The Expert Podcast

so how do you search for assets within the UCC filings. one of the most often overlooked sources of assets and assets searching is UCC filings. and what is the UCC for somebody the you they already know this you can fast forward about twenty seconds the UCC stands for universal commercial code. it's actually a federal guideline a regulatory guideline to record financing on materials that are not real estate. for example when you get a mortgage and real estate that's filed as a mortgage and it's a specific type of financing. if you're lending money on some other type of an asset that's not real estate it's done using a U. C. C. facility. and every state has a location where these filings are done it could be the secretary state maybe the county recorder but these filings are public. so here is an example of what a filing looks like it'll have the name of the creditor who is the person that's filing in this case John Doe phone number and it'll have used the other contact information and their physical address. this is an example from Idaho but the form and the format is essential the same in all state because UCC is universal is what the letter U stands for its universal from all state there's a few changes in the order and the format but the information is gonna be the same. then you have the debtor who is the debtor. this is the person who you're looking for their assets. has their contact information and sometimes when you find one of these filed against your debtor somebody owes you money
you may find additional information about the location. sometimes it's an older address that you may not be aware of sometimes it's something newer. their tax ID number is also filed sometimes it's redacted like in this case but if it's redacted you can file a notice to have that released to you. then it'll have the financing statement what is the collateral. in this case it furniture electronics floor coverings household fixtures this is a generic example obviously with the name John Doe they just put some random types of assets. but for many of these filings especially for corporations you're also gonna find very specific inventory itemization. sometimes serial numbers of large equipment sometimes you find a year and a model of some construction equipment pay loaders sometimes it'll be fixed manufacturing equipment like a leaf in a company sometimes it'll also be computer equipment or high end restaurant equipment. the UCC does not have to be filed against a corporation there also could be individuals. if you rent a home with furnishings you rent to high end furnished homes sometimes the landlord will file a UCC protecting their rented or leased or financed merchandise in the house. so no matter what your position is as a creditor you want to look for UCCs. in addition to the other searches you know you're gonna search for bank accounts real estate vehicles those are all separate searches you do not want to overlook a UCC filing search. in addition you also want to look to see if your debtor is listed as a secured party. right if your debtor is not a debtor on the UCC but they're a creditor well now you have an another asset. this financing is now a asset to this secured party. so if you find that your debtor is owed money from somebody else you may be able to subregate the payment of that debt or take over that debt from the third party and accelerate the debt. so don't overlook UCCs and of course this is an electronic version. electronic versions may have fewer extra data points that could help you. you know to have their email address and maybe an attorney's name if it's done on paper which a lot of them are you may find on that paper there's little notes written in the margins. maybe there's a phone number or fax number at the top. maybe there's the name of a contact person. so look at the actual document don't just look at the electronic online database version because you could find on the paper document some extra info they can help you find more assets. also when you find this UCC filing whatever the filing number is and I don't know if this particular one has a phone number but search for the file numbers on either side of it. so finally if the filing numbers one two three four look for filing number one two three three and one two three five because many times the creditor or the debtor will have multiple UCCs and they'll file them simultaneously when you deliver it to the county the county's gonna record them in the order they are received or the state. so you may find some interesting information by looking at adjacent UCCs. you may also find additional names. for example secured party if you look at this address if you do a reverse search on that address who owns that property who's listed in the corporate records at that property you may find other potential debtors maybe even third parties that can assist you with that. worst case scenario if this debtor owes you money and secured party is a creditor you may be able to contact them and say look you have a credit application for this person did they give you financial statement they give you a balance sheet with all their assets. because when you're doing an asset search instead of having to do your own leg work maybe just get a copy from their existing credits are because they have that. the debtor have to voluntarily give financial statements and balance sheets to their current creditor. if they won't give it to you voluntarily have a court give you a subpoena to get that information from this secured party. again we're not attorneys we're not giving you legal advice you want to get good legal advice from a qualified attorney. but these are the kind of things that you can do with investigation or court case to get information about potential assets that can satisfy a loan a debt the judgment. maybe it's an embezzlement case and you're trying to collect money to recover your losses maybe you have an insurance claim that you're trying to subregate against for losses. many types of debts can be pursued using UCCs again it's just one tool in the toolbox. there are at least a dozen types of assets like we said vehicles real estate bank accounts crypto corporate assets intangible assets intellectual property there's many different kinds UCC is just one of them but don't overlook it. because you can find not only direct listing of assets here this financing statement covers the following collateral boom have a list you may find references to other assets by searching the form directly and also addresses phone numbers emails that are contained on this UCC. don't overlook it it's something that very rarely clients will come up with the idea by themself usually something we add to the client's asset search profile and matrix and very often it comes up with some good stuff that'll help you get recovery of whatever debts owed to you.