How to fill out Maryland VR-056

A letter the MVA writes on your behalf to a lender in another state that is sitting on your title. It is the answer to a specific and common deadlock: you have moved to Maryland with a financed car, the MVA cannot title it without the original certificate, and the lender will not release the certificate to you. The letter tells them to send it to Glen Burnie instead, and promises them an electronic lien filing in exchange.

Written against VR-056 (11-24), issued under Maryland Transportation Article, Section 13-402. This is not a lien release and it does not become one. When the loan is actually paid off, the lender releases its interest electronically through its lien service vendor, and the letter says so in its last paragraph.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank VR-056 from the mva.maryland.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our VR-056 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank VR-056 — Out-of-State Lienholder Letter PDF at mva.maryland.gov · new tab Step 2 · how to fill it in Our filled-in VR-056 guide PDF · print and keep beside you

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual VR-056, rendered from the PDF the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration 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

A Maryland VR-056 out-of-state lienholder letter filled in: addressed to Chesapeake Shore Federal Credit Union with an address, fax and email, for owner Rosalind T. Purnell at a Salisbury Maryland address with a phone number and account number, covering a 2018 Ford F-150 with its vehicle identification number, and naming Delaware as the state holding the original title. — The actual VR-056 at revision 11-24. The customer's boxes are on the right and the lender's on the left; the signature at the foot is an MVA customer agent's, which is what gives the letter its weight.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
The buyer fills this in
Lien Holder Information
Left-hand column: the lender's name, postal address, fax number and email.
Watch out: Get the address from a statement rather than a website. Loan servicing addresses and corporate headquarters are rarely the same building, and the letter has to reach the department that holds titles.
2
The buyer fills this in
Owners Name and Co-Owners Name
Top of the right-hand column, matching the names on the out-of-state certificate.
Watch out: If the name has changed since the loan was written, the letter asks the lender to send a letter of authorization for the change as well. Say so when you hand this in.
3
The buyer fills this in
Maryland Address
Two rules in the customer column. Your new address here, not the old one.
Watch out: This is the address that shows you are a Maryland resident, which is what starts the sixty days the letter refers to.
4
The buyer fills this in
Account No.
The lender's own loan reference, in the customer information column.
Watch out: Without it the letter is a request from a state agency about an unnamed loan. It is the single most useful box on the sheet.
5
The buyer fills this in
Vehicle Information
Year, make and vehicle identification number on one row.
Watch out: Take the VIN from the registration or the loan agreement. There is no Maryland title to copy from yet, which is the whole reason this letter exists.
6
The buyer fills this in
It is our understanding that you are holding the ORIGINAL state title
One short line for the name of the state whose certificate the lender has.
Watch out: The state that issued the title, which is not always the state you moved from. A car financed in one state and registered in another leaves the certificate where it was written.
7
The buyer fills this in
Signature and MVA Customer Agent
The MVA's own signature block at the foot, above a title number box marked MVA Use Only.
Watch out: You do not sign this letter. If somebody hands you a blank one to sign and post yourself, it is not doing the job it was designed for.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Date and Lien Holder Information	Left-hand column: the date, then the lender's name, address, fax number and email address.
Customer(s) Information	Right-hand column: owner's name, co-owner's name, Maryland address, phone number, account number and email address.
Vehicle Information	Year, make and vehicle identification number across a single row.
The sixty-day sentence	In order to complete your customer's titling transaction in the State of Maryland, we must have the original title to the above referenced vehicle. This transaction must be completed within sixty (60) days of establishing residency in Maryland, to comply with Maryland Vehicle Law.
It is our understanding	A line for the state whose original title the lender is holding, and the postal address the certificate should be sent to.
The shipping instruction	Send the title in a trackable FedEx, UPS or USPS envelope, to the Out of State Title Unit, Room 202, 6601 Ritchie Highway, N.E., Glen Burnie.
What happens next	The title will be digitally scanned and saved and will not be returned to the lien holder unless the vehicle is not titled within 60 days, and a Notice of Security Interest Filing Statement will be electronically sent to their electronic lien service vendor.
The two extra requests	A letter of authorization if the customer's name has changed, and for lessors a power of attorney letting the lessee sign the titling documents.
Signature and MVA Use Only	The MVA customer agent signs it, and a title number box at the foot is completed by the Administration.

What gets this one rejected

•Nothing you can fail here - it is the MVA that signs and sends it. What it needs from you is an accurate account number and the right lender address.
•An account number left out, which is the only thing letting the lender find the loan the letter is about.
•A Maryland address that is not yet the address on the driver's licence, which is what establishing residency turns on.
•The wrong state named on the original title line, which sends the lender looking for a certificate they never held.
•A lease with no power of attorney, which the letter specifically asks lessors to send.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•The lender does not get the title back. Once it arrives it is scanned and kept. The letter says so plainly, with one exception - if the vehicle is not titled within sixty days, it goes back.
•Their security is not being weakened. That is the point of the paragraph about the electronic lien service vendor. The lien is refiled in Maryland electronically, so the lender ends up with a Maryland notice rather than another state's certificate.

Every line here was read off VR-056 (11-24) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Maryland Motor Vehicle 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 Maryland seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Maryland involves.

How to fill out Maryland VR-056

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Lien Holder Information

Owners Name and Co-Owners Name

Maryland Address

Account No.

Vehicle Information

It is our understanding that you are holding the ORIGINAL state title

Signature and MVA Customer Agent

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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