You’ve changed the wrong registration: what now?
When you are performing an Amendment, Discharge, Re-registration or Renewal, it is possible to accidentally change the wrong registration. To avoid doing this, always verify the registration details before changing a registration.
What should you do if you realize that you have accidentally changed the wrong registration?
We recommend that you inform the secured party of the accidental change. For more information on informing the secured party, click here.
See additional recommendations below based upon the registration action performed.
Renewal - Of the various types of accidental changes to a registration, renewal is the one least likely to harm the secured party. You have extended the term of the registration. The extension may or may not be of value to the secured party, but it does not reduce the effectiveness of the registration. However, it is still valuable to inform the secured party. The secured party may later need to manually discharge the registration because it will not lapse on the previous (pre-renewal) expiry date. Actions:
- No additional registration actions. The renewal action to extend the term of the registration cannot be reversed.
- Inform the secured party of the accidental renewal.
Discharge - Of the various types of accidental changes to a registration, discharge is the one most likely to harm the secured party. Though the affected registration will continue to be revealed in search result reports for an additional thirty days, registrations performed while the registration is discharged may take priority over the discharged registration. After thirty days, the registration will be permanently discharged without ability to re-register (reactivate) the registration.
If you have inadvertently discharged a registration, we recommend that you re-register it immediately, i.e. without awaiting communication with the secured party. The re-register action will return the registration to an "active" or "effective" state. The shorter the period that the registration remains discharged, the less likely it is the accidental discharge will have a negative impact on the secured party. Actions:
- Re-register the registration ASAP and definitely within 30 days of the accidental discharge.
- Inform the secured party of the accidental discharge and of your re-registration action.
Re-register - Only a registration that was discharged or lapsed (expired) during the last thirty days can be re-registered, so re-registration is the accidental change least likely to occur.
If the registration was discharged, then the re-registration will have returned it to an "active" state until it expires. To "correct" such a condition, the registration would need to be discharged again.
If the registration had lapsed, then the re-registration will provide a 24-hour period during which the registration may be renewed. To "correct" such a situation, no explicit action is necessary. If the registration is not renewed during the temporary re-registration period, it will return to a lapsed (expired) state.
If you have inadvertently re-registered a registration, we recommend that you inform the secured party, but we do NOT recommend that you attempt to correct the situation via another registration. Instead, we recommend that you leave the decision to the secured party. Actions:
- No additional registration actions (at least not without the approval of the secured party). Leave the registration in its "active" state.
- Inform the secured party of the accidental re-registration.
Amendment - Accidentally amending the wrong registration is very rare because the registrant must view registration details prior to making any registation changes. Unfortunately, if a registration has been amended in error, the additional amendment(s) to correct the errors may be complicated, so they could lead to compounding the problem. For this reason, we recommend that you always attempt to contact the secured party before proceeding with any attempts to correct the registration.
The severity of the possible harm to the secured party depends upon what was changed:
Most severe risk: A debtor or serial number record (a searchable value) has been deleted, i.e. a partial discharge. Note that "changing" an existing debtor or serial number record has the effect of deleting the existing record and adding a new record. In this instance, like Discharge, it is very important that the error be corrected as soon as possible and definitely within 30 days of the accidental change.
Moderate risk: A change to other existing registration details -- such as secured party records, court information, general description of collateral, or additional informationny -- is likely to misinform a searcher, but the searcher will at least have been made aware of the registration. The error should be corrected as soon as possible.
Least risk: A debtor, serial number, or secured party record has been added. In this instance, the secured party is least likely to be harmed by the "extra" information included within the registration. These changes are also the easiest to correct -- the extra records may simply be deleted by a subsequent amendment.
Actions:
- Inform the secured party of the accidental amendment.
- Approach additional amendment(s) to correct erroneous changes very carefully. If re-entering deleted records, for example, ensure that new records exactly reproduce the previous registration details.
- Consider adding a description of the accidental amendment and its correction within the "Additional Information" field. For example:
- "Amendment registration <registration number> on <date> contained inadvertant, erroneous changes to this registration which should be ignored. This amendment on <date> corrects those erroneous changes."
Here are more detailed recommendations if you are in the difficult situation of needing to inform a secured party that you have inadvertantly changed a registration:
1. Documentation: All secured parties listed in a registration that has been amended, discharged or re-registered will receive a PPRS Notice to Secured Party (NSP) report informing them of the change. However, we do not recommend you rely upon or wait for the secured party(ies) to receive the NSP. Instead, you should provide a copy of the PPRS Verification Statement report for the erroneous registration. If you have performed any subsequent registrations to attempt to correct the problem, also provide copies of those Verification Statements. If you do not have a copy of an applicable Verification Statement, you can retrieve the current status of the registration, including the erroneous registration, by performing a PPRS Registration Number Search.
2. Contacting the secured party: The secured party record should contain contact information including one or more of the following: contact person’s name, telephone number, fax number, email address, and mailing address. We recommend you use the most expedient methods available such as telephone, email and fax. The mailing address may be helpful to lookup telephone information if it was not provided within the registration or if it is out of date.
3. If there is more than one secured party: If there is more than one secured party, we recommend that you attempt to reach all secured parties until you make positive contact with at least one. Consult with that secured party regarding whether or not you should additionally contact other secured parties.
4. If not able to contact a secured party: If you are not able to contact the secured party, the registrant who performed the original registration may be a valuable alternative. For help identifying the previous registrant(s) for the registration contact the ACOL Client Support Centre. Explain to the agent why you are attempting to learn the identity and contact information for the registrant. The agent should be able to help you reach the registrant.