Under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, liens on most types of personal property can be created and perfected through the combination of a security agreement and a properly filed financing statement. Both documents must describe the collateral, although the documents serve different purposes. So what constitutes a sufficient description for one may not work for the other.
Under UCC §9-203, a security interest attaches and becomes enforceable against a debtor when (1) value has been given, (2) the debtor has rights or the power to transfer rights in the collateral and (3) there is evidence of the parties’ intent to create a security interest. In most cases this third requirement is satisfied when the debtor has signed or otherwise authenticated a security agreement containing a description of the collateral.
