Overhaulin'

Can a individual (not a company) loan you money and hold the title to your car?

My husband and I need money to get caught up on a few bills that we accumulated when he was sick and couldn't work. We both own our vehicles and attempted to get a car title loan using my car title; my car is in way better condition than his. (I know they are risky and not good, but we really needed to pay these bills off). Everything was going good up until the guy tried to view the mileage on the car; it wouldn't work and of course they couldn't do the loan. I guess that's good, maybe it wasn't meant for us to get the money this way. Long story short, my dad offered to loan us the same amount of money the title loan was going to give us interest free and he will hold the title to the car, how does that work? We are expecting a settlement check in a few weeks and that's how we're prepared to pay this off. Do we sign the title over to him; lien wise..someone please explain this.

Public Comments

1. Smart not going to a title company because that is the worst thing to ever do but as far as your dad is concerned all you have to do is give him the title and just sign in the signature spot. If you all default on his loan he can fill out the title and own the car if you make good on the loan he will give you back your title unfilled out with only your signature and it is still yours. The only bad part in doing that is if you lose the title or if he misplaces it then someone else can fill it out. You could always give him the title unsigned and write out a contract on paper the terms of the loan and your obligation to sign the title over if you default on the loan. That is probably the best thing to do.
2. that's up to the individual - if odometer doesn't work, car can't be in that good a condition ask a notary public/auto tag dealer - they might know how you do it or google it