In Louisiana, you may file an Original Financing Statement (UCC-1) with any of our 64 Parish filing offices. The Secretary of State's Office manages and maintains a statewide database and all 64 filing officers have access to this system. Regardless of where you choose to file your UCC-1 it is transmitted as a statewide effective filing.

Be very careful when providing debtor information. The way it is provided by the filer is exactly how it will be indexed into the UCC statewide database and will affect search results. If you wish to index more than one debtor name be sure to provide the information as two separate debtors.

Louisiana R.S. 10:9-502 provides the following:
a) Sufficiency of financing statement:

• provide the name of the debtor
• provides the name of the secured party or a representative of the secured party
• indicates the collateral covered by the financing statement

b) Real-property-related financing statement:

• satisfy subsection (a)
• indicate that it covers this type of collateral
• provide a description of the real property to which the collateral is related sufficient to cause the mortgage to be effective against third persons if the description were contained in a mortgage of real property files for registry
• if the debtor does not have an interest of record in the real property, provide the name of a record owner against third persons if the description were contained in a mortgage of real property files for registry

Louisiana R.S. 10:9-516 provides many reasons for rejection of a UCC-1 financing statement; however, the 64 filing officers will consistently reject for:

• the record is not communicated by a method or medium of communication authorized by the filing office
• an amount equal to or greater than the applicable filing fee is not tendered
• the record does not provide a name for the debtor
• the record does not provide a last name for the debtor
• the record does not provide a name for the secured party
• in the case of an assignment reflect in an initial financing statement, the record does not provide a name for the assignee
  

The filing fee for filing a UCC-1 is $30. This is for one debtor and includes a $5 termination fee which is paid at the time the original financing statement is filed. Additional fees include: $10 for each additional debtor listed; and a $15 nonstandard fee if you file on any form other than the Louisiana approved form and the National Approved UCC Form. Please see Get Forms & Fee Schedule for possible additional charges.

The filing officers will accept filings on forms other than the Louisiana Approved Forms (UCC-1 and/or UCC-3) or the National Approved Forms; however, an additional $15 nonstandard fee will be assessed.

This confirmation of filing which is generated by the Secretary of State's Office allows the secured party to see the information that was actually entered by the 64 parish filing officers into the statewide database. You should carefully check the information for accuracy and contact the parish where you presented your filing if there is a discrepancy.

Louisiana law provides that a UCC-3 subsequent filing shall be filed in the parish where the original financing statement to which it relates was filed. The parish of filing can be determined by the two digits preceding the file number.

The basic filing fee for a UCC-3 is $25, with the exception of a termination filing which is $5 and prepaid at the time the original is filed. Please see Get Forms & Fee Schedule for possible additional charges.

Revised Article 9 provides for the filing of an amendment of collateral. If you are using the National Standard Financing Statement Form or the newly revised Louisiana Approved Form, you would check Box 8. Amendment (Collateral Change) and complete the description of the collateral.

You must contact any of the 64 Parish filing offices. They have access into the statewide UCC database and will reflect statewide lien information for the debtor. The Secretary of State's Office does not provide searches.

Louisiana has adopted the standard search logic as recommended by the International Association of Corporate Administrators (IACA). Search requests on organizational debtor names will reveal liens for an exact debtor name match only. Search requests for individual debtors will reveal liens for:

• an exact debtor name match
• in the case of initials in either the first name and/or middle name fields, a match with any debtor name that begins with that initial or where no name is given in that field

When Louisiana first adopted the Uniform Commercial Code in 1990, the law required that a taxpayer identification number be included for the debtor. Revised Article 9 with an implementation date of July 1, 2001 does not provide for the taxpayer identification number; however, when searching the UCC database, particularly on individual debtors, it may be helpful to use the taxpayer identification number as an additional identifier for your debtor (please remember that only those filings filed prior to 7/1/01 will be reflected). If you choose to search using the taxpayer identification with the debtor name your results will be as follows:

• that exact debtor name where no taxpayer identification number was provided on the original filing;
• that exact taxpayer identification number regardless of debtor name; and
• exact debtor name and taxpayer identification number.