UCC filing
Definition
A UCC filing, formally a UCC-1 financing statement, is a public record a secured lender files with a state, usually through the secretary of state's office, to declare a legal claim on a borrower's property pledged as collateral for a loan. It is filed under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, the model law all 50 states have adopted for secured transactions.
Why it matters
Because the filing is public and searchable, it lets other lenders, buyers, and creditors check whether an asset, like business equipment, inventory, or accounts receivable, is already pledged to someone else before they extend credit or agree to a purchase. Without that public claim on file, a lender's security interest is much weaker if the borrower later goes bankrupt or sells the asset to someone else.
Seen in the wild
Every state secretary of state or equivalent office maintains a UCC filing database searchable by debtor name, letting a bank or buyer doing due diligence on a business check for existing liens before closing a deal.