I have no idea where this question belongs in the forum so here goes

I have a loan with Mercedes Financial (DMFC) on my Merc and may want to sell my car soon. I am not upside down on the loan but I do not want to pay the loan off before my selling it to another individual (unless I need to).

Anybody have good advice on this?

Thanks in advance!

You'll have to close the loan.

Nobody's going to continue your loan when you no longer own the collateral.

You'll probably find your motor vehicle department will insist on this if nothing else.

Correction

If its someone buys it your loan will be closed when the financial institution receives the payoff. You DO NOT have to pay it off prior to putting it on the market.

And my guess is that only in alberqq does the DMV care that much.

Agreeing with amdeutsch. You can advertise and sell the car before sending the payoff to MB Financial, or any other lending institution for that matter. But in order to transfer the title to the new owner you'll need the title, and you won't have that in your hands until the loan is satisfied.

Step-by-step, here's how you do it:

1. List car for sale.

2. Sell car; get $ from buyer, give car and receipt to buyer.

3. Pay off loan; get clear title from MB Financial.

4. Assign title to buyer per state laws.

5. Live long and prosper.

I will not purchase a car from an individual/dealer if the title is not clear meaning if it has Lien on it.

What i would do is

a)- Ask the seller to mail you the official documents from the bank showing what the total loan amount is.

b)-Go to the bank with the seller and pay off the loan/lein

c)-Get a lein release document from the bank

d)-Have the seller sign the title along with the lein release document

e)-Now you can live long and prosper

You can also have the buyer make out his chect to both you and MB Financial or provide two checks one to MB financial and the other to you

What FAAST says - I personally will not buy a car without a clear title in hand. Too many complications, particularly if you both live in different states, and too easy to sort out before hand.

I've bought more than 100 cars from individuals in the past and never had a problem, but to each his or her own.