UCC filings are records of secured transactions in which the debtor(s) owes a stated value to a secured party(ies). A lien is the compilation of related UCC filings, for instance a UCC-1 filing begins a lien, a UCC-3 updates either the debtor or secured party or may terminate a lien. Regardless of lien status, a lien stays on the system and may have subsequent filings until one year after it's lapse date, if a continuation is not filed in a timely manner. A lien is not complete if all of the UCC filings to the originating UCC-1 are not present. By statute, UCC filings are to be accepted by the Secretary of State for terms of 5 years (previously 6 years) and continued, if necessary, in additional terms of 5 years for the original date of lapse.

UCC Records are indexed by Filing number, Debtor name with address and Secured Party name with address. Each of these indexes are maintained to provide retrieval of the liens created by initial and subsequent records at the Secretary of State. These instructions explain the search logic implemented in Revised Article 9 (RA9).

Initial Screen

• Choose the Search Type: Filing Number, Name Search on Debtor, or Name Search on Secured Party
• Enter in the Search Criteria:
• Filing Number - only the number is required
• Name Search on Debtor or Name Search on Secured Party - Name is required
• If name is an Organization, enter search criteria in Name field
• If name is an Individual, enter the last name of the individual in Last Name field
• Optional
• Enter in the first name or first initial of individual
• Enter in the middle name or middle initial of individual
• Verify the search filtering options
• Effective Records (Default = ON)
• Above with Terminated Records (Default = OFF)
• Above with Records Lapsed within past year (Default = OFF)
• Above with Inactive Records (Default = OFF)
• Hit Search to return the initial result set

Secondary Search Criteria (Name Searches only)

• Initial result sets are broken into pages of names
• Page number and Page count are in the header and footer of result set
• Use the NEXT or PREV keys to move between pages
• Names checked on the current page are not included in the record result set when user moves to the NEXT or PREV page
• Check the names to be included for fetching Filing Information
• Optional
• Optional Name Searching Criteria
• Address information - use any combination of the address fields to filter the names checked
• Date range - use the Start Date and/or End Date to set a date range to filter the filings associated with the names checked
• Click Report to see the secondary search result set

Filing Search Result set

• Filing result sets are broken into pages of names
• Page number and Page count are in the header and footer of result set
• Use the NEXT or PREV keys to move between pages
• Liens are the primary grouping, denoted with the filing number
• Filings are grouped under liens in order of filing date / time stamp
• Use the Images button to view the filing indicated
• If an Images button is not present, the filing is only retrievable from microfiche (Fiche location provided)
• Process Date (Through Date) is indicated at top of screen
• Search Criteria is indicated, including additional filtering if chosen
• Date / Time of search is indicated at top of screen
• Use New Search to begin a new search

Searching by Filing number

• Filing Number before July 1, 2001 range between 01 and 1182000
• Filing Number after July 1, 2001 start at 200111900006
• Check digit formula uses Weighting buffer 1,2 MOD 10
• Whether filing is Active or Inactive, all information will be displayed if searched

The searcher may choose to investigate by filing number. A number, when presented, is determined to be pre-RA9 or RA-9 compliant. Numbers with fewer than 8 digits are pre-RA9 filing numbers and are searched as presented. Numbers with 12 digits are RA-9 compliant, in which case the check digit is verified against the rest of the number before the filing is retrieved. If the check digit does not match the calculation, the searcher will receive an error message indicating so.

Each filing related to the Uniform Commercial Code or a lien of record is given a filing number to be indexed and searchable. Filing numbers began with File No. 1 in 1968 and have evolved through various formats over the years. Revised Article 9, effective July 1, 2001, changes the formats of filing numbers to be consistent nationwide. However, the existing filing numbers are not updated to this format, so searchers need to be aware that filing numbers in older formats will exist as long as they remain on the system.

The new format prescribed by Revised Article 9 adds the year of the initial filing and a check digit to the format.

Filing numbers effective in the Secretary of State's system before July 1, 2001 are comprised of a unique seven digit number and a filing number suffix. The filing number suffix was created in the late eighties when a range of duplicate file numbers were discovered. To the filer, their filing number only contain seven digits, but internally the filings are differentiated by this filing suffix.

From here forth, the filing number is the Year of the initial filing, a seven digit number and a check digit (formerly the filing suffix number). The three portions of this number make up the unique number identified by the office.

• Format of Filing number is YYYYXXXXXXX-S where

• Check digits are only used on filings on or after July 1, 2001
• YYYY is the year in which the initial financing statement is filed
• XXXXXXX is the seven digit number we currently use
• S is the filing number suffix, or check digit, as calculated by the following formula

Check Digit Example:

Weighting buffer 1,2

Mod 10

Sample Number 20011234567

Assign weights to each digit and multiply each digit by its assigned weight

2 0 0 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1

2 0 0 2 1 4 3 8 5 12 7

Total the values derived by the weight multiplication

2 + 0 + 0 + 2 + 1 + 4 + 3 + 8 + 5 + 12 + 7 = 44

Divide the sum of the values by 10 and use the remainder as the check digit

44 / 10 = 4 with remainder 4 OR 44 mod 10 = 4

Filing number becomes 200112345674

Quick Facts:

• Names entered before July 1, 2001 have been converted using transition rules
• Names entered using National Forms after July 1, 2001 are entered "as presented"
• Name search is EXPLICIT on Organizational Name or Individual Last Name - No wildcards
• Space, punctuation, 'the' and 'ending noise words' are ignored

The searcher may choose to investigate by Debtor or Secured Party. A name is searched in one of these indexes determined by the radio buttons on the search form.

Prior to July 1, 2001 the Secretary of State systems did not separate corporation names from individual names, yet Revised Article 9 requires the filing office to maintain an index on last, first, and middle name. Fortunately, through rigid data entry process and data design, individuals are distinguishable from organizations in the indexed information prior to July 1, 2001. For this reason, the office adopted transition rules to algorithmically identify individuals and organizations and break the information into distinguished fields using a straight forward logic.

The rules for dealing with transition data is explicit detailed in the agency rules. Rather than un-searchable filings upon July 2, 2001, this office is following the Model Administrative Rules for dealing with transitioning process. With a concise rule for transition and conversion of the data through a uniform approach, much of the liens on file will remain effective. However, it is the duty of the filer to ensure the effectiveness of the filing by amending or continuing the information as prescribed by Revised Article 9.

The data entry process, according to RA9, is to enter the information presented EXACTLY as presented on the form. Thus, anything entered into the name fields, First, Middle, Suffix or Organizational Name fields are keyed "as presented."

Through the use of search logic defined in RA9 and clarified in rule, that information is indexed for retrieval. Basic rules for searching by name are:

• Case insensitive
• Punctuation and Accents discarded
• Ignore
• Spacing
• The word "The" at the beginning of names
• Ending "noise words" as defined by IACA
• Organizational Name or Individual Last Name must be exact
• Individual First Name and Middle Name - optional and more fuzzy logic
• A single initial matches fields as a wildcard
• A "name" in field matches all exact names and names where it is just an initial and first letter of "name" matches
• Names may be additionally filtered on address, city or postal code
• Address fields are matched "begins with 'criteria'"

Search Options determine the records to be included by lien status. The options are cumulative.

• Effective records
  are only those records non-lapsed and non-terminated
• Above with Termination Records
  includes effective records and those records that have not passed a lapse date - including any records with terminations filed against them
• Above with Records Lapsed within past year
  includes effective records or terminated records
  and those records that have passed their lapse date by no more than a year
  This is the Active records referred to in Revised Article 9 circles. This includes all records a year passed lapse date, regardless of effective, terminated, or lapsed.
• Above with Inactive Records
  This includes everything and the Inactive records, those records still on the system not purged

Once names have been identified by the initial search request, the user may filter the result set by limiting the name according to address information, by date range, or by status of the lien.

Address Filtering. Partial Address information may be used to filter the name result set. Default is no filter.

• Address - Mailing address of entity (Street No. Direction Street Name)
• City - City of the Mailing address of entity
• Postal Code - Postal code of the mailing address of the entity

Use any combination of the fields to filter the information. Fields are matched based on ending wildcard, such as "1700 W" is treated as matching everything beginning with "1700 W". Address filtering criteria is stated at the top of any search result set.

Date Filtering. Dates may be used to filter the name result set as a combination of starting, between or ending. Date format is in mm/dd/yyyy format. If a lien has activity, i.e. a filing or non-lapsed, within a date range, that lien is included in the filtered list. Default is no filter.

• Start Date - Look for activity on or after the date entered here
• End Date - Look for activity on or before the date entered here
• Both entered - Look for activity between, and including, the Start Date and End Dates.

Date filtering criteria is stated at the top of any search result set.

Terminated Filtering. If a termination statement has been filed in accordance with a lien, then the lien is marked as "Terminated" within the system. This does not constitute judgement to the effectiveness of the lien, only the indication of the presence of a termination filing. Default is to include all filings with terminations present.

Lapsed Filtering. If a lien has passed the lapse date without a continuation being filed, the lien is marked as lapsed within the system. Default is to not include all liens that have lapsed (expired).

Inactive Filtering. If a lien has passed one year beyond the lapse date, the lien is marked as inactive within the system. Thus, all liens are considered active from the initial financing statement to one year passed the lapse date, where the lapse date is in 5 year increments from the initial financing statement depending on the timely filing of continuations. Default is to not include all liens that are inactive.

Filings per page. This determines the number of search results to show per page. Default is ten.

Show Query Plan. For the truly investigative at heart, who never seem to trust what lies beneath.

• Debtor - The debtor is the obligor of personal property, or the entity who owes debt.
• Ending Noise Words - words that are similar to 'company,' 'corporation,' etc. as confirmed by IACA. See http://www.iaca.org.
• IACA - International Association of Corporation Administrators, http://www.iaca.org, is the national organization where filing office's from all around the nation resolve uniform issues.
• Revised Article 9 (RA9) - HB 2235 of the 1st regular session of the 1999 Legislature revising the uniform commercial code to be uniform amongst states across the nation. As of July 1, 2001, there are 48 states with RA9 adopted.
• Secured Party - The secured party is the entity that is attaining secured interest in the debtor's personal property, or the entity that lends.
• Uniform Commercial Code - Arizona Revised Statutes Title 47 relating to commercial transactions.