The Electronic Lien and Title form is the enrollment application a lienholder files with a state motor vehicle agency to join that state’s digital lien-recording program, replacing paper certificates of title with an electronic record the state maintains in its database. The form itself is short. The work sits around it: picking a certified service provider, pulling together the right business identifiers, and following your state’s specific submission rules.
Do You Have to File One
That depends on the state. Some states require ELT participation for any business engaged in vehicle financing. Others keep the program voluntary. A few set a volume threshold. Illinois, for example, requires enrollment for any lienholder that processes five or more vehicle liens per year in the state. States that still call their programs voluntary sometimes signal that mandatory participation is coming, so check your state DMV’s current ELT page before assuming you can skip it.
If your institution finances vehicles in more than one state, you enroll separately in each. Forms, providers, and rules differ by jurisdiction, and approval in one state does not carry over to another.
What to Have Ready Before You Start
Pull these together before you download the form:
- Your Federal Employer Identification Number. Every ELT application asks for the FEIN the IRS assigned your business. Some states attach a suffix to distinguish branches or divisions under the same number.
- Any existing lienholder ID or filing code. If your business has filed liens with the state before, you likely already have a code on file. Some states will ask you to consolidate multiple old codes into one during enrollment. If you’ve never filed, the state will assign a code after approval.
- The legal name and addresses of your institution. Use the legal name exactly as it appears in state filings, not an abbreviation or trade name, unless the form specifically asks for a DBA. Include both a mailing address and a physical address.
- A real administrative contact. The state uses this person for account verification, security updates, and troubleshooting. A direct phone line and a monitored email address work much better than a shared inbox. Some forms also ask for a separate authorized representative and a designee who can sign on the institution’s behalf.
- Your service provider. You need to know which approved provider you’re contracting with before you fill out the form, because the application asks you to identify them.
Picking a Service Provider
Almost every state requires lienholders to connect to its database through a certified third-party service provider rather than building a direct interface. A few states allow lenders to develop a proprietary system that meets the same technical certification standards, but the cost and complexity push nearly everyone to a third party.
Each state publishes its list of approved providers on the DMV or Department of Transportation website. Some providers operate nationally and are certified in most or all ELT-enabled states, which suits lenders working across state lines. Before signing, confirm the provider is certified in every state where you hold liens, and ask about per-transaction fees. The state itself often charges nothing for ELT enrollment. Your ongoing costs come from the provider: software access, connectivity, and per-transaction charges for lien additions, releases, and title conversions.1American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. Electronic Lien and Title
Completing the Form
The form goes by different names depending on where you file. Pennsylvania uses MV-37, South Carolina uses ELT-1, Florida uses HSMV 82150. The information collected is largely the same. The current PDF is usually on the motor vehicle agency’s website, on a page dedicated to the ELT program or to dealer and lienholder services.
Start with business identification. Enter the legal name of your institution exactly as it appears in state filings. Fill in your FEIN and any state-assigned lienholder code. If you don’t have a code yet, leave that field blank or follow the form’s instructions. The state will assign one during processing.
Next, identify your service provider. Most forms include a field for the provider’s name or a provider code that links your institution to the provider’s software portal. Get this code directly from your provider before starting the form. Entering the wrong one can delay approval or route your transactions to the wrong system.
The contact section matters more than it looks. State staff may call or email during the review to confirm a detail, and an outdated phone number or a generic inbox slows everything down. Put a direct line and a monitored address on the form.
Finally, sign and date. Signature authority usually has to rest with someone who can commit the institution to the ELT program. Some states require the signature to be notarized; others accept an original ink signature without notarization. Read the instructions printed on the form. They’re usually only a page or two and tell you exactly what the state expects.
Submitting the Application
Submission methods vary. Some agencies require you to mail the original signed form to a central processing office or a specialized lien unit. Others allow your service provider to submit a scanned copy electronically for you. A smaller number accept submissions by email to a dedicated ELT helpdesk address. Your state’s ELT page gives the specific method and address.
Processing times range widely. Some states finish review within five business days. Others take several weeks depending on volume and whether the agency has follow-up questions. During that window, state staff verify your FEIN, confirm that your service provider agreement is active, and set up your lienholder record. A transposed digit in the FEIN or a provider code that doesn’t match a certified company stalls the application until you correct it.
Most states charge nothing to enroll. The costs you actually face come from your service provider: setup charges, monthly access fees, and per-transaction costs. Some states also require lienholders to fund an escrow account before transactions can begin. The required minimum balance varies but is typically enough to cover a couple months of transaction volume. Confirm the full cost picture with your provider before you submit the form.
What Trips Applications Up
The form isn’t complicated, but a surprising number of applications get delayed or rejected for avoidable reasons:
- FEIN mismatch. The number on the form doesn’t match the IRS record, usually because the applicant used a subsidiary’s FEIN instead of the parent entity’s, or transposed a digit.
- Wrong service provider code. The code entered doesn’t correspond to a provider certified in that state, or the provider hasn’t finished its own certification yet.
- Missing or unauthorized signatures. The form came in unsigned, or the signature belongs to someone not authorized to bind the institution.
- Outdated contact information. The state tries to verify details and gets no response because the person listed has left the company.
- Multiple lienholder codes. The institution already has several codes from prior paper-title filings and didn’t consolidate them as the state required before applying.
Catching these before submission saves weeks. Have a second person check the completed form against your IRS letter, your service provider contract, and the state’s current list of approved providers before you mail or upload it.
After Approval
Once the state approves you, all lien activity flows through your service provider’s platform. When you finance a vehicle, your system transmits the lien information to the state, which records it electronically instead of printing and mailing a paper title. You get electronic confirmation that the lien is perfected, usually the next business day. Releases, paper-title requests, and error corrections run through the same portal, each with its own state-specific deadlines and fees. Your provider’s training material and your state’s ELT handbook cover those day-to-day workflows in detail.