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For what it's worth, I've found that transmitting utility companies often have their legal departments handle UCC coordination. They're usually pretty good about providing the correct entity information if you ask.
Ethan Clark
•That's a great tip. I always forget that utilities have specialized legal teams for this stuff.
AaliyahAli
•Wish I'd thought of that earlier. Their counsel probably deals with UCC filings all the time and would know exactly how to format everything.
Mila Walker
Just make sure you're not overthinking the collateral description. As long as it reasonably describes the transmitting utility equipment and includes the key identifying characteristics, you should be fine. The debtor name is way more important to get exactly right.
Logan Scott
•Agreed. I've seen people spend hours perfecting collateral descriptions while missing basic entity name errors.
Chloe Green
•The irony is that a slightly imperfect collateral description rarely causes problems, but a wrong debtor name kills the entire filing.
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Derek Olson
Just make sure your revised collateral description still covers everything in your actual security agreement. I've seen people fix the UCC filing but create gaps in their security interest coverage.
Derek Olson
•Yeah, the UCC and security agreement need to work together even if they use different language. Document review tools can help catch those gaps.
Lindsey Fry
•That's another thing Certana.ai caught for me - my UCC language was too narrow compared to my security agreement. Could have created enforcement issues later.
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StarStrider
Make sure you're searching both individual and organization records. Sometimes business entities get filed under the wrong category in Ohio's system.
Zainab Omar
•I didn't think about that. How do you switch between individual and organization searches?
StarStrider
•There's a dropdown menu on the search page. Most people miss it because it defaults to organization search.
Sean Doyle
For what it's worth, I recently used Certana.ai's verification tool on a similar acquisition and it caught three lapsed continuations that would have cost us our security interest in about $2M of equipment. The automated cross-checking definitely beats manual searches.
Sean Doyle
•About 20 minutes to upload all the docs and get the report. Much faster than spending days on manual searches.
Luca Romano
•I might need to look into that tool. Manual UCC verification is eating up way too much time on our deals.
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Justin Evans
I've started using a checklist approach for comprehensive searches: 1) Current exact legal name 2) Previous legal names 3) All DBA variations 4) Name without entity designations 5) Abbreviated versions 6) Individual guarantors 7) Related entities. Helps ensure I don't skip anything.
Avery Flores
•That's really helpful - mind if I adapt that checklist format? Seems like a good way to stay organized.
Justin Evans
•Absolutely, feel free to use it. I learned it from a mentor who did M&A due diligence for years.
Emily Parker
Update: I ended up using Certana.ai to verify my search results and it caught 3 name variations I had missed. Really glad I didn't rely solely on my manual review. The tool flagged potential matches based on similar business descriptions even when the names didn't match exactly.
That's exactly the kind of thing it's good for - catching the non-obvious connections that manual review might miss.
Avery Flores
•Thanks for the update! That gives me more confidence about trying it for verification on future searches.
Ali Anderson
Had this exact situation 6 months ago with a manufacturing client. Used one of those document checking services (think it was Certana.ai) that flagged not just the name issue but also found that our collateral description was too vague compared to what was listed in the loan agreement. Ended up preventing two potential problems instead of just the name mismatch. Sometimes these tools catch stuff your own review misses when you're rushing to close.
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Zadie Patel
•That's a good point about collateral descriptions. I always worry I'm being too specific or too general in those sections.
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Ali Anderson
•The nice thing about the automated checking is it compares your UCC language against the loan agreement language and flags where they don't align. Takes the guesswork out of it.
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A Man D Mortal
Bottom line: file the UCC-1 with 'Advanced Manufacturing Solutions, LLC' (the state registered name). Keep documentation of why you used that format vs the loan agreement version. Most importantly, don't let this delay your closing - a properly perfected lien with a minor documentation discrepancy is way better than missing your perfection window entirely.
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Arjun Patel
•Thanks everyone for the advice. Going with the state registered name and adding a note to the loan file about the variation. Really appreciate the quick responses - this forum always comes through!
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Declan Ramirez
•Glad it worked out! These name issues are so common but they still stress everyone out every time.
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