Therefore, to defeat the trustee's status, a creditor must possess a perfected security interest on the date the debtor filed a bankruptcy petition. First Eastern Bank, N.A. v. Minichello (In re Minichello), 120 B.R. 17, 20 (Bankr.M.D.Pa. 1990); Bailey v. Farris (In re Farris), 40 B.R. 58, 60 (Bankr.M.D.Ala. 1984); Feldman v. Schreiber (In re Finkle), 38 B.R. 101, 102 (Bankr.D.Md. 1984); Bezanson v. Indian Head Bank Trust Co. (In re Howell), 28 B.R. 273, 275-76 (Bankr.D.Maine 1983). The determination of whether a party has perfected its security interest is governed by state law.

Accord, Cherno v. Dutch American Mercantile Corporation, 353 F.2d 147 (2d Cir. 1965); Rosenbaum v. Century Indemnity Co., 168 F.2d 917 (2d Cir. 1948), cert. den. 335 U.S. 885, 69 S.Ct. 238, 93 L.Ed. 424 (1948). See also In re Finkle, 38 B.R. 101 (Bankr.D.Md. 1984). In holding the rights of the trustee as a perfect lien creditor superior to any equitable lien of the Grantor Agencies, the court necessarily concludes that the funds, having become property of the bankruptcy estate, have been paid out for the purposes for which they were appropriated, thereby distinguishing the trustee in bankruptcy from an ordinary prepetition judgment creditor.

Thus, the bankruptcy trustee, by virtue of his or her status as a hypothetical lien creditor under § 544(a), can always defeat such an unperfected lien interest in personalty. In re Finkle, 38 B.R. 101, 103 (Bankr.D.Mary. 1984); In re Henzler Mfg. Corp., 36 B.R. 303, 306 (Bankr.N.D.Ohio 1984); O.P.M. Leasing Services, 23 B.R. at 120.

In Re Hastings, 4 B.R. 292 (Bankr.D.Minn. 1980); In Re Finkle, 38 B.R. 101 (Bankr.D.Md. 1984). However, the Trustee in this case took no action to avoid the mortgage, either during the original administration or since the re-opening of this case.