Changing a Password

You may change your password as follows

1. Login to the PPSA website by entering your user name and password in the login fields.
2. Click on the Account tab in the top navigation menu.
3. Click on Change Password to open the Change Password screen.
4. Enter your old password in the first space, and enter your new password in the second and third spaces.
5. Click on the Submit button on the top left of the screen.
6. If you made an error in entering either the old or new password, the system will give you an error message to tell you what to correct.
7. A confirmation message will be displayed when your password has been successfully changed.

If you have forgotten your username or password

1. In the top navigation menu, click the Login button and click the Did you forget your 'Login ID' or 'Password'? link.
2. Select either "I forgot my password" or "I forgot my Login ID" and enter the requested information.
3. An email with a link to reset your password will be sent to you.

Searching Notices

If you want to search for notices that identify a particular debtor or that include a particular motor vehicle serial number or parcel number, or if you want to find a notice by its registration number, you may select the Search option either from the Welcome screen without logging in or from the Home Page while you are logged in. However, if you want a certified search report of your search, you must be logged in and select it from the Home Page, because there is a fee for a certified search report. After you select the Search option, the search screen will open.

Whether or not you are logged in, the search screen includes tabs for the different types of search criteria from which you may select.

• If you know the registration number of the initial notice, select the registration Number tab, enter the registration number in the displayed registration number field and click the Submit button.
• If you are searching for notices that name a particular debtor, click the Debtor tab. In the Debtor tab, select the type of debtor on which you want to search.
  • If the debtor is a company or organization, the official registry search requires you to enter its name as it appears on its organizational document in the displayed field, and click the Submit button.
  • If the debtor is an Individual, select appropriate option. Enter the Individual’s name in the indicated fields and click the Submit button. You must enter at least the surname exactly, and you should enter the first and middle name initials or leave them blank. By leaving the first or middle name blank or using an initial, you will find all notices that contain the debtor's surname and these initials.
• If you are searching for notices that include a particular motor vehicle serial number or parcel number in the collateral description, click the Serial/Parcel Number tab. Enter the serial number or parcel number in the displayed field and click the Submit button.

When the search is submitted, the system will identify all matching notices and display all information for each notice in registration number sequence, with all change notices for each initial notice following the initial notice to which they are related.

If you are logged in, the search screen will permit you to request the results to be certified. If you request a certified search report, the results of the search will include certification language and facsimile signature of the authorized official in the Ministry. It will also include a unique number for the certified search report that can be used to retrieve the report from the Filing Office database if needed later. The certified search report is an official record of the Filing Office, and you can use the printed report as evidence of the state of the record on the date of the certified report. If a court should refuse to recognize the certified report, you may request an originally signed certificate of authenticity from the Filing Office representative in the Ministry by providing the number of the certified search report.

Accessing the Personal Property Securities Act Registry

The Tonga Personal Property Securities Act (PPSA) Registry is an online register that provides lenders and trade creditors with the ability to register their interest over movable property that is used as collateral to secure a payment obligation.

There are two types of access to the Tonga Personal Property Securities website, depending on whether you are interacting with the site as a logged-in account holder or only with public access.

If you intend to register a notice(s) of security interests you must open a client account with the PPSA Registry. This will allow you (or your company or financial institution through its authorized users) to log in to the website to register notices and to request certified search reports. You need a separate account to make PPSA filings: a company registry account will not work in the PPSA registry.

Fees for registering and for requesting certified search reports are automatically debited against the pre-funded client account. Payments can be made online via a credit card or by cash or check to the Registry account through the PPSA Registry administered by the MTED. To set up a client account, return to the main menu screen and select the Create Account option. It will take you to the Client Account application, which you can complete and submit on-line. The Registry will assign a number to your client account, which you must provide to the MTED if you are submitting payments directly to them.

1. Account Holders

   To set up an account, from the PPSA Welcome Screen:

   1. Click on the Create Account link in the main menu.
   2. Select the registry account type option setup a PPSA account.
   3. Read and agree to the terms and conditions.
   4. Enter the general information for the account. The client account administrator will need to upload a government issued photo ID as well.
   5. Press Save.
   6. You will receive an email to verify your email account. Open the email and click the verification link to activate your account.

   Features of having a PPSA account:

   • Register notices to secure your charge over movable property of the debtor.
   • File amendments and other change filings.
   • Manage payments to fund your account.
   • Manage your own client account, including managing new users.

2. Public Access

   To simply search the PPSA you do not need to create an account as searches are free.

   From the PPSA Welcome screen under the Searches and Filings menu:

   1. Click on the link Search For Notices or Request a Certified Search Report .
   2. Choose the tab for either debtor search, VIN number search, notice registration number search, or certified search verification.
   3. Enter the mandatory search information.
   4. Press the Search button.
   5. If any records are found they will display along with the search criteria.
   6. You may print the search results. To obtain a certified copy you will need to establish a client account.

Make a Payment for Notices or Certified Searches

You may conduct business with the registry and accrue charges up to 300 pa’anga. This amount should be paid each month. To ensure payment, clients will not be able to proceed with any filing or certified search if they owe more than 300 pa’anga in back due charges, or if any past due charges are not paid within 60 days. The client account can be funded in one of two ways. First, you may fund the account via the use of a credit card. If you were preparing to submit a new Notice with a fee of 92 Pa'anga, you would deposit 92 Pa'anga into the account. Second, you may submit a payment via cash in person to MTED. The MTED will then credit your PPSA Client Account with the amount of the deposit. Then, when you submit a filing to the registry, the system will automatically deduct the filing fee from your account balance.

For regular users of the registry, you may find it convenient to place a larger amount of funds into your client account and then let the system deduct the filing fees from that amount. By “pre-funding” the account in this manner you will avoid having to enter credit card details for every single transaction or making one-off payments to MTED. If for some reason you later determine to no longer use the Registry you may request a refund of any unused funds.

Your Client Account Administrator may monitor the balance in your client account. Your Client Account Administrator will also be able to set up the system to deliver an email alerting them if the account balance falls below a certain

Registering Change Notices

To file a change to an existing notice, you must log in to your PPSA account. Once you log in, you will be on a Home page from which you can select the action you want to do.

Under 'Filings', click on 'File Change Notices', on the 'Manage Existing Notice' page, you must select the type of change notice you want to file (the types of change notices are Amended Notice, Continuation Statement and Termination Statement), provide the 'Notice Registration Number' and  enter the 'Access Number' for the notice. Then click the Next button to proceed to the change notice screen, which will indicate the type of change notice you are entering. If you do not know the Access Number associated with the filing, you may search for the notice using the Search Transactions feature on the client home or contact the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development.

• For an amended notice, first mark the name or names of each secured party who authorizes the Change Notice at the bottom of the screen. You may then add, delete or change information on debtors, secured parties and collateral by selecting the tab for the type of information to be added, deleted or changed.
  • If the Change Notice adds a debtor, secured party, collateral, click the appropriate tab and the "Add" button.
  • If the Change Notice deletes a debtor, secured party or collateral, select the appropriate tab and click the delete (trash can) icon beside the entry for the item to be deleted.
  • If the Change Notice changes information about a debtor or secured party, select the appropriate tab and click the Edit (pencil) icon beside the entry to be amended. The information will appear in the Add screen where you may change the information and then click the Update button.
  • If the Change Notice changes the narrative description of collateral, click the Collateral tab and make the change to the description in the text box.
  • If the Change Notice replaces an attached PDF document in the collateral tab, click on the "Select File" button and select the new document. You may also drag the file into the outligned box above the "Select File" button. When the file name appears in the box the file is uploaded. The new document will then replace the old document once the filing is submitted.
  • If the Change Notices replaces Other Information, click on the Other Information tab and make the changes to the description in the text box.
• For a continuation statement, first mark the name or names of each secured party who authorizes the continuation at the bottom of the screen. No further data entry is required, so you may then click the Review button, and then click the Confirm button in the Review screen. If the change is accepted by the system, it will automatically extend the period of effectiveness of the filed notice by five years. If the current date is not within the six-month period that ends on the lapse date of the initial notice, the system will refuse to accept the notice.
• For a termination statement, first mark the name or names of each secured party who authorizes the continuation at the bottom of the screen. No further data entry is required, so you may then click the Review button, and then click the Confirm button in the Review screen.

Registering Notices

Note: The following information is not intended as legal advice. This section provides an overview of the requirements necessary to submit a proper filing to the PPSA registry. You should consult with your own legal advisors prior to submitting any filing. Making a legally effective filing is the responsibility of the filer, and the Ministry will not be reviewing filings for accuracy or completeness.

How do I File a Notice?

To file notices of security interest, you must log in to your PPSA account. Once you log in, you will be on a Home page from which you can select the action you want to complete. If you want to file an initial notice of security interest, select the Notice of Security Interest/ Notice of Lien option to go to the File Initial Notice screen. The registration screens are quite simple and intuitive to use.

The Filing Type Initial Notice screen has five tabs that you can choose in any order.

If the debtor is operating under a business name that is registered with the Ministry, it is highly advisable to enter the names of the individual owners of the business name. A business name registration may not create a separate, independent legal entity, and thus the individual(s) owner of the business name most likely needs to be named as the debtor on the Notice. If you have any questions on this or any other matter concerning the effectiveness of a Notice, you should seek your own legal advice.

• The first tab that is displayed when you open the screen is automatically filled with information about you or your company or institution and the type of notice you are registering. There is a “Add Registrant As Secured Party” button below the name and address of the registering party (you or your company) that you may press if the secured party is the same as the registering party. This would be the case if, for example, a bank was submitting its own filing. If a law firm was submitting a filing on behalf of a lender then this button would not be appropriate. If you press this button, you may then bypass the Secured Party tab. The lapse date of the Notice will be set to 5 years from the current date by default.
• The second tab is the Debtors tab. It is used to enter one or more debtors, that is, the obligors on the obligation. To add a debtor, first click the Add Additional Party button to open the add screen. Then select the type of debtor to be added.
  • If a debtor is a company registered on the company registry website, you may simply enter its registration number and its details will be pulled form the company registry. However, you may overwrite details such as an address if you wish.
  • If a debtor is an individual, enter his or her name, gender, and birthdate, together with the applicable address information.
  Once all information has been entered, click the Update button to save the entry. If there are two or more debtors, you can continue to add debtors by clicking the Add Additional Party button after you have added a debtor’s information.
• The third tab is the Secured Party tab. It is used to enter one or more secured parties. If you have not marked the registering party as the secured party in the first tab, or if there are additional secured parties, click the Add Additional Party button to open the add screen. Enter the secured party’s name and address in the indicated fields. Once all information has been entered, click the Update button to save the entry. If there are more secured parties, you can continue to add them by clicking the Add Secured Party button.
• The fourth tab is the Collateral tab. It is used to enter a description of the personal property that secures the obligation. The description of the collateral may be general or specific, so long as it informs a person who reads it whether particular property is covered by the security interest. There are three ways in which you can enter collateral information, and you may use any one, two or all three of them.
  • You may enter a narrative description of any length in the text box.
  • You may attach a PDF file containing a description of the collateral.
  • You may enter one or more vehicle serial numbers and/or parcel numbers as collateral. The serial number for a motor vehicle is the number etched on the body of the vehicle by the manufacturer. It is not a licence plate number. The parcel number for a filing that relates to an interest in a building or other covered interest in land could be either the book and folio number of the land, or the lease number, whichever is applicable. To add additional rows for serial/parcel number, click the "Add Serial/Parcel Number” button on the filing toolbar. Please see section 23 of the Act with regard to the need to enter a vehicle serial number or parcel number.
• The fifth tab is the Other Information tab. It is used to enter any additional information deemed relevant to the filing. You may enter a narrative description of any length in the text box.

Once all filing information has been entered, you may press “Review” on the filing to review all filing details. If the filing looks correct upon review, then press the “Confirm” button to submit the filing. Otherwise, press the “Edit” button to return to the tabbed form and make corrections.

Upon submitting the filing, a filing confirmation page will be displayed. This page contains all information on the filing and may be printed. It also contains an Access Number associated with the filing number. The Access Number is required to submit change filings for the initial filing. This number is confidential and should not be provided to any other person, including debtors on the filing. Filers should make sure they retain the Access Number in their files.

Viewing Transaction History on Your Account

The Search Transactions feature allows a client account holder to view all notices and certified searches performed on the registry website for their account. This feature is particularly useful for retrieving access numbers in the event that a change notice is required, or for identifying notices approaching a lapse date.

Begin on the PPSA home page:

1. Select the Search Transactions tab on the client dashboard.
2. To narrow down the transactions, enter additional information in available fields.
   • The From and Through fields select the beginning and ending dates to search within.
   • The Expires From and Expires Through fields show notices that expire within the dates selected.
   • The Transaction Type dropdown menu lists all of the searchable transaction types.
   • The amount of entries displayed per page are customizable with a dropdown menu.
   • To view transactions based on a keyword, enter the word or phrase in the search field.
3. Select the Search button.
4. View the results populated below.
5. Click on the reference number to view the filing details.
6. Click on the blue icon in the Action column to manage the existing notice.