3. Competing Security Interests. Under a proper reading of the first-to-file-or perfect rule of Section 9-322(a)(1) [Maine cite section 9-1322, subsection (1), paragraph (a)] (and former Section 9-312(5)), it is abundantly clear that the time when an advance is made plays no role in determining priorities among conflicting security interests except when a financing statement was not filed and the advance is the giving of value as the last step for attachment and perfection. Thus, a secured party takes subject to all advances secured by a competing security interest having priority under Section 9-322(a)(1) [Maine cite section 9- 1322, subsection (1), paragraph (a)]. This result generally obtains regardless of how the competing security interest is perfected and regardless of whether the advances are made "pursuant to commitment" (Section 9-102 [Maine cite section 9- 1102]). Subsection (a) [Maine cite subsection (1)] of this section states the only other instance when the time of an advance figures in the priority scheme in Section 9-322 [Maine cite section 9-1322]: when the security interest is perfected only automatically under Section 9-309 [Maine cite section 9- 1309] or temporarily under Section 9-312(e), (f), or (g) [Maine cite section 9-1312, subsection (5), (6) or (7)], and the advance is not made pursuant to a commitment entered into while the security interest was perfected by another method. Thus, an advance has priority from the date it is made only in the rare case in which it is made without commitment and while the security interest is perfected only temporarily under Section 9- 312 [Maine cite section 9-1312].

The new formulation in subsection (a) [Maine cite subsection (1)] clarifies the result when the initial advance is paid and a new ("future") advance is made subsequently. Under former Section 9-312(7), the priority of the new advance turned on whether it was "made while a security interest is perfected." This section resolves any ambiguity by omitting the quoted phrase.

Example 1: On February 1, A makes an advance secured by machinery in the debtor's possession and files a financing statement. On March 1, B makes an advance secured by the same machinery and files a financing statement. On April 1, A makes a