(a) What constitutes filing. Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b), communication of a record to a filing office and tender of the filing fee or acceptance of the record by the filing office constitutes filing.

(b) Refusal to accept record; filing does not occur. Filing does not occur with respect to a record that a filing office refuses to accept because:

(1) the record is not communicated by a method or medium of communication authorized by the filing office;

(2) an amount equal to or greater than the applicable filing fee is not tendered;

(3) the filing office is unable to index the record because:

(A) in the case of an initial financing statement, the record does not provide a name for the debtor;

(B) in the case of an amendment or information statement, the record:

(i) does not identify the initial financing statement as required by § 8.9A-512 or 8.9A-518, as applicable;

(ii) identifies an initial financing statement whose effectiveness has lapsed under § 8.9A-515; or

(iii) in the case of a record filed or recorded in the filing office described in § 8.9A-501(a)(1), does not provide the name and mailing address of the debtor;

(C) in the case of an initial financing statement that provides the name of a debtor identified as an individual or an amendment that provides a name of a debtor identified as an individual which was not previously provided in the financing statement to which the record relates, the record does not identify the debtor's surname; or

(D) in the case of a record filed or recorded in the filing office described in § 8.9A-501(a)(1), the record does not provide a sufficient description of the real property to which it relates;

(4) in the case of an initial financing statement or an amendment that adds a secured party of record, the record does not provide a name and mailing address for the secured party of record;

(5) in the case of an initial financing statement or an amendment that provides a name of a debtor which was not previously provided in the financing statement to which the amendment relates, the record does not:

(A) provide a mailing address for the debtor; or

(B) indicate whether the name provided as the name of the debtor is the name of an individual or an organization;

(6) in the case of an assignment reflected in an initial financing statement under § 8.9A-514(a) or an amendment filed under § 8.9A-514(b), the record does not provide a name and mailing address for the assignee;

(7) in the case of a continuation statement, the record is not filed within the six-month period prescribed by § 8.9A-515(d); or

(8) in the case of an initial financing statement or amendment communicated to the office of the State Corporation Commission, it appears to such office that the record:

(A) is not created pursuant to this title;

(B) is presented for filing for an improper purpose, such as to hinder, harass, or otherwise wrongfully interfere with a person or promote or conduct an illegitimate object or purpose;

(C) is materially false or fraudulent; or

(D) indicates that the debtor and the secured party are substantially the same person or that an individual debtor is a transmitting utility.

(c) Rules applicable to subsection (b). For purposes of subsection (b):

(1) a record does not provide information if the filing office is unable to read or decipher the information;

(2) a record that does not indicate that it is an amendment or identify an initial financing statement to which it relates, as required by § 8.9A-512, 8.9A-514, or 8.9A-518, is an initial financing statement; and

(3) if the filing office becomes aware that a record may have been wrongfully filed because it should have been rejected under subdivision (b)(8), the filing office may review the record and relevant circumstances and, if it determines that the record was wrongfully filed and should have been rejected under subdivision (b)(8):

(A) the record shall be deemed void and ineffective; and

(B) the filing office shall remove the record from the index and communicate the foregoing to the person that presented the wrongfully filed record and to other persons, as appropriate.

(d) Refusal to accept record; record effective as filed record. A record that is communicated to the filing office with tender of the filing fee, but which the filing office refuses to accept for a reason other than one set forth in subsection (b), is effective as a filed record except as against a purchaser of the collateral which gives value in reasonable reliance upon the absence of the record from the files.

2000, c. 1007; 2002, cc. 566, 644; 2012, c. 155; 2013, c. 757