Lower your car payment in North Dakota

What’s different about refinancing a car loan in North Dakota

Vehicle titles in North Dakota are issued by the North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT), Motor Vehicle Division.

• When a North Dakota auto loan is paid off, the lienholder must execute a release of its security interest within ten days after demand and in any event within thirty days of satisfaction, then forward the certificate of title and the release to the next lienholder named on it or, if there is none, to the owner or the owner's designee, who submits the paperwork so the division issues a new certificate.

  Source: North Dakota Century Code ch. 39-05, § 39-05-16.1 (Release of a security interest)

• A lienholder in North Dakota that uses an electronic lien notification system must follow the procedure adopted for that system by the department, and when title passes to a lienholder the department may use an electronic lien notification procedure instead of sending that lienholder a paper certificate of title.

  Source: North Dakota Century Code ch. 39-05, §§ 39-05-16.1(3) and 39-05-17(3)

• After default, a North Dakota secured party may take possession of the vehicle pursuant to judicial process, or without judicial process only if it proceeds without breach of the peace; it may also require the debtor to assemble the collateral and make it available at a place reasonably convenient to both parties.

  Source: North Dakota Century Code ch. 41-09, § 41-09-106 (UCC 9-609), Secured party's right to take possession after default

• Before disposing of a repossessed North Dakota vehicle, the secured party must send the debtor and any secondary obligor a reasonable signed notification of disposition; a notice sent after default and ten days before the earliest disposition time stated is timely, and its contents must describe the debtor, the secured party and the collateral, state the intended method, state that the debtor is entitled to an accounting of the unpaid indebtedness, and give the time and place.

  Source: North Dakota Century Code ch. 41-09, §§ 41-09-108, 41-09-109, 41-09-110 (UCC 9-611, 9-612, 9-613)

• A North Dakota debtor or secondary obligor may redeem a repossessed vehicle by tendering fulfillment of all obligations secured by the collateral plus the secured party's reasonable expenses and attorney's fees, at any time before the lender has collected on it, disposed of it, contracted for its disposition, or accepted it in satisfaction; the right to redeem may be waived only by an agreement entered into and signed after default.

  Source: North Dakota Century Code ch. 41-09, §§ 41-09-118 and 41-09-119 (UCC 9-623, 9-624)

• Every aspect of a North Dakota disposition of repossessed collateral, including the method, manner, time, place and other terms, must be commercially reasonable; after applying the proceeds in the statutory order the secured party must account to and pay the debtor any surplus, and the obligor is liable for any deficiency, which is recalculated on what a complying sale to an outsider would have brought when the buyer was the secured party or a related person and the price came in significantly low.

  Source: North Dakota Century Code ch. 41-09, §§ 41-09-107 and 41-09-111 (UCC 9-610, 9-615)

• Under a North Dakota retail installment contract, the buyer may pay the remaining principal in full at any time before maturity and is entitled to a refund of unearned finance charges; the statutory notice to the buyer that must appear in the contract also recites the rights to pay off in advance, to redeem the property if repossessed for a default within the time provided by law, and to require a resale under certain conditions.

  Source: North Dakota Century Code ch. 51-13 (Retail Installment Sales), §§ 51-13-02 and 51-13-05

These are general procedural facts about North Dakota, 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.