Risk Management Blog

When conducting UCC and lien searches as part of a prefunding due diligence investigation it is a good idea to maximize your results in order to minimize your risk. This strategy helps uncover hidden liens and those filed under critical name variations. To accomplish this, you will want to cast a wide net to bring in as many potential hits as possible and then whittle them down to only those that are pertinent to your transaction. Online… >> READ MORE

There are secured creditors and unsecured creditors. But what is the difference between secured creditors and unsecured creditors? Secured Creditors Secured Creditors are creditors that hold a lien on its debtor’s property, whether that property is real property or personal property. The lien gives the secured creditor an interest in its debtor’s property that provides for the property to be sold to satisfy the debt in cases of default.… >> READ MORE

The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) is a bit of a misnomer given that its interpretation and application varies widely from state to state. With this, our final “UCC Month” blog post, I want to draw attention to a few state-specific UCC rules. Filing and Recordation Taxes (AL, FL, MD, TN) Alabama, Florida, Maryland and Tennessee have special rules that may require the payment of taxes at the time of filing UCC documents. Any taxes… >> READ MORE

In concert with Commercial Finance Associations’ annual conference, below are links pertinent to CFA members about lien and documentation due diligence from previous blog posts. First Corporate Solutions is proud to once again support the CFA and we invite you all to explore the links below and then drop by our exhibit booth later this week. Let us know any questions and see you in Austin! Are you considering ways to streamline and… >> READ MORE

One of the basic tenets of the Uniform Commercial Code holds that a terminated UCC filing ceases to be effective. So how can a terminated UCC not really be terminated? There are two scenarios. Scernario 1: When the UCC record contains more than one secured party of record. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, when multiple secured parties exist for a single UCC record, a single secured party can act as representative and file a termination… >> 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

A UCC Financing Statement must properly identify the debtor in order for the UCC to perfect a security interest and provide priority protection for the secured party. To satisfy this requirement, a secured party must complete their Financing Statement using the debtor’s legal name. In general, secured parties understand the importance of properly naming the debtor on their UCC Financing Statements and try hard to comply. Sometimes though,… >> 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 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

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