Lower your car payment in Iowa

What’s different about refinancing a car loan in Iowa

Vehicle titles in Iowa are issued by the Iowa Department of Transportation (titles are applied for and issued through any county treasurer's office on the department's forms).

• When an Iowa vehicle loan is discharged, the lienholder must note cancellation of the security interest on the face of the certificate of title over its signature, or on a separate notarized release form or letter, and deliver it to any county treasurer; a holder discharged by payment who fails to release within fifteen days after a written request forfeits a statutory sum to the person who made the payment.

  Source: Iowa Code section 321.50, Security interest provisions (Iowa Legislature)

• Before repossessing collateral or filing any court action on the debt, a creditor in a covered Iowa consumer credit transaction must give the consumer a written notice of right to cure, and may not accelerate the unpaid balance or take possession of the collateral until twenty days after that notice; the cure right is unavailable if the creditor already gave a proper cure notice for a prior default within the preceding three hundred sixty-five days.

  Source: Iowa Code section 537.5110, Cure of default (Iowa Legislature)

• A defaulting Iowa borrower, any secondary obligor, or another lienholder may redeem repossessed collateral by tendering fulfillment of all obligations secured by it plus the secured party's reasonable expenses and attorney fees, and redemption may occur at any time before the secured party has collected the collateral, disposed of it or contracted for its disposition, or accepted it in full or partial satisfaction of the obligation.

  Source: Iowa Code section 554.9623, Right to redeem collateral (Iowa Legislature)

• In an Iowa consumer credit sale of goods or a consumer loan, the consumer is not liable for a deficiency unless the creditor has disposed of the repossessed or surrendered goods in good faith and in a commercially reasonable manner, and the creditor's duty to dispose of the collateral is governed by the disposition rules in the Uniform Commercial Code, chapter 554, article 9, part 6.

  Source: Iowa Code section 537.5103, Creditor's obligations on repossession and restriction on deficiency judgments (Iowa Legisla

• Iowa law expressly permits a consumer to prepay in full the unpaid balance of a consumer credit transaction, other than a consumer lease or rental purchase agreement, at any time, subject to the prepayment rebate and minimum charge provisions of section 537.2510; this underpins paying off an existing vehicle loan early when refinancing with a different lender.

  Source: Iowa Code section 537.2509, Right to prepay (Iowa Legislature)

• Up to three owners may be listed on an Iowa registration receipt and certificate of title, and the certificate of title must state on its face the owner's title plus all security interests and encumbrances shown in the application, including the nature of the security interest, the date of perfection, and the name and mailing address of the secured party.

  Source: Iowa Code section 321.24, Issuance of registration and certificate of title (Iowa Legislature)

These are general procedural facts about Iowa, 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.