UCC liens in New York: how to find one on your business and get it released

By Solomon Wiesen, editor. Updated October 2026. Editorial standards | How this site is funded

A UCC lien on a New York business is a public notice, filed with the Department of State for as little as $20, that a creditor claims your business assets as collateral. No court approves it and it lasts five years unless renewed. Once the debt is paid, the creditor has 20 days after receiving your signed demand to clear it.

This is general information about New York law and is not legal advice.

What a UCC-1 is

The form is a UCC-1 financing statement. The Department of State’s UCC FAQ describes it as notice that a creditor claims a security interest in a debtor’s personal property, and not itself an agreement. The agreement is the security clause in your contract, and under UCC 9-509(b) signing it authorized the filing. A financing statement can list specific collateral, such as one truck, or under UCC 9-504 it can cover “all assets or all personal property”, which is the blanket lien.

Merchant cash advance funders file them even though their contracts call the deal a purchase of receivables. Article 9 applies to “a sale of accounts” under UCC 9-109(a)(3), so a buyer of receivables files the same form a lender does.

How to search for filings against your business

1. Get your exact legal name. The Department of State (DOS) says in its Article 9 filing guidance that the standard search returns only the exact name requested. Copy the name from the DOS Corporation and Business Entity Database, with no “d/b/a”.
2. Search the state index. The DOS UCC page links to its debtor search at ucc-efiling.dos.ny.gov, which replaced the old DOS search site and also searches by filing number or secured party. The DOS fee schedule lists no charge for looking records up yourself; its search fees are for searches the Department runs for you. Write down each file number and the secured party’s name and address.
3. Search your other names. Under UCC 9-507(c), a filing under an old name still covers collateral you acquired before the name change and for four months after it. DOS has filers enter a trade name as a separate debtor, so search the DBA too.
4. Order an official search if a lender wants one. Mail Form UCC11 to the UCC unit in Albany: $25 per name, or $50 for results under seal. Under the DOS rules (19 NYCRR Part 143) each form takes one name and the report covers unlapsed filings unless you check “ALL”. Ask for the seal in item 3; the rules do not treat the “certified” box in item 2a as that request.
5. Check city records for collateral attached to real estate. Under UCC 9-501(a)(1), fixture filings and co-op interests go to the office that records mortgages on the property. In Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx that is the City Register, searchable in ACRIS. On Staten Island it is the Richmond County Clerk.

The secured party shown may be a name you have never dealt with. UCC 9-502(a) lets a filing name “a representative of the secured party”, and Corporation Service Company sells that as a product: CSC’s description says its name goes on the filing to keep the lender’s name out of the public record, and that it forwards communications about the filing to the lender. Match the filing date to your contracts, and send any demand to both the representative’s address on the filing and the funder.

How long it lasts

A filing is effective for five years from its filing date under UCC 9-515. The secured party can add five more by filing a continuation statement, but only in the six months before the lapse date. DOS keeps a lapsed filing in the searchable index for one more year, so check the lapse date on an old entry.

Getting it terminated once you have paid

For business collateral, paying the debt does not remove the filing. UCC 9-513(c) puts the first move on you: within 20 days after the secured party receives a signed demand from the debtor, it must send you a termination statement or file one itself. The duty applies when no secured obligation remains and the creditor has no commitment to advance more or, where the filing covers accounts that were sold, once the account debtors have paid them. The statute requires only that the demand be signed. I’d put five things in it:

• your business’s name and address as shown on the filing;
• the UCC-1 file number and filing date;
• the contract number and final payment date, with the payoff or zero-balance letter attached;
• a statement that nothing is owed and the creditor has no commitment to advance funds;
• a demand for a termination statement under UCC 9-513(c) within 20 days, signed and dated.

The 20 days run from receipt, so send it by a method that proves the date.

If the deadline passes, UCC 9-625(e)(4) lets you recover $500 in statutory damages on top of actual damages under 9-625(b), which the statute says may include loss from “inability to obtain, or increased costs of, alternative financing”. UCC 9-509(d)(2) also lets you file the termination yourself: a UCC-3 with the original file number in item 1a and box 2 checked, plus the box in item 9 that shows the debtor authorized it. That route opens only after the secured party has failed to comply: under UCC 9-510(a) a record filed by someone not entitled to file it has no effect.

Wrong or unauthorized filings

The 9-513(c) demand works here too: one of its triggers is that the debtor did not authorize the initial financing statement, and 9-625(e)(3) adds $500 against a person who files a record it was not entitled to file.

The other tool is Form UCC5. DOS’s FAQ calls it an information statement; the form and New York’s UCC 9-518 still say “correction statement”. It asks for the file number and your basis for saying the record is inaccurate or wrongfully filed, and costs $40 on paper under 19 NYCRR 143-5.1. Section 9-518(c) says it does not affect the effectiveness of the financing statement; DOS says it is added to the record as notice to anyone searching. I’d send the demand first.

When you still owe the money

The creditor has no duty to terminate, so you ask for one of two things. A subordination is an agreement that lets a new lender’s lien rank ahead of the existing one; UCC 9-339 permits it. A partial release is a UCC-3 amendment (item 8) deleting named collateral. If the creditor is an advance funder, start with getting out of a merchant cash advance.

For a COVID EIDL, the SBA posts requirement letters on its COVID-era programs page. The subordination letter asks for five items, among them a UCC lien search showing the SBA’s position and the new lender’s commitment letter or term sheet, emailed to COVIDEIDLServicing@sba.gov. The release-of-collateral letter warns that “under most circumstances, SBA may require full monetary consideration”. For which EIDLs carry a lien or a guarantee, see the EIDL personal guarantee article.

What the filing does to new financing

UCC 9-322(a)(1) ranks competing security interests by time of filing or perfection. A lender that files after an all-assets UCC-1 ranks second on everything that filing covers, so a bank that will not lend from second position needs the first filing terminated or subordinated before it closes. It is also one reason stacked advances get expensive: each later funder sits behind the first filing.

UCC 9-607(a) lets a secured party, “if so agreed, and in any event after default”, notify your account debtors to pay it directly, and under UCC 9-406(a) a customer who has received that signed notice can discharge its debt only by paying the secured party. Article 9’s definition of “account” includes payment rights arising from credit and charge card use. Section 9-607 does not require a court order first; the court route is covered in MCA lawsuits and frozen bank accounts.

New York forms and fees

From the DOS fee schedule and 19 NYCRR 143-5.1, as of October 2026. A faxed filing is charged as paper, and same-day handling adds $75. The forms are on the DOS UCC forms page.

With the lien cleared, small business loans in New York City lists what opens up, and the financing request form is there if you want quotes.

Sources

• New York Department of State: UCC pages, fee schedule, forms, FAQ and 19 NYCRR Part 143.
• New York UCC Article 9 on nysenate.gov: the sections linked above, plus 9-102.
• NYC Department of Finance: ACRIS and the recording documents page.
• SBA: COVID EIDL servicing requirement letters, April 2025.