Listing Multiple Authorizing Parties on a UCC3 Amendment
UCC, Due DiligenceBox 9 of the UCC3 Amendment form asks the UCC filer to input the name of the party that is authorizing the amendment. In some instances, a UCC amendment will be authorized by the debtor, but in most cases the secured party of record will be the authorizing party. Many UCC records include more than one secured party though, and this can cause confusion about how to complete the amendment form. Unfortunately, the official instructions for the form do not offer much help.
The instructions that accompany the new version of theUCC3 Amendment form (effective in most states as of July 01, 2013) indicate that if there is more than one secured party of record, UCC filers should enter those additional name(s) in Box 14 of the new UCC3 Addendum page. However, Box 14 of the Addendum page is labeled “Additional space for Item 8 (Collateral).”
So, how should UCC filers list additional secured parties of record for UCC3 filings?
In a recent online discussion, several UCC experts and filing office administrators noted that in many states where electronic filing is supported, the online filing systems allow for the entry of only a single authorizing party name. For transactions where multiple authorizing party names are required, a UCC filer will likely need to file a paper document.
For paper filings, the consensus among this group was that one authorizing party name should be entered on the face page of the Amendment form with any additional secured party names entered into Box 14, making sure to indicate that the names are additional secured parties.
Additional authorizing parties are important not only in UCC filing, but also in UCC searching. Please note that both Box 9 and Box 14 are non-indexed fields. This means that when performing UCC search efforts, there is no way to tell from the index if more than one party has authorized a given amendment; searchers must be sure to view a copy of the actual filed document, including any addendum pages, to make this determination.
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