A one-dollar form that moves a live lien from one lender to another without touching who owns the car. A private seller does not file it, but it turns up in two situations that matter: when a credit union sells your loan on and the name on the title stops matching the letters you get, and when a buyer's second lender has to be listed on an MV1 that has room for only one.
Written against MV2051 (8/2024), issued under Wis. Stat. s. 342.21.
This form does not release your lien and it does not get your title out of a lender's hands. If you are selling and the loan is paid, what you need from the lender is a lien release document, which is not a WisDOT form at all.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV2051 from the wisconsindot.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual MV2051, rendered from the PDF the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Division 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
Two blocks, two secured party numbers, one dollar. The owner block at the top is greyed because nothing about ownership changes here - the only signature on the sheet belongs to the lender letting go of the lien. Lender names and numbers invented for the sample.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Owner Information
Your name and address, unchanged. The form records who the vehicle belongs to; it does not move it.
Watch out: If this block is wrong, it is wrong on the title too, and the fix is an MV1020 correction request rather than an amendment here.
2
You fill this in
Vehicle Identification Number
Seventeen cells, with year, make and type across the same row.
Watch out: Read it off the certificate. This form travels with the original title, so a mismatch is caught at the first desk it reaches.
3
The lienholder fills this in
Current lien holder name and address
The lender noted on the certificate today.
Watch out: That is the name printed on the front of your title, not necessarily the name on the letters you have been getting. Loans get sold; titles lag.
4
The lienholder fills this in
Current lien holder Secured Party Number
Eight cells for the department's own number for that lender.
Watch out: The number, not the name, is what WisDOT matches on. A lender who cannot give you theirs is a lender who has not done this before.
5
The lienholder fills this in
Reassigned lien holder name and address
Who is taking the loan on, with their own address block.
Watch out: Nothing here is yours to negotiate. If you are selling, what matters is whether the lien is being released, not where it is going.
6
The lienholder fills this in
Reassigned lien holder Secured Party Number
A second eight-cell comb for the incoming lender's number.
Watch out: Both numbers have to be present. A blank here is the most common reason one of these comes back from the Vehicle Research Unit.
7
The lienholder fills this in
Assignor - Print Name, Title, Signature and Date
The outgoing lender's officer, with their job title beside their printed name, certifying the assignment.
Watch out: There is no notary and no owner signature anywhere on this form. If somebody asks you to sign it, they have handed you the wrong sheet.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Owner Information - Name
The vehicle owner, unchanged by this form. Re-assigning a lien does not transfer ownership.
Owner Street Address, City, State, Zip Code
The owner's address as WisDOT holds it.
Vehicle Identification Number
A seventeen-character comb, with year, make and type beside it.
CURRENT LIEN HOLDER - Name of Lending Agency(s) or Person(s)
The lender presently noted on the certificate.
Current lien holder Secured Party Number
An eight-character comb. Wisconsin lenders are numbered, and the number is what the department matches on.
Current lien holder address and telephone number
Street, city, state, ZIP and a daytime number.
REASSIGNED LIEN HOLDER - Name of Lending Agency(s) or Person(s)
The lender taking the loan on.
Reassigned lien holder Secured Party Number
A second eight-character comb, for the incoming lender's number.
Reassigned lien holder address and telephone number
The same block again for the new lender.
Assignor - Print Name, Title, Signature and Date
Signed by the outgoing lender, with the signer's job title beside the name. Not by the owner, and not by the buyer.
What gets this one rejected
•Sending it without the original title. The form's instruction is to submit the original title and $1.00 fee with this form.
•Sending a title that is electronic. Where the title is electronic, no paper title is issued - the outgoing lender sends a statement on its own letterhead instead.
•An owner's signature where the assignor's belongs. The certification is the outgoing lender's: the undersigned assignor lien holder certifies they have assigned their security interest.
•A missing secured party number on either lender. Both combs are there because the department matches on the number, not the name.
•Using it to release a lien. A release is a separate document from the lender and it is what a buyer takes to the counter; this form keeps a lien alive and moves it.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•It costs a dollar. s. 342.14(4): for each assignment of a security interest noted upon a certificate of title, $1 by the assignee. It is the cheapest fee in Wisconsin's vehicle set.
•It goes to a different address from everything else. Vehicle Research Unit, PO Box 8070, Madison WI 53708-8070 - not the Registration Fee Trust box that takes title applications.
•An electronic title has its own route. s. 342.09(4)(b) makes the department's electronic record the official title record, and the form says a paper title does not need to be issued: a letterhead statement from the original lien holder does the job.
•It is also the MV1's overflow sheet. Section D of the MV1 holds one lending agency. The MV1 itself directs a buyer with two: use form MV2051 to list second lender, attach to MV1.
•Noting and releasing a lien is a single $10 fee. s. 342.14(2) charges $10 once for the original notation and the subsequent release together, so there is nothing more to pay when your loan is cleared.
