In In re Bryant, (Bankr. M.D. Ga. June 7, 2021), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Georgia determined that a lender's UCC-1 financing statements were "seriously misleading" under the Georgia Commercial Code. Because the financing statements identified the individual debtor with his middle name abbreviated, the court concluded that the financing statements were defective and, therefore, that the lender's security interest had not been perfected.

'Seriously Misleading' UCC-1 Financing Statements

The Uniform Commercial Code requires that a financing statement meet certain standards in order for the lender to effectively perfect a security interest in an individual debtor's collateral.  One of these requirements is that the financing statement provide the debtor's name.  The comments to the Uniform Commercial Code indicate that the name requirement is "particularly important," because "financing statements are indexed under the name of the debtor and those who wish to find financing statements search for them under the debtor's name."