How to use UCC filings for prospecting
A step-by-step method for turning public UCC-1 filings into a call list of businesses whose equipment loans are ending.
By Ayman Tai, Founder, UCC Scout · Updated September 26, 2026 · Colorado figures as of November 12, 2026
A UCC-1 filing is the closest thing to a public record of a business's equipment loan. It won't tell you the balance, but it tells you when the loan started, who made it and what it bought. Read in bulk, filings become a prospecting list sorted by when each business is likely to need you. Here is the method we use, step by step.
Step 1: Get the filings
Every state keeps a UCC index. Some, including Colorado, publish it as open data with debtors, secured parties and collateral in separate tables. Others only offer a name search, which is fine for checking one business but useless for building a list. See how to search Colorado UCC filings.
Step 2: Throw out what isn't equipment finance
Most UCC filings aren't equipment loans. In Colorado the biggest filers include consumer solar lenders, tool-truck accounts, medical liens on injury claims and merchant cash advances. Filter those out by secured party and by collateral text, and drop filings against individuals entirely.
Step 3: Keep filings that name the equipment
A filing that names a machine and a serial number is a real equipment loan:
1 KENWORTH T680 VIN # 1XKYDP9X2GJ464965
A blanket “all assets” filing is usually a working capital line, not a machine with an end date. Both matter, but only the first gives you timing.
- Specific equipment with a serial, VIN or model number9,671 · 18.8%
- Equipment type named, no serial4,809 · 9.3%
- "Equipment", nothing more4,979 · 9.7%
- No collateral text published9,512 · 18.4%
- Blanket lien (all assets)16,348 · 31.7%
- Unclear6,245 · 12.1%
Step 4: Date each loan
Equipment loans and leases mostly run 36, 48 or 60 months. The filing date is roughly the funding date, so a filing 30 to 54 months old is somewhere near its last payments. The sweet spot is 36 to 48 months: late enough that the owner is thinking about what's next, early enough that they haven't signed with anyone.
Step 5: Check the filing is still open
A termination means the lender released its lien, usually because the loan was paid off. A continuation means the lender extended the filing past five years, which often means the loan is longer or the relationship ongoing. An active filing with neither is the best signal. Read more about UCC-3s.
Step 6: Rank, then call
Put it together into one score. Ours gives up to 50 points for age (peak at 36 to 48 months), 20 for specific serial-numbered equipment, 15 for an active filing with no continuation and 15 for repeat financers. Businesses with several filings finance regularly and are the most likely to do it again.
In Colorado today that produces 30,210 loans reaching a typical term end within six months. Start with the highest scores, lead with what you know (“you financed a Cat 308 with Cat Financial in 2022”), and see how to open that call.
Doing it without writing code
Steps 1 to 6 are what UCC Scout runs every morning. The free equipment loan checker shows the score and reasons for any Colorado business.