Inclusion of personal identifying information (“PII”) in a document to be filed in the public records can raise privacy concerns. One item which deserves particular attention is an individual’s social security number (“SSN”).

Prior to July 1, 2001, Article 9 of the Colorado Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”) required that a financing statement naming an individual as a debtor include that individual’s SSN. Various forms commonly in use prior to July 1, 2001 provided a field for the SSN.

Effective July 1, 2001, Colorado’s UCC eliminated the requirement to include an SSN. At that time, the Secretary of State (“SOS”) revised its forms to indicate that an individual debtor’s SSN was not required. Apparently, in spite of these changes, outdated forms subsequently delivered for filing under Article 9 and other lien laws included SSNs.

The intent of Article 9 is to allow a secured party to file a record giving public notice of its security interest and to allow interested persons to access the resulting public records. By law, the SOS has the duty to file and index records, and make images of the records available to the public. This duty has been performed by making records searchable and images accessible on the SOS Web site. If an image includes an SSN, a conflict can arise between the SOS’s statutory requirement to provide access to the image and an individual debtor’s privacy concerns.

To mitigate this conflict, the Office of the Secretary of State recommends that a document submitted to the SOS for filing pursuant to Article 9 or other lien laws should not include an individual debtor’s SSN. In fact, the SOS has previously removed SSNs from filed documents and may likely continue this practice. Removal of an SSN from a document delivered for filing delays the filing process and access to the redacted image. By omitting unnecessary PII in a document it prepares, a secured party helps protect the privacy of the individual debtor and expedites the secured party’s transaction.

Current UCC forms are available by selecting “Business Home” from the left menu bar and then selecting the “UCC and EFS forms” link under the UCC Information heading. Please do not use outdated forms.