UCC Filing in Washington: Forms, Collateral, and Renewals

A UCC filing in Washington is submitted to the Department of Licensing, not the Secretary of State. The DOL’s online portal charges $23 per financing statement; paper filings mailed to Olympia cost $30. Get the debtor’s legal name exactly right, describe the collateral in a way that reasonably identifies it, and calendar the five-year expiration. Those three things are what separate a perfected security interest from a piece of paper that won’t protect you when it matters.

Where to File

Washington’s central filing office for UCC financing statements is the Department of Licensing.¹ The Secretary of State handles corporate and LLC formation records, but UCC records go through the DOL portal at fortress.wa.gov/dol/ucc/.² Filing with the wrong office doesn’t perfect anything.

The one exception is a fixture filing, where collateral is attached to real property. Fixture filings go to the county auditor for the county where the real property sits, not to the DOL.¹ Everything else goes to the DOL.

Is Washington the Right State

Washington is the correct state only if the debtor is “located” here under UCC rules. An individual debtor is located at their principal residence. A registered organization such as a corporation or LLC is located in its state of organization, regardless of where it operates.³ An unregistered business with multiple offices is located at its chief executive office.⁴

A Delaware LLC operating a Seattle warehouse is located in Delaware, and its UCC-1 belongs on file there. File in the wrong state and your interest is unperfected, which puts you behind creditors who filed in the right one.

What Goes on the UCC-1

The debtor’s name is the most important field on the form. Washington law is specific about which name to use:

For registered organizations (corporations, LLCs), use the exact name on the most recent public organizational record filed with the entity’s state of organization.
For individuals with a current Washington driver’s license or state ID, use the name exactly as it appears on that license or ID.
For other individuals, use the person’s individual name, or their surname and first personal name.⁵

Trade names, nicknames, and abbreviations do not count. If the name you provide wouldn’t come up on a standard search of the filing office’s index, the filing is seriously misleading and effectively useless.⁶ Smaller mistakes in other fields are usually forgivable. A wrong debtor name is not.

The form also requires a mailing address for both the debtor and the secured party, and a description of the collateral. The standard UCC-1 form is available on the DOL’s website.⁷

Describing the Collateral

The description must reasonably identify what’s covered. Washington allows a specific listing of items, a category like “all equipment,” a UCC-defined type such as “inventory” or “accounts,” or a formula that makes the collateral objectively identifiable.⁸

What you cannot do is describe the collateral as “all the debtor’s assets” or “all the debtor’s personal property.” That kind of blanket language is expressly insufficient.⁸ Category descriptions like “equipment” or “inventory” are acceptable on the financing statement itself.

Fees and Submission

Online filings through the DOL portal cost $23 per financing statement or amendment.⁹ Paper filings cost $30, plus $1 for each page beyond the first two, and go to the Department of Licensing, Uniform Commercial Code Program, PO Box 9660, Olympia, WA 98507-9660.¹⁰ Both amounts include a $15 surcharge Washington has imposed on UCC filings through July 1, 2030.¹¹

After processing, the DOL sends an acknowledgment with the assigned file number and the effective filing date and time. That timestamp establishes your priority. Save the acknowledgment.

When the DOL Will Reject a Filing

The DOL can only refuse a filing for specific statutory reasons:

The filing doesn’t identify the debtor, or for an individual debtor, doesn’t include a surname.
No name or mailing address for the secured party.
No mailing address for the debtor.
The fee wasn’t paid.
The record isn’t on a standard form or wasn’t submitted through an authorized method.
A continuation statement was filed outside the six-month window.¹²

A misspelled debtor name or a weak collateral description is not on that list. The DOL will accept the filing, and the defect only surfaces later when you try to enforce it. Quality control is the filer’s job.

Searching Existing Filings

Before extending credit or buying a business, a UCC search shows whether the debtor’s assets are already pledged. The DOL’s online search is free and returns immediate results, with lookup by debtor name, secured party name, or file number.²

For a certified search, submit a paper UCC-11 information request. A basic certified search is $10 per debtor name. A certified search that includes copies of the actual filings is $15 per debtor name.¹⁰ Certified results are what you want for a closing file or a legal proceeding.

Keeping the Filing Alive

A financing statement is effective for five years from the filing date. It then lapses automatically, and the security interest it perfected becomes unperfected.¹³ An unperfected interest loses priority to other creditors and offers little protection in bankruptcy.

To continue the filing, submit a UCC-3 continuation statement during the six-month window that opens six months before expiration and closes on the expiration date.¹³ Too early and it’s ineffective. One day late and the original filing has already lapsed. There is no grace period and no way to revive a lapsed filing.

If the Debtor Changes Its Name

If the debtor’s legal name changes after filing, you have four months from the point the change makes your filing seriously misleading to file a UCC-3 amendment with the new name. During that four-month window, the original filing still covers collateral acquired before the name change and any new collateral acquired within those four months. Miss the window and the filing will not perfect a security interest in any collateral the debtor acquires afterward.¹⁴

Terminating the Filing

Once the underlying debt is paid, the debtor can demand a termination statement. After receiving an authenticated demand, the secured party has 20 days to file a UCC-3 termination or send one to the debtor for each jurisdiction where a financing statement is on record.¹⁵

Termination uses the same UCC-3 form as amendments and continuations, with the termination box checked, and goes to the DOL online or by mail.⁷ If you are the debtor and the secured party stalls, send the demand with delivery confirmation so you can prove when the 20-day clock started.

Fixture Filings Are Different

When collateral is physically attached to real property, such as a commercial HVAC system or industrial machinery bolted to a warehouse floor, a standard DOL filing may not protect you against a mortgage lender or other real estate claimant. A fixture filing goes into the county real property records instead.¹

A fixture filing must indicate that the collateral consists of fixtures, state that it is for the real property records, describe the real property, and name the record owner if the debtor doesn’t have an interest of record.¹⁶ It goes to the county auditor for the county where the property sits, and county recording fees are separate from the DOL schedule.

1
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 62A.9A-501 – Filing Office
2
Washington State Department of Licensing. UCC Online Filing and Searches
3
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 62A.9A-301 – Law Governing Perfection and Priority of Security Interests
4
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 62A.9A-307 – Location of Debtor
5
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 62A.9A-503 – Name of Debtor and Secured Party
6
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 62A.9A-506 – Effect of Errors or Omissions
7
Washington State Department of Licensing. Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) Forms
8
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 62A.9A-108 – Sufficiency of Description
9
Washington State Department of Licensing. UCC Online Filing and Search Fees
10
Washington State Department of Licensing. UCC Paper Filing and Search Fees
11
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 62A.9A-525 – Fees
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Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 62A.9A-516 – What Constitutes Filing and Effectiveness of Filing
13
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 62A.9A-515 – Duration and Effectiveness of Financing Statement
14
Cornell Law Institute. Uniform Commercial Code 9-507 – Effect of Certain Events on Effectiveness of Financing Statement
15
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 62A.9A-513 – Termination Statement
16
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 62A.9A-502 – Contents of Financing Statement