How to fill out New Hampshire TDMV 20A

One short page signed by the lender, not by you, releasing a security interest that is recorded against the vehicle. It matters to a seller more than its length suggests: the Division's own instruction on the duplicate title application is that even though the lien may have been previously satisfied, if the original title named a lienholder, a lien release is needed - so a loan you finished paying years ago still has to be signed off in writing before the paperwork will move.

Written against TDMV 20A (Rev 03/23), issued under RSA 261:27 and RSA 261:38. Start this before you advertise, not after you have a buyer. New Hampshire titles take approximately 30 to 50 calendar days to issue once the application is received, and if a duplicate certificate is also needed because the lender is holding the original, that is a separate five to ten calendar days and a second fee on top. A buyer standing in your driveway is not a good moment to discover that a lender in another state needs two weeks to sign one page.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank TDMV 20A from the dmv.nh.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our TDMV 20A guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Check the front of the certificate first

   Look for a lienholder named on the face of the title. If there is one, this form or a bank letter is required whatever the state of the loan.

   Watch out: This is worth doing the day you decide to sell. A lien that was satisfied in 2019 and never released still stops the transfer in 2026.

2. 2
   The lienholder fills this in

   Vehicle description

   Make, year, style and the identification number across the comb.

   Watch out: Send the lender a photograph of the front of the certificate so the description they write matches the record the Bureau holds.

3. 3
   The lienholder fills this in

   Owned by, and address

   Your name and address as the registered owner.

   Watch out: As printed on the certificate. If your name has changed since the title was issued, that is a separate job and there is a separate form for it.

4. 4
   The lienholder fills this in

   Lienholder's name and address

   Who is releasing the interest.

   Watch out: It has to be the entity named on the certificate. Where a lender has been bought out, the successor generally signs and adds a line saying so - ask them to, rather than hoping the counter will infer it.

5. 5
   The lienholder fills this in

   Signature of authorized lienholder agent

   An original signature on the printed rule at the foot of the page.

   Watch out: There is no notary block on this form and none is needed. What is needed is ink.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   Keep it with the certificate

   The release goes to the town or city clerk with the assigned title and the title application.

   Watch out: Photograph it before you hand it over. It is one page, it is irreplaceable in practice, and it is the page most likely to be left on a kitchen table.

What gets this one rejected

• •A release signed by the borrower. The signature line asks for an authorised lienholder agent, and the whole document is the lender's statement about its own interest.
• •A photocopied or stamped signature. The Bureau's rule requires the original of every signature it asks for.
• •A vehicle identification number that does not match the certificate character for character - it is combed for a reason.
• •Nothing at all, on a vehicle whose certificate names a lienholder. The Division wants either this form or the lender's own letterhead saying the lien is released and signed.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •Bank letterhead is an accepted substitute. The instruction printed on the duplicate title application says a lien release is needed on form TDMV 20A or on bank letterhead, indicating the lien is released and signed. If your lender will not use the state form, its own letter will do.
• •Paid off is not the same as released. The same instruction begins 'even though the lien may have been previously satisfied'. New Hampshire is looking at what the certificate says, not at what your account says.
• •It travels with the certificate. A release is submitted alongside the assigned certificate and the title application, not written into the assignment block. Nothing about a lender belongs in the space where you sign the car over.

Every line here was read off TDMV 20A (Rev 03/23) itself — the PDF is here — and off the New Hampshire Division 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.

Back to all New Hampshire seller paperwork, or what selling a car in New Hampshire involves.