Lower your car payment in Idaho

What’s different about refinancing a car loan in Idaho

Vehicle titles in Idaho are issued by the Idaho Transportation Department, Division of Motor Vehicles (Idaho DMV).

• Idaho Code 49-511 requires a lienholder whose lien has been canceled or discharged to give notice of that cancellation to the Idaho Transportation Department within thirty days, and to note the discharge on the paper certificate of title and deliver that title to the owner within thirty days of receiving the payoff. Where the title is electronic, the lienholder instead sends the department an electronic transaction directing it to provide the owner a paper title free of the lienholder's lien within the same thirty-day window.

  Source: Idaho State Legislature — Idaho Code § 49-511 (Release or satisfaction of lien)

• Under Idaho Code 28-42-306, a debtor may prepay in full the unpaid balance of a regulated consumer credit transaction at any time without penalty. Prepayment charges are permitted only for transactions primarily secured by a mortgage or deed of trust on real property, and the statute further provides that no prepayment charge may be charged or collected if the loan is refinanced or consolidated with the same lender.

  Source: Idaho State Legislature — Idaho Code § 28-42-306 (Right to prepay)

• Idaho runs a voluntary Electronic Lien and Title program in which a participating lienholder's title stays paperless and is transmitted electronically rather than printed. The Transportation Department's ELT fact sheet states that when an electronic lienholder holds a lien and the owner refinances with another electronic lienholder, the lien change transaction occurs totally electronically, and that once a lien is released the department prints the paper title and mails it to the owner or another party the lienholder specifies.

  Source: Idaho Transportation Department — Electronic Liens and Titles (ELT) Fact Sheet

• Idaho Code 28-45-108 allows a creditor to take possession of collateral after a debtor's default on a regulated consumer credit transaction where the debtor has not voluntarily surrendered it, but only without entry into a dwelling and without the use of force or other breach of the peace.

  Source: Idaho State Legislature — Idaho Code § 28-45-108 (Creditor's right to take possession after default)

• Idaho Code 28-9-623 permits a debtor, any secondary obligor, or another secured party or lienholder to redeem repossessed collateral by tendering fulfillment of all obligations secured by that collateral together with the reasonable expenses and attorney's fees the secured party incurred. That redemption right terminates once the secured party has collected the collateral, disposed of it or entered a contract for its disposition, or accepted it in full or partial satisfaction of the obligation.

  Source: Idaho State Legislature — Idaho Code § 28-9-623 (Right to redeem collateral)

• For a consumer-goods transaction such as a car loan, Idaho Code 28-9-614 requires the notice before disposition to state the recipient's liability for any deficiency and to supply a telephone number from which the borrower can learn the exact amount that must be paid to redeem the vehicle.

  Source: Idaho State Legislature — Idaho Code § 28-9-614 (Contents of notification in consumer-goods transaction)

• Idaho Code 28-9-609 lets a secured party take possession of collateral after default either pursuant to judicial process or without judicial process, and self-help repossession is lawful only where the secured party proceeds without breach of the peace.

  Source: Idaho Legislature, Idaho Code § 28-9-609

• Before disposing of repossessed collateral, Idaho Code 28-9-611 requires the secured party to send the debtor and any secondary obligor a reasonable authenticated notification of the intended disposition.

  Source: Idaho Legislature, Idaho Code § 28-9-611

These are general procedural facts about Idaho, not advice about your loan. Rules change, and your lender’s own process may add steps — a licensed specialist can tell you what applies to your situation.