Tips on Buying Cars: Title with no lender on it

Question
My significant other passed away and left me his 2010 Camaro. It's about halfway paid off. In the last six months, he switched lenders and the DMV ended up sending him the title with only his name on it, with no lender or security interest on it. If I take it to DMV to get it transfered to my name, will the loan show on it?

Answer
Hi Vicki ...sorry to hear about your loss ... the short answer to your question is ...probably.

What happened was that when one bank paid off the other the original bank signed off as security interest holder and then sent out the title to him not knowing or ignoring the fact that the payoff may have come from another bank ... the important question for me to know more is how long ago did this change of lenders take place? Bank #2 would generally have been all over him in fairly short order because they only have so many days to perfect their security interest in the vehicle and they usually need the title to get it done.

What you should do is call the DMV and tell the clerk that your husband (not SO) just passed away and left things to you and you have some car titles and you planned on liquidating the cars and wanted to make sure there were no lienholders showing on their end that would cause a problem when you sold it in the very near future. They will look it up by the plate number or VIN and tell you if anyone has filed a lien on the title ...other people besides banks can lien cars (like child support etc) so you will just be doing your due diligence ...I have had this come up before and as I recall there is about a 60/40 chance that they have jumped on thwe title ...once again it depends on how long ago he did this ... If you get back to me with what state you are in I may be able to tell you using an online system that we susbcribe too ...would also need the VIN number ...you can send that to my personal email roadloans@gmail.com

good luck

Roger