Risk Management Blog

Equipment finance or leasing is a lending type that specializes in lending on specific collateral. Equipment finance companies can vary greatly and tend to specialize in specific industries and often tend to be manufacturers (farm equipment, medical and dental equipment, freight, industrial equipment, etc.). With this being said, there are options such as buying used equipment instead of having to take them out on finance. Especially if… >> READ MORE

To build a proprietary online search system, a service company must first purchase UCC and lien data. Many searchers are unaware that the source of a system’s online data can have a tremendous impact on their final results report. This article discusses some key differences between state direct and third party UCC and lien data. In many states, the state filing office makes their UCC and lien data available for purchase. In these states,… >> READ MORE

Many agreements, such as contract and loan agreements, require the appointment of a Registered Agent to receive Service of Process or a notice from one party to another, and to deliver the documents to the various parties as soon as possible. Service of Process under a loan agreement and other legal contracts are critical correspondence that should be handled by a professional Registered Agent to ensure the documents are expeditiously delivered… >> READ MORE

Meeting with business partners, speaking with attorneys, making decisions, drafting documents, obtaining signatures… setting up a new business entity can take a lot of patience and planning. One important step you can take to help reduce your stress and simplify your job is to reserve your business name in advance of submitting your formation documents. The process is simple: Complete the proper request form for that state and… >> READ MORE

Don’t Over-Search One of the simplest ways to keep lien searching costs down is to be careful not to over-search. Note, First Corporate Solutions is not suggesting that you eliminate critical searches from your prefunding routine. What we mean is, be mindful to limit the searches you perform to only those that are necessary in order to evaluate risk and determine position. Many times people are unsure about what to order and they are… >> READ MORE

Over the last few weeks, we’ve blogged about the solar installation boom and the options available to solar financiers to perfect a security interest on their solar panel installations. The filing of fixtures is one such option and utilized actively when perfecting residential solar panel installs. For fixture filings, a legal description of the property is needed on the financing statement to disclose where the fixture is to be. Fixture… >> READ MORE

According to Revised Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, a UCC Financing Statement is only effective if it gets the debtor name right. A UCC filing that fails to properly identify the debtor by their exact legal name will not offer the secured party priority status to collect should the debtor default or file for bankruptcy. Searchers often mistakenly interpret this to mean they only need be concerned with filings that provide an exact… >> READ MORE

On occasion questions come from the escrow community on certain situations that escrow agents find themselves in, involving the transfer of business assets and navigating through the CA UCC Code, under Division 6, Bulk Sale. The questions come in various forms, typically involving a business asset sale and transfer through escrow.  The transactions can involve business assets only or business assets with a Liquor License, but the scenario… >> READ MORE

Rejected Filings The first category of filing mistakes we will discuss is a rejected filing. In these cases, the completed UCC form is submitted to the filing office; the filing officer reviews the document, determines that it fails to meet the minimum requirements for that filing office and returns it to the submitting party without assigning a filing number. Rejected filings can cause a number of problems. First off, a rejected filing… >> READ MORE

In order to fend of challenges to their priority position, UCC filers must keep their filing information accurate and up-to-date. This is accomplished by filing the appropriate UCC3 Statement. There are five types of UCC3 Filings: Continuations extend the term for a Financing Statement by an additional five years Party Amendments add, delete or change debtor or secured party information Collateral Amendments add, delete or… >> READ MORE