UCC lien search directory: all 50 states and DC

A UCC lien search tells you whether another factor or lender has already filed a financing statement against the carrier you are about to fund. The filing that matters most to a factor is a UCC-1 covering accounts, because conflicting perfected security interests generally rank by who filed or perfected first (UCC §9-322), and Article 9 treats a sale of accounts, which is what factoring is, the same way (UCC §9-109).

Search the state where the carrier is located for UCC purposes

File location follows the debtor, not the trucks. An LLC or corporation is located in the state where it was organized (UCC §9-307), so a Delaware LLC that dispatches out of Texas is searched in Delaware. A sole proprietor is located at their principal residence. Confirm the formation state on the Secretary of State record before you search, because the FMCSA physical address can differ.

When the formation state and the operating state differ, search both. A UCC-1 filed in the wrong state may not perfect anything, but it still tells you another funder believes it has a claim.

The central filing office is usually the Secretary of State, but not everywhere. Georgia and Louisiana take filings at county and parish clerks and pool them into a statewide index, and a few states use another agency, so check the office named for each state below.

Search the exact legal name, the DBA and the variations

• Exact legal name: copy the name from the carrier's formation record, entity suffix and punctuation included. For a registered organization, a financing statement has to use the name on its public organic record (UCC §9-503).
• DBA and trade names: search them too. A filing that gives only a trade name does not sufficiently name the debtor under §9-503(c), but a hit under a DBA is still a lead you have to reconcile.
• Variations: former names from the state's amendment history, the owner's individual name for a sole proprietor, common misspellings, and the name with and without "LLC", "Inc." or "&". Each filing office applies its own standard search logic to punctuation and suffixes (UCC §9-506), so one search is rarely enough.
• Related entities: if the owner runs other carriers, search those names as well. The free carrier risk check shows other USDOT records that share a phone, email or address.

Read the UCC-1 collateral description

A hit is a funding problem only if its collateral reaches the receivables you plan to buy. Open the filing image, not just the index entry, and read the collateral box in full.

Merchant cash advance funders file UCC-1s too, often with broad collateral language. When a description is ambiguous, ask the secured party what it claims and get the answer in writing.

Check every UCC-3 tied to the filing

A UCC-1 is only the start of a filing's history. Pull every UCC-3 filed against the same initial file number before you decide what a hit means.

• Termination: once a termination statement is filed, the financing statement stops being effective (UCC §9-513). Check that it terminates the right file number.
• Assignment: the original lender may have assigned its interest to someone else. Your release should come from the current secured party of record, not just the party named on the UCC-1.
• Amendment: collateral, debtors and secured parties can be added or deleted. Read the latest collateral description, not only the original one.
• Continuation: a continuation keeps the filing alive for another five years, which brings us to lapse.

Mind the five-year lapse

A filed financing statement is effective for five years after the filing date (UCC §9-515). The secured party can extend it by filing a continuation in the six months before it lapses. If no one continues it, the filing lapses and the security interest it perfected becomes unperfected.

So a UCC-1 that is four years and nine months old is still live and may be continued next month. Record the lapse date of every hit in the carrier's file.

What to do when you find a lien

1. 1

   Write down the filing details

   Note the secured party, file number, filing date, lapse date and collateral. Reach the secured party on a number you find yourself, not one the carrier supplies.

2. 2

   Ask the carrier about it

   Ask whether the relationship is still open. A carrier leaving a factor may still owe it money, and the old factor may hold reserves or pending chargebacks.

3. 3

   Get a letter of release

   Ask the prior factor or lender for a written release of its interest in the accounts, or a UCC-3 termination. If it keeps other collateral, a partial release or an intercreditor agreement may fit. The free NOA and release letter generator drafts the letter.

4. 4

   Reconcile priority before you fund

   Hold funding until the release is signed or the termination is on file, then file your own UCC-1. If another factor has already sent notices of assignment to the carrier's brokers, read two NOAs, one carrier first.

5. 5

   Keep the evidence

   Save the search results with their date and time, the filing images and the signed release in the carrier's file.

The full walkthrough is in UCC lien searches before you fund a carrier. For the filing itself, see the UCC-1 glossary entry.