Lower your car payment in Wyoming

What’s different about refinancing a car loan in Wyoming

Vehicle titles in Wyoming are issued by the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT), Motor Vehicle Services — certificates of title are applied for and issued by the county clerk in the vehicle owner's county, which records and releases liens on paper titles. That is worth knowing because a paper lien release adds mailing time between your old lender and your new one.

• Wyoming does not run a live statewide electronic lien and title system today. The legislature has enacted one, to be implemented and administered by the Department of Transportation, covering notation, maintenance, perfection and release of security interests in vehicles, but the statute creating it carries a note that the section is effective as of July 1, 2027. Once effective it will be mandatory for dealers, lenders, lienholders, insurance companies, secured parties and all counties, while owners not normally engaged in vehicle financing may still request a paper certificate of title from a county clerk. Until that date, lien filings run on paper through county clerk offices.

  Source: Wyoming Legislature, Wyo. Stat. 31-2-113 (Electronic lien and title system), Title 31 - Motor Vehicles

• Titles and lien filings in Wyoming are handled at the county level rather than at a central state counter. A refinancing lender perfects its new security interest by delivering a financing statement or security agreement together with a properly tendered, completed application for certificate of title and the valid title of record to the office of the county clerk in the county where the vehicle is located. The clerk then endorses the certificate of title with the lien information, including the month, day and year the filing was delivered. License plates and registration are separately handled by county treasurers, which is a different office from the county clerk.

  Source: Wyoming Legislature, Wyo. Stat. 31-2-801 (Perfection of a security interest in a vehicle), Title 31 - Motor Vehicles

• If the existing certificate of title is not physically available when a refinance closes, Wyoming permits a transitional ownership document on a form prescribed by the Department of Transportation to be delivered with the financing statement or security agreement. That document perfects the lien upon receipt by the county clerk as against creditors, subsequent purchasers and good faith holders of a security interest, and no endorsement on it is required. The certificate of title must then be filed with the county clerk within ninety days of the financing statement or security agreement, or the transitional ownership document becomes invalid and without force and effect.

  Source: Wyoming Legislature, Wyo. Stat. 31-2-801(g) (Transitional ownership document), Title 31 - Motor Vehicles

• When a vehicle loan secured by consumer goods is paid off, the secured party must cause a termination statement for the financing statement to be filed. The deadline is within one month after there is no remaining obligation secured by the collateral and no commitment to give further value, or, if earlier, within twenty days after the secured party receives an authenticated demand from the borrower. In cases not governed by that automatic duty, the secured party must send or file a termination statement within twenty days after receiving an authenticated demand from the debtor once the secured obligation has ended.

  Source: Wyoming Legislature, Wyo. Stat. 34.1-9-513 (Termination statement), Title 34.1 - Uniform Commercial Code

• Clearing the old lender's lien off a Wyoming certificate of title takes an affirmative step by the owner rather than happening automatically. Once a termination statement has been filed, the owner of the vehicle presents the certificate of title to the county clerk in whose office the financing statement was filed, and that clerk endorses a statement of the termination of the security interest on the face of the certificate. If the certificate was issued by a different county or state, the clerk promptly transmits the termination statement to the issuing officer for endorsement on the certificate copy held on file there.

  Source: Wyoming Legislature, Wyo. Stat. 31-2-801(d) (Termination of security interest), Title 31 - Motor Vehicles

• Wyoming's Uniform Consumer Credit Code gives borrowers an express statutory right to pay a loan off early, and it names refinancing directly. Subject to the code's provisions on rebate of unearned charges upon prepayment, the debtor may prepay in full the unpaid balance of a consumer loan, refinancing, or consolidation at any time without penalty. A parallel provision applies the same right to a consumer credit sale, refinancing, or consolidation. This matters when refinancing because paying off the existing contract early is the mechanism by which the old lienholder is satisfied and its lien released.

  Source: Wyoming Legislature, Wyo. Stat. 40-14-318 and 40-14-220 (Right to prepay), Title 40 - Trade and Commerce

• A borrower can compel the current lender to put the payoff position in writing before refinancing. Under Wyoming's Uniform Commercial Code a debtor may send an authenticated request for an accounting of the unpaid obligations secured by the collateral, or a request that the secured party approve or correct the debtor's statement of the aggregate unpaid amount as of a specified date. The secured party must comply within fourteen days after receipt by authenticating and sending the accounting, or an approval or correction of the statement of account, back to the debtor.

  Source: Wyoming Legislature, Wyo. Stat. 34.1-9-210 (Request for accounting; statement of account), Title 34.1 - Uniform Commerci

• After default a Wyoming secured party may take possession of the vehicle either pursuant to judicial process or without judicial process, but self-help repossession is lawful only if the creditor proceeds without a breach of the peace. Before selling the vehicle the secured party must send the debtor and any secondary obligor a reasonable authenticated notification of disposition. In a consumer-goods transaction that notification must describe any deficiency liability of the person receiving it, and must give a telephone number from which the amount required to redeem the collateral is available, plus a contact point for further information.

  Source: Wyoming Legislature, Wyo. Stat. 34.1-9-609, 34.1-9-611 and 34.1-9-614, Title 34.1 - Uniform Commercial Code

• Wyoming borrowers keep a statutory right to redeem a repossessed vehicle. To redeem, the debtor, any secondary obligor, or another secured party or lienholder must tender fulfillment of all obligations secured by the collateral together with the secured party's reasonable expenses and attorney's fees. Redemption may occur at any time before the secured party has collected the collateral, has disposed of it or entered into a contract for its disposition, or has accepted it in full satisfaction of the obligation. Except in a consumer-goods transaction, the right to redeem may be waived only by an agreement authenticated after default.

  Source: Wyoming Legislature, Wyo. Stat. 34.1-9-623 and 34.1-9-624, Title 34.1 - Uniform Commercial Code

• A refinance loan on a car the borrower already owns is normally a nonpurchase-money security interest, which triggers a mandatory sale deadline after repossession. Where sixty percent of the principal amount of the obligation secured has already been repaid on a nonpurchase-money security interest in consumer goods, the secured party that has taken possession must dispose of the collateral within ninety days after taking possession, or within any longer period the debtor and all secondary obligors agree to in an authenticated agreement entered into after default. In a consumer transaction the creditor may not accept the collateral in partial satisfaction of the debt.

  Source: Wyoming Legislature, Wyo. Stat. 34.1-9-620(e), (f) and (g), Title 34.1 - Uniform Commercial Code

• Co-owner rules on a Wyoming title determine whose signature is needed to change the vehicle's paperwork. If a vehicle is held by two or more persons, any person identified as an owner on the certificate of title may transfer all interest in the vehicle without the signature of any other owner, unless the title states that it is held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship or tenancy by the entirety, or the title states that co-owners hold in the conjunctive by use of the word and or similar language, in which case the signature of each co-owner is required.

  Source: Wyoming Legislature, Wyo. Stat. 31-2-104(m) (Transfer of ownership), Title 31 - Motor Vehicles

• Transferring a titled Wyoming vehicle requires a notarized assignment rather than a simple signature. The owner who sells or transfers an interest in a vehicle for which a certificate of title has been issued must endorse an assignment and warranty of title upon the certificate, together with a statement of all liens and encumbrances on the vehicle, signed and dated by the owner before a notarial officer and acknowledged in the manner provided by law, then dated and delivered to the transferee at the time the vehicle is delivered. The transferee must then apply to a county clerk for a new certificate.

  Source: Wyoming Legislature, Wyo. Stat. 31-2-104(a) (Transfer of ownership), Title 31 - Motor Vehicles

These are general procedural facts about Wyoming, 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.