Search and retrieve UCC financing statement records for a debtor via the California Secretary of State UCC XML API
domain: sos.ca.gov · 6 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Steps
Sign up for a developer account on the California SOS API Developer Portal and subscribe to the UCC product to receive a subscription key
Download the UCC XML API Implementation Guide and API Test Tool to review the required XML request/response schema before writing integration code
Build a debtor-name search XML request per the implementation guide, specifying the search type (standard algorithmic search vs. exact match) and the debtor name
Submit the request to the UCC XML API endpoint, including your subscription key for authentication
Parse the returned XML for matching financing statement records, including file numbers and lapse/termination status
For a specific financing statement of interest, submit a follow-up request using its file number to retrieve full filing details
Known gotchas
The California SOS UCC API is XML-based, not JSON/REST, and requires following the vendor-provided implementation guide's exact schema — a generic REST client alone won't produce a valid request
The API distinguishes 'standard search' (algorithmic, Article 9 debtor-name search logic) from 'exact match' search; using the wrong search type produces a different — and sometimes legally non-compliant — result set for a lien search
Every state runs its own separate UCC filing system, and most do not offer a comparable API — a multi-state lien search workflow generally cannot rely on one uniform API across states
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