# Clerkfield

> Clerkfield verifies U.S. businesses and finds their UCC liens using official state records: each state's Secretary of State business registry and its UCC filing office. It is built for merchant cash advance (MCA) funders and the teams around them, who need to know, before funding, whether a business is real and active and who already holds a lien on it.

- Business verification: checks a business against its state's registry and returns a Pass, Review or Fail verdict with the reasons, the legal name, status, formation date, months in business, officers and registered agent, plus every other field the state publishes. It can confirm that an applicant is listed as an officer.
- UCC lien search: lists every UCC financing statement filed against a business (or every one a lender filed), active, lapsed and terminated, with secured parties, file numbers, filing and lapse dates, collateral and later amendments, continuations, assignments and terminations.
- Notifications (coming soon): daily monitoring for new liens and registry status changes on businesses you've funded.
- Coverage today: business checks in 15 states (Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas); lien search in 10 states (Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island). More states are added regularly.
- Every result names its official source and the date of the data. Clerkfield never fills gaps with guessed data.
- Access: a web dashboard and a REST API (JSON, API keys). Free while in beta.
- Clerkfield reports on businesses only and is not a consumer reporting agency.
- Founder: Elias Acosta, a former corporate credit analyst.

## Product

- [Clerkfield home](https://clerkfield.com/): what Clerkfield does, how verdicts and lien searches work, FAQ
- [Business verification](https://clerkfield.com/business-verification): what a business check returns, how Pass, Review and Fail are decided, name matching, the owner check, covered states
- [UCC lien search](https://clerkfield.com/ucc-lien-search): what a UCC lien is, how long it lasts, lien status, searching by business or lender, what each state leaves out
- [Coverage by state](https://clerkfield.com/coverage): every state Clerkfield covers for business checks and lien search, and what each state's free records leave out
- [For MCA funders](https://clerkfield.com/for/mca-funders): how merchant cash advance funders use business checks and UCC lien search in underwriting, and how to spot stacking
- [API](https://clerkfield.com/api): authentication, the business check, lien search and coverage endpoints with parameters, example responses and errors
- [API documentation](https://clerkfield.com/docs): authentication, every endpoint with parameters and example responses, errors, usage and the OpenAPI spec
- [New York business search](https://clerkfield.com/business-search/new-york): what the New York Department of State, Division of Corporations publishes, what New York's status words mean, how to search by hand, fees and how current the data is
- [Pennsylvania business search](https://clerkfield.com/business-search/pennsylvania): what the Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations publishes, what Pennsylvania's status words mean, how to search by hand, fees and how current the data is
- [Minnesota business search](https://clerkfield.com/business-search/minnesota): what the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, Business Services publishes, what Minnesota's status words mean, how to search by hand, fees and how current the data is
- [Oregon business search](https://clerkfield.com/business-search/oregon): what the Oregon Secretary of State, Corporation Division publishes, what Oregon's status words mean, how to search by hand, fees and how current the data is
- [Texas business search](https://clerkfield.com/business-search/texas): what the Texas Secretary of State publishes, what Texas's status words mean, how to search by hand, fees and how current the data is
- [Florida business search](https://clerkfield.com/business-search/florida): what the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations (Sunbiz) publishes, what Florida's status words mean, how to search by hand, fees and how current the data is
- [Florida UCC search](https://clerkfield.com/ucc-search/florida): where Florida UCC filings are kept, what the records include and leave out, how to search them by hand and what it costs
- [Idaho business search](https://clerkfield.com/business-search/idaho): what the Idaho Secretary of State, Business Services Division (SOSBiz) publishes, what Idaho's status words mean, how to search by hand, fees and how current the data is
- [Idaho UCC search](https://clerkfield.com/ucc-search/idaho): where Idaho UCC filings are kept, what the records include and leave out, how to search them by hand and what it costs
- [Connecticut business search](https://clerkfield.com/business-search/connecticut): what the Connecticut Secretary of the State, Business Services Division publishes, what Connecticut's status words mean, how to search by hand, fees and how current the data is
- [Connecticut UCC search](https://clerkfield.com/ucc-search/connecticut): where Connecticut UCC filings are kept, what the records include and leave out, how to search them by hand and what it costs
- [Kentucky business search](https://clerkfield.com/business-search/kentucky): what the Kentucky Secretary of State, Business Filings publishes, what Kentucky's status words mean, how to search by hand, fees and how current the data is
- [Kentucky UCC search](https://clerkfield.com/ucc-search/kentucky): where Kentucky UCC filings are kept, what the records include and leave out, how to search them by hand and what it costs
- [Arkansas business search](https://clerkfield.com/business-search/arkansas): what the Arkansas Secretary of State publishes, what Arkansas's status words mean, how to search by hand, fees and how current the data is
- [Arkansas UCC search](https://clerkfield.com/ucc-search/arkansas): where Arkansas UCC filings are kept, what the records include and leave out, how to search them by hand and what it costs
- [New Mexico business search](https://clerkfield.com/business-search/new-mexico): what the New Mexico Secretary of State, Business Services Division publishes, what New Mexico's status words mean, how to search by hand, fees and how current the data is
- [Alabama UCC search](https://clerkfield.com/ucc-search/alabama): where Alabama UCC filings are kept, what the records include and leave out, how to search them by hand and what it costs
- [New Jersey business search](https://clerkfield.com/business-search/new-jersey): what the New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services (Department of the Treasury) publishes, what New Jersey's status words mean, how to search by hand, fees and how current the data is
- [New Jersey UCC search](https://clerkfield.com/ucc-search/new-jersey): where New Jersey UCC filings are kept, what the records include and leave out, how to search them by hand and what it costs
- [Colorado business search](https://clerkfield.com/business-search/colorado): what the Colorado Secretary of State publishes, what Colorado's status words mean, how to search by hand, fees and how current the data is
- [Business search by state](https://clerkfield.com/business-search): where to search each state's business registry, what a Secretary of State business search shows, and the states Clerkfield searches
- [UCC search by state](https://clerkfield.com/ucc-search): where each state's UCC filings are searched, which states work differently, and the states where Clerkfield searches liens
- [What is a UCC lien?](https://clerkfield.com/learn/what-is-a-ucc-lien): what a UCC lien is, what a UCC-1 financing statement contains (UCC 9-502), where it's filed (9-307), how long it lasts (9-515), how priority works (9-322) and what it means for a business
- [UCC-3 termination and other UCC-3 amendments](https://clerkfield.com/learn/ucc-3-termination): the four kinds of UCC-3: termination (UCC 9-513), continuation (9-515), assignment (9-514) and amendment (9-512), who may file each (9-509), and how they appear in a UCC search
- [How to remove a UCC lien](https://clerkfield.com/learn/how-to-remove-a-ucc-lien): the steps to get a UCC-3 termination filed, the 20-day deadline after a demand (UCC 9-513), filing the termination yourself (UCC 9-509), lapse after five years, and what a search shows afterwards
- [MCA liens: how merchant cash advance UCC filings work](https://clerkfield.com/learn/mca-ucc-liens): why MCA funders file UCC-1s (Article 9 covers sales of accounts), what an MCA filing looks like, how stacking shows in UCC records, and what happens after payoff
- [Pricing](https://clerkfield.com/pricing): free during the beta, what's included, fair use, and what happens when paid plans arrive
- [Contact](https://clerkfield.com/contact): how to reach Clerkfield for support, sales, coverage requests, press and partnerships
- [Full reference for language models](https://clerkfield.com/llms-full.txt): coverage by state with limits, API reference, verdict flags, FAQ
- [Create a free account](https://clerkfield.com/app#signup): web dashboard for business checks and lien search

## API

- [Coverage (public JSON)](https://clerkfield.com/v1/coverage): every state and what each check covers there; no key needed
- GET https://clerkfield.com/v1/business-check?name=&state=&owner=&min_months=: business verification verdict and record (API key required)
- GET https://clerkfield.com/v1/liens?state=&debtor= or &secured_party=: UCC lien search by business or by lender (API key required)