Risk Management Blog

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

A search to reflect, also referred to as a post-filing verification search, is a search of the UCC records of the office where you filed after your UCC filing has posted to the index. It confirms proper indexing of a UCC filing and verifies its priority position relative to other creditors, important benefits of a search to reflect. When to perform a search to reflect on your UCC is key. Since you have to wait for the filing index date… >> READ MORE

Searching the correct party and correct legal name is imperative when coordinating due diligence search efforts. It is important to search all names under which liens could be filed. This may seem simple and obvious, but keep in mind that liens, particularly involuntary liens like federal tax liens and judgment liens, could be filed under business names, individual names, aliases, nicknames, or even fictitious business names. So,… >> READ MORE

You can, but keep in mind that according to the Uniform Commercial Code, filing under a trade name (dba) alone is not sufficient to perfect a security interest. In order to perfect, a secured party must file under the legal name of the debtor; a “dba” name does not constitute a legal name. A secured party may file under both the legal name and the trade name if they wish. Please refer to our previous blog post, Omit “dba” Notation… >> READ MORE

Many of our clients in California are unsecured creditors, which means they do not file a security interest (such as a UCC) to ensure they are paid for products or services rendered. They essentially ‘front’ their product and expect their invoices to be paid in a timely fashion. Whether they are a wholesale produce distributor, waste management company or an office supply wholesaler, we have seen them experience the same problem—when… >> READ MORE

Considering all the effort and resources you put into qualifying your debtors and perfecting your security interests, it's good to know there are some excellent tools you can utilize to help maintain that priority and make your efforts pay off. Why go to all the trouble to investigate a potential new debtor’s credit worthiness, and decide to perfect your security interest by filing a Financing Statement in the correct jurisdiction, if… >> READ MORE

A recent court ruling in Wisconsin once again has affirmed the supreme importance secured parties must place on their data entry procedures when naming debtors on financing statements to perfect their security interests. A recap of the case can be found here. Once again, a typo in the debtor name created a UCC filing that was judged to be seriously misleading, and therefore left the secured party’s security interest with the debtor… >> READ MORE

Searching for the right party is imperative when coordinating due diligence search efforts. This may seem simple, but keep in mind that liens could be filed under business names, individual names, aliases or nicknames, even fictitious business names. So, how can you be sure you are searching for the right name? Here are a few pointers to get you on the right track: 1. Check corporate charters to determine the exact legal name before… >> READ MORE

With so many businesses organizing in Delaware, it has become a high volume UCC search state. It is crucial to have a good working knowledge of a state’s search logic prior to ordering or performing UCC searches in that jurisdiction. Here are some important notes on UCC searching in Delaware: Exact Name Search Logic Search logic varies from state to state. Some states have online access to their UCCs offering broad-based search… >> READ MORE

Federal tax liens are regularly filed at county filing offices across the country, so your account monitoring process should include those jurisdictions. In our experience, we see many federal tax liens being filed at the county instead of the state filing office. A federal tax lien, whether filed at the state or the county, may affect your priority position; therefore it is critical to keep an eye on lien-holder activity at both the state… >> READ MORE