Overhaulin'

Have you sold your car with an Ally lien on it?

I am wanting to sell my used car privately and am confused about the process of lien releasing through Ally (formerly GMAC). Has anyone done this before and how did you have the buyer pay and how did Ally release the lien? I'm trying to figure out if I have to mail the buyer's (as soon as I have one) check in or if they can pay it off online or what. Below is an excerpt from Ally's website regarding the Title (I live in Kansas): "For finance contracts: We’ll mail the title (in states where we hold the title) or release of lien to the primary account holder’s address after receipt of funds and verification of payoff. You can schedule a payoff online or mail your payment to the Payment Processing Center. If you mail your payment, you can speed up your payoff by sending certified funds – we don’t need to place a hold on certified funds We can release our lien directly with the state if your state has an electronic title program and your record is held electronically. States with this program include: Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia. Your state’s motor vehicle department will either provide you with a clear title or remove your creditor’s name from the vehicle’s title record"

Public Comments

1. you cannot sell a car you do not own yet. The best way for this to work is to pay the vehicle off first and get the title in your possession. (which of course is the catch 22 because you are the registered owner the title would come to you, then you would sign it over to the new owner and its a done deal If the other person .is going to finance the car through their bank, then the bank can arrange to pay your loan off and get title in the banks name. lots of paperwork but that's one way. and find out what the payoff amount is. did you know you could have made double payments, and saved yourself a lot of money in interest. Find out what the pay off amount is on your car. It will be the principal, minus the interest I pay off the principal on two car loans and saved over a grand between the two of them. a deal killer is if you get the name of the lien holder wrong somehow, the bank may come back and refuse to reissue another check, and will cancel the whole loan. best of luck