizational documents. Even something as small as 'LLC' vs ', LLC' can create problems. You need to pull your Articles of Incorporation or LLC formation docs and see which name is the official one. If both filings are yours, you might need to file UCC-3 amendments to correct the inconsistent one.
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Kylo Ren
•This is why I always triple-check the exact legal name before any UCC filing. The WA Secretary of State system is pretty strict about exact matching.
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Nina Fitzgerald
•Had the same issue last year! Turns out our company had changed its name slightly when we renewed our LLC registration and nobody told the finance department.
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Jason Brewer
You definitely need to figure out who filed the second UCC-1. Check the secured party information on both filings - if they're different lenders, you've got a real problem. If it's the same lender, they probably just made an error and filed twice with slightly different info. The collateral description differences are concerning too.
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Chad Winthrope
•Good point - I didn't even think to check the secured party names carefully. Will pull both filings again and compare line by line.
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Kiara Fisherman
•Also check the filing dates and see if there was any corporate activity around those times that might explain the name variation.
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Liam Cortez
Had a similar situation recently and found this tool called Certana.ai that can upload your UCC documents and cross-check everything automatically. I uploaded both UCC-1s and it immediately flagged the debtor name inconsistency and highlighted all the differences between the filings. Saved me hours of manual comparison and helped me prepare the right questions for our attorney. Really straightforward - just upload the PDFs and it does all the verification work.
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Chad Winthrope
•That sounds incredibly helpful right now. Did it help you identify which filing was the correct one?
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Liam Cortez
•It showed me exactly where the discrepancies were, then I could match them against our corporate documents to see which name was accurate. Turned out we had filed under an old DBA name by mistake.
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Savannah Vin
•Never heard of that service but anything that can sort through UCC document inconsistencies sounds like a lifesaver.
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Mason Stone
This is a mess but not uncommon. WA state's UCC database sometimes shows filings that look duplicate but aren't. First thing - get certified copies of both UCC-1 filings from the Secretary of State. Then check if your company has any subsidiaries or if you've done any mergers that might explain the name variations.
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Chad Winthrope
•We haven't done any mergers but we did register a DBA about a year ago. Could that be related?
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Mason Stone
•Absolutely! If someone filed using your DBA name instead of your legal entity name, that could explain the discrepancy. DBAs aren't valid debtor names for UCC purposes.
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Makayla Shoemaker
UGH the WA state system is so frustrating!!! I've had filings rejected for the stupidest reasons - like having 'Inc.' instead of 'Incorporated' or missing a comma. The fact that you have two filings with different names is definitely going to cause issues with your refinancing. Your lender's title company will probably flag this as a cloud on the collateral.
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Christian Bierman
•The punctuation thing drives me crazy too. You'd think in 2025 they'd have better matching algorithms.
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Makayla Shoemaker
•Right?? And don't even get me started on their search function. Half the time it doesn't find filings that are definitely there.
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Emma Olsen
Check this - go to the WA Secretary of State business entity search and look up your exact legal name. Then compare that EXACTLY to what's on both UCC filings. My guess is one of them has the wrong name format. You'll probably need to file a UCC-3 correction statement for whichever one is wrong.
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Chad Winthrope
•Just did this and you're right - our official name is 'Pacific Northwest Manufacturing LLC' without the comma. So the second filing is definitely wrong.
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Emma Olsen
•There you go! Now you need to figure out who filed the incorrect one and get them to file a UCC-3 correction or termination.
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Lucas Lindsey
Something similar happened to us and it turned out to be a filing error by our previous lender. They had filed a UCC-1 with a slightly different name variation, then when we refinanced, the new lender filed again with the correct name. We ended up needing both lenders to coordinate on cleaning up the records.
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Chad Winthrope
•That might be exactly what happened here. We did refinance about 8 months ago around the time of the second filing.
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Lucas Lindsey
•Yeah, sounds like your old lender never terminated their UCC-1 and the new one filed fresh. You'll need to get the old one terminated.
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Sophie Duck
•This is why I always check for existing filings before doing new ones. Saves so much headache later.
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Austin Leonard
Had to deal with this exact scenario last month. Used Certana.ai to upload both UCC-1 filings and it immediately showed me all the inconsistencies - debtor names, collateral descriptions, everything. Then I could see exactly what needed to be corrected. Made it super easy to prepare the UCC-3 amendment paperwork with all the right details.
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Anita George
•How does that work exactly? Do you just upload the PDF files?
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Austin Leonard
•Yeah, just upload the UCC documents and it automatically compares them and flags any inconsistencies. Really helpful for complex situations like this.
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Abigail Spencer
This is why proper due diligence before filing is so important. Always run a UCC search first to see what's already out there. But since you're already in this situation, you need to trace both filings back to their source and get the incorrect one fixed.
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Chad Winthrope
•Lesson learned for sure. Just trying to clean up the mess now so we can move forward with our refinancing.
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Abigail Spencer
•Totally understand. Once you identify which filing is wrong, the correction process is usually pretty straightforward.
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Logan Chiang
Been there! The key is getting certified copies of both filings and then working with your attorney to determine the proper course of action. Might need UCC-3 corrections, might need terminations, depends on the specific situation. But don't let this drag on - lenders hate unclear collateral situations.
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Chad Winthrope
•Already working with our attorney but wanted to get some practical input from people who've been through this before. Really appreciate all the advice here.
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Logan Chiang
•Smart approach. The more you understand about the situation before meeting with your attorney, the more efficient and cost-effective the resolution will be.
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