Alaska records one lienholder, on the face of the certificate, in ink. There is no electronic title system here and no release form to download, so a paid-off loan is cleared one of exactly two ways: the lender signs the RELEASE BY LIENHOLDER block printed on the front of your title, or it sends a notarised letter on its own letterhead. What the Division will not take is the thing most people are handed - a PAID stamp. This page is about getting the right document out of a lender before a buyer is standing in your driveway, and about what to do when the lender has been swallowed by another bank since you signed the loan.
Written against Lien release (there is no form), issued under 2 AAC 92.160, satisfaction and release of lien, which requires the lienholder to release immediately on satisfaction and gives the owner ten days to apply for a new title. The picture the Division publishes of a signed release block is worth studying before you ask your lender for anything, because it shows how little is actually required: the institution's name written on the LIENHOLDER NAME rule, an authorised agent's signature in ink under it, and a date. If your lender has a branch you can walk into, taking the certificate in and having it signed on the face is faster and safer than waiting for a letter that may arrive missing the signer's job title.
There is no download link for the Lien release here because there is not one anywhere - the Alaska DMV does not publish it. The card below explains where it does come from.
There is no form to show filled in because Alaska publishes none for this: a lien is released on the printed face of the certificate itself, or by a letter written on the lender's own letterhead in whatever layout that lender uses. The Division's photograph of a completed release block, reproduced on our Alaska certificate of title page, is the closest thing to a filled-in example that exists.
| On the form | What to put in it |
|---|---|
| The release block on the certificate | Printed on the face under the lienholder's name and address, and the Division publishes a picture of it filled in. Three sub-labels: LIENHOLDER NAME, SIGNATURE OF AUTHORIZED AGENT (signed in ink), and DATE. A release signed here needs no letter at all. |
| Or: a notarised lien release letter | The alternative the Division names. It must be from the lienholder, notarised, and it accompanies the original title - it does not replace it. |
| The date, on the letter | First of the three things the Division requires a letter to include. Without it there is no record of when the lien ended, which matters for the ten-day rule below. |
| The signature, on the letter | Second. An unsigned payoff statement printed from an app is not a release, however clearly it says the balance is zero. |
| The title of the person releasing the lien | Third, and the one most often missing. The Division asks for the title of the person releasing the lien - a name alone does not show the person had authority to release anything. |
| A one-and-the-same statement, where the lender has changed name | The Division's own words: if the name of the organization has changed since the lien was first recorded, common among financial institutions, then a statement must be included in the letter listing that the releasing organization is one and the same as the one listed on the title. |
| What is not accepted | A PAID stamp alone is not acceptable. Nor is a screenshot, a closing statement, or the lender's word on the telephone. |
| A second lender, if there is one | Alaska records one primary lienholder on the certificate. Anything behind it is a UCC filing at a district recorder's office rather than a mark on the title, so it will not appear on the face and will not be cleared by this route. |
There is no Lien release to read: the Alaska DMV does not publish it, so nothing on this page describes its contents beyond what the agency itself says about it — that is here — and what is on the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles, Department of Administration pages. This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ, theirs governs.
Back to all Alaska seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Alaska involves.