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Who holds the car title during a loan?

My family and I moved from Illinois to Missouri recently, and my husband has been making sure we didn’t lose anything important during the move. He can’t find the title for one of our cars. I told him the lender holds onto it, but now he has me second-guessing myself. Who holds the car title during a loan?

avatar
Jack Walsh · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
Congratulations on the move, and making sure you didn’t misplace or lose anything important is a smart idea! The reason for your confusion is that Illinois requires the lender to hold the title, while Missouri gives the title to the borrower. Missouri is just one of nine states where the borrower holds the title on a
car loan
. The other states are:
  • Kentucky
  • Maryland
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Montana
  • New York
  • Oklahoma
  • Wisconsin
Some states won’t let you hold onto the title. Instead, the lender holds onto it until finish paying off your financed vehicle.
Because you’ve recently moved, you should let your
car insurance
company know so that they can update your policy. Depending on the move, your rates could increase, so now is also an excellent time to shop around and compare quotes from multiple companies to ensure you’re not overpaying.
If you’d rather leave the hard work of gathering quotes to someone else, use
Jerry
. The Jerry app can collect quotes from 50 top insurance companies like Travelers, Nationwide, and Progressive in seconds! They even cancel your old policy once you’ve made your pick.
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