Seven boxes on half a page, and it is how Indiana releases a lien held by a person rather than a bank. The BMV's Liens page gives a private lender three routes - sign the release section on the certificate, write a release letter, or sign a general Affidavit - and this is that affidavit. Being general is the whole point of it: it has a Deposes and says upon his / her oath that field and nothing else, so the words that do the work are the ones you write into it.
Written against State Form 37964 (R3 / 11-24), issued under IC 9-14-8-2.
Sort this out before you advertise the car, not after somebody has agreed to buy it. The BMV's rule is that prior to selling a vehicle, all lienholders must have released their interest in the vehicle, and chasing a private lender who has moved house is not a same-week job.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank State Form 37964 from the forms.in.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual State Form 37964, rendered from the PDF the Indiana Bureau of 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 whole form, which is most of the point of it - seven boxes, a wide blank space and no notary block. Everything that makes this a lien release rather than a piece of paper is in the amber block in the middle, written out longhand.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
The lienholder fills this in
STATE OF INDIANA, COUNTY OF
The county where the affiant is signing goes on the second line. The state is already printed.
Watch out: Use the lender's own county, not the county the car is registered in. It is a fact about where the oath was taken.
2
The lienholder fills this in
Name
The individual lienholder's full legal name.
Watch out: It has to be the name that appears as lienholder on the certificate. A lender who has married or changed their name since the loan needs the one-and-the-same affidavit alongside this one.
3
The lienholder fills this in
Address
Number and street, city, state and ZIP code, all in the one wide box.
Watch out: A current address, because the BMV may want to reach the lender if the release is queried. The address on a decade-old loan agreement is not a current address.
4
The lienholder fills this in
Deposes and says upon his / her oath that
The statement itself. For a lien release it needs the owner's name as the certificate holds it, the vehicle year, make and identification number, and the date the lien was released.
Watch out: Write the release date, not today's date. The BMV asks a release letter to state the date on which the lien was released and there is no reason it wants less from an affidavit.
5
The lienholder fills this in
Sign and date it
The two boxes at the foot, under the perjury affirmation.
Watch out: No notary, no witness, no seal. The oath is in the printed sentence, which is also why the sentence above the signature is worth reading before signing it.
6
You fill this in
Take it to the branch with the certificate
The affidavit travels with the title, and the branch removes the lienholder when the new title is applied for.
Watch out: Keep a photograph of it. A private lien release is the piece of paper most likely to be lost between the kitchen table and the counter, and the lender is not always reachable a second time.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
STATE OF INDIANA / COUNTY OF
A pre-printed state line and a county box under it. The county is where the affiant is swearing, not where the vehicle is.
Name
One box. The affiant is the person making the statement - for a lien release, the individual lienholder.
Address
A single wide box asking for number and street, city, state and ZIP code together.
Deposes and says upon his / her oath that:
The body of the affidavit. A tall empty area where the entire statement is written out.
The perjury affirmation
Printed beneath: I swear or affirm that the information I have entered on this form is correct. I understand that making a false statement on this form may constitute the crime of perjury.
Signature and Date
Two boxes at the foot, and no notary block anywhere on the page.
What gets this one rejected
•A statement too vague to act on. A lien release written here needs the same content the BMV demands of a release letter - the titled owner's name, the date the lien was released, and the vehicle's year, make and identification number.
•The vehicle owner signing it in place of the lienholder. The affiant is the person with the interest to give up, and that is the lender.
•Using it for a lienholder that is a business. A financial institution or dealer signs off on the certificate itself or writes on its own letterhead - this route is for an individual lienholder.
•Leaving the county line empty. The form opens with STATE OF INDIANA and a county box, and an oath sworn nowhere is not an oath.
•Assuming a signature is enough on its own. The signature affirms whatever is written above it, so an empty body affirms nothing.
•Expecting it to work on an electronic title. Where the lien is electronic, the lienholder releases it electronically and no paper reaches the BMV at all.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•It is a container, not a template. The only structural help this form gives is the phrase Deposes and says upon his / her oath that. Everything that makes the statement effective is written by whoever is swearing it.
•Its authority is the BMV's affidavit power. The legal authority line names IC 9-14-8-2, which is the general provision rather than a titling one - which is why the same sheet turns up behind so many different transactions.
•A copy may be enough. The BMV's lien page says a copied, emailed or faxed lien release letter may be accepted, so a scan of a completed affidavit is worth sending ahead before anybody drives anywhere.
Every line here was read off State Form 37964 (R3 / 11-24) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
