Financing Statement (UCC-1)
The public record filed by a secured party to give notice of a security interest in the debtor's personal property. Perfects the security interest against third parties and establishes priority date. Texas SOS no longer accepts paper filings as of August 29, 2025.
A financing statement (commonly called a "UCC-1" after the standard form number) is the public record filed by a secured party to give notice of a security interest in the debtor's personal property. The financing statement perfects the security interest against third parties, establishing the secured party's priority date for collateral disputes.
Required contents
Under § 9.502, a financing statement is sufficient if it provides: (1) the name of the debtor; (2) the name of the secured party (or representative); and (3) an indication of the collateral covered by the financing statement. The collateral description may be specific or by category, including a "supergeneric" description such as "all assets" of the debtor.
Debtor name requirements (§ 9.503)
The most common cause of filing failure. For an individual: the name on the debtor's unexpired Texas driver's license, or a similar government-issued ID. For a registered organization: the exact name on the public organic record (certificate of formation). Trade names, abbreviations, and misspellings can render the financing statement seriously misleading and ineffective against third parties.
Filing location
For most Texas debtors, the Texas Secretary of State. Effective August 29, 2025, the Texas SOS no longer accepts paper UCC filings, all filings must be submitted through the SOS online system.
Duration and continuation (§ 9.515)
A financing statement is effective for five years from filing. The secured party may continue effectiveness for additional five-year periods by filing a continuation statement within six months before lapse. Failure to file a continuation results in automatic lapse, leaving the security interest unperfected and subordinate to intervening secured creditors.
UCC-1 filings are the foundation of secured commercial lending. Filing errors, wrong debtor name, missing continuation, ambiguous collateral description, can convert a secured creditor into an unsecured creditor in bankruptcy. The August 2025 paper-filing sunset eliminated a procedural option that some practitioners had relied on; all filings now go through the SOS online system.