The lender's own declaration that the loan is gone. In Florida this is not a formality you can work around: FLHSMV states that a vehicle cannot legally be sold in a private sale while a lien exists, and that the title can only be transferred once the lienholder has reported the satisfaction to the department. This is that report, and nobody but the lienholder can sign it.
Written against HSMV 82260 (Rev 07/11), issued under section 319.24(5)(b), Florida Statutes.
Start this before you advertise the car, not after a buyer has committed. A satisfied loan sitting unreported on the department's record looks exactly like an unsatisfied one to the clerk who has to process your sale.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank HSMV 82260 from the flhsmv.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual HSMV 82260, rendered from the PDF the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles publishes and completed end to end: letterhead, every field, and the blocks at the foot.
Amber — you write it
Grey — not yours to fill
Numbered — explained below
The actual HSMV 82260, completed by the lender rather than by you. The second lienholder block is grey because there is only one loan on this car - and the form's own note tells a lender with the same name in both blocks not to perforate or use a paid stamp, but to complete the block for the lien actually being satisfied.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
The lienholder fills this in
Title number and vehicle description
Title number, VIN, year, make, body type and colour, in the block at the head of the form.
Watch out: Check what the lender writes against your certificate before it is posted. A lien release that describes a different vehicle is a fortnight lost and a second request to a department that has no reason to hurry.
2
The lienholder fills this in
Registered owner and date of issue
Your name last-name-first, the date the current certificate was issued, and your address.
Watch out: Last name first is printed on the form and ignored more often than not. It matters because the department matches this against a record that is filed the same way.
3
The lienholder fills this in
First lienholder: date of lien
The date the lien was recorded, in month-day-year.
Watch out: The note at the foot of the form is unusually specific: the date of lien must be the same as that shown on the title certificate. Not the date of the loan agreement, not the date of the first payment - the date on the title.
4
The lienholder fills this in
Lien satisfaction date
The day the loan was cleared.
Watch out: This is the date the ten-day clock runs from. The form's own footnote gives the lienholder ten days after final payment to get this to the department for a motor vehicle, and thirty for a vessel.
5
The lienholder fills this in
Lienholder name and address
The institution that held the lien, with its street address, city, state and zip.
Watch out: If your loan was sold on, this is whoever holds it now rather than whoever you signed with. Chasing the original lender is how a private sale ends up waiting a month for a piece of paper the wrong company cannot issue.
6
The lienholder fills this in
First lienholder name, again, at the foot
The certification block repeats the lienholder's name above the signature.
Watch out: It is not a duplicate for the sake of it - the block above describes the lien, and this one is the statement acknowledging satisfaction of it. Both have to be filled in.
7
The lienholder fills this in
Printed title of the authorised agent, and the signature
The job title of the person signing for the lender, and their signature on the rule underneath it.
Watch out: The form asks for the agent's title in print, which a busy loan officer often skips. It is the line that tells the department the signature belongs to somebody with authority to release a lien rather than to whoever was at the desk.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
What kind of thing it is
Four boxes at the top - motor vehicle, mobile home, off-highway vehicle, vessel.
The vehicle
Title number, vehicle or vessel identification number, year, make or manufacturer, body type and colour.
The registered owner
Your name with the last name first, your street address, city, state and zip, and the date of issue of the title.
First lienholder
Name, street address, city, state and zip, plus two dates the form asks for by month, day and year - the lien date and the lien satisfaction date.
Second lienholder
The same block again, because Florida records more than one lien and both have to be cleared before the title is clean.
The acknowledgment
Pre-printed: the undersigned holder of the above described lien acknowledges satisfaction thereof, under penalties of perjury.
Who signs
The lienholder's name, the printed title of the authorised agent for the lienholder, and that agent's signature. There are two sets, one for each lien.
Where it goes
The instruction at the foot names the destination in full - the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, Division of Motorist Services, Neil Kirkman Building, 2900 Apalachee Parkway, Tallahassee. This is one of the few Florida forms that does not go to a local office.
What gets this one rejected
•Filling it in yourself. The certification is a statement by the holder of the lien, made under penalties of perjury, and your signature has no place on it.
•A lien date that does not match the title. The note at the foot is explicit that the date of lien must be the same as that shown on the title certificate.
•A perforated or paid-stamped form where one lender holds both liens. The note says not to perforate or use a paid stamp in that case, and to complete only the space for the lien actually being satisfied.
•A half-completed form. The lienholder must complete all applicable sections, including the description of the vehicle, the owner's name and address, and the lienholder's name and address.
•Waiting for it after you have agreed a sale. It is due from the lienholder within ten days after final payment for a motor vehicle - thirty for a vessel - and ten days is the deadline, not the turnaround.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•Most Florida liens now clear without this paper at all. Where the lien was recorded electronically, the satisfaction is transmitted to the department electronically too and the record simply updates. Check the record before you chase a document you may not need.
•If you are holding the paper title, it goes back to the lender first. Section 319.24(5)(b) gives the owner five days from satisfaction of the lien to deliver the certificate to the lienholder, who enters the satisfaction in the space on the face of it before it comes back to you.
•Ten days is enforceable. A lienholder who fails to forward the document within ten days of a demand from the department commits a second degree misdemeanour under section 319.24(7). Say so politely if a lender is slow.
