UCC updates

Uniform Commercial Code Fees effective June 11, 2020

Washington's Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filing fees will increase to $23 for filing online and $30 for filing by mail. The new fees apply to all filing requests received in our office on or after June 11, 2020.

Filing requests received after June 11 are subject to the new fees, regardless of when you mailed it. We will return all filing requests with insufficient payment.

Why is this fee increasing?

The filing fee used to include a surcharge used to combat financial fraud and identity theft. The 2020 Washington State Legislature increased this surcharge by $5. All other fees will remain the same.

Changes to paper and online searches

We recently implemented several changes related to searching:

We revised the UCC-11 Information Request and ask that you use this version when mailing a search request to our office. You don't need a form when searching online.
When you search online, you can no longer limit your search by a range of dates. This feature didn't work well since search results must include all related records.
We're now able to display very long names and addresses on the copy generated for viewing online or including in a copy search.
If you search online by file number, we'll display lapsed records still in our system.
A search by debtor name now includes records that have no middle name or initial. For example, a search of "John Adam Smith" will include records filed on "John Smith."

Fraud alert: Bogus treasury notes, bonds, and accounts

The U.S. Department of the Treasury is investigating incidences where individuals are using fraudulent Treasury-related financial obligations or accounts to buy vehicles or pay debts. To learn more, see the official Fraud Alert.