Perfecting Your Security Interest in Florida

Requirements Listing Debtor’s Name On Florida Article 9 Filings

Florida lenders seeking to secure a lien against the personal property of a borrower in default must follow the guidelines detailed in Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and Florida’s Article 9 if you live in Florida, which governs secured transactions and is applied to a wide range of consumer and commercial credit transactions.

Article 9 creates a way for lenders to record their interests in personal property that has been pledged as collateral for a loan.

To secure a lien against personal property pledged as collateral, lenders must file a UCC1 Financing Statement — also known as “perfecting the lien” — with the Secretary of State and follow guidelines with proper forms when the borrower is legally incorporated or organized such as Banks and other Persons.

In the Financing Statement, the alleged debtor, you, must be identified by the exact legal name of the corporation or Limited Liability Company.

The UCC specifies that the debtor’s legal name be taken from the company’s articles of incorporation or your Birth Certificate.

Prior to 2010, if the debtor was an individual, the UCC was silent on any source lenders should use to determine the exact legal name of the debtor.
As a result, lenders used different sources, including driver’s licenses, Social Security Numbers, and Military I.D’s. This inconsistency led to a number of legal disputes in Florida.
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