This is more a rant than anything.
I paid off my bike last month. When I sent my last payment, I called Harley Credit just to make sure they had my correct address to insure my title gets to me.
On monday last week I called HC and asked where my title was, and the jackass told me it was released to me (mailed) on July 8. I called yesterday and the same jackass said it probably got lost in the mail and they would send me a letter of release of lien.....
I informed him I don't want a letter of release, I WANT MY FRIGGIN' TITLE! I think the title is sitting on someones desk in the bowels of HC. I got 48 invoices from them, none got lost in the mail, but when it comes to getting my title, it "Gets Lost" in the mail.
I guess I'm SOL, so when and if I get the letter, I'll have to pay extra to file for lost title, and pay to transfer the title. This sucks.
If you are getting close to paying off your bike, I would suggest you have them FEDEX the title to you, cause you can't trust HC and/or USPS.
Rant off.

 

I had the same thing hapen to me with HSBC/Yamaha card...Bought a bike from a metric dealer, financed it with the Yamaha card and all was fine until i paid the bike early ...called 30 days later to get my title and they said they didn't have it...sent a release of lien and said the dealer had the title because they don't hold lien in this case...Dealer had been sold to somebody else files were in storage...they wouldn't even refund me my $25.00 that it cost to get my title...guess what...I doubt i will but something else from this dealer again. I will talk to them the next time i am there but the last time i talked to them they were washing their hand of me...

 

They suck ! I missed a payment once and had a letter in 2 days , paid off one and they dont release title for 14 days after payment cleard. My dad works for a car dealer and they say titles ar not even printed until their is a request for one.

 

You know the funny part... i got my friggin title from the DMV in 2 weeks...That's like warp speed for them...LOL

 

Are you guys sayin' you don't have any title at all on your bike while its being paid on? Or are you are waiting on a clear title? In WI, all you need is a lien release and take that with your title to the DMV and they print up a new title for you..

 

They're waiting on clear title after lien settlement (i.e. 100% payoff). HD is the lienholder, in this case, b/c they bought through HD Financial (huge rip-off). I never use dealership financing - great being CU member/awesome rates + no problems getting title. Good luck OP - not to worry b/c the letter will suffice for title. Just sux you have to pay "twice" to get it. Congrats on being bike owner vs. renter...much better feeling when it's 100% in your name.

 

I bought a used bike from a guy last winter and the same thing happened, lost the title for weeks, Harley said was mailed, it was winter in Colorado so no big deal to me but he needed his money, I had cash and we had to wait for HD to get the title papers re-done.

 

There's a title issued when you buy the vehicle, but if you finance DMV sends it to the lender to hold. When you pay the loan off the lender sends you the title with a "Lein Released" official stamp on it that contains the lender's signature and date of release (or at least they are supposed to as the OP found out!). You can use that to sell your vehicle, or if you want one without the lein appearing on it you can go to DMV and get a duplicate with the leinholder name removed. Taking a release of lein letter from the lender and requesting a duplicate title will work as well, just costs some time and money at DMV.

When I first bought my bike last year I let the dealer get me financing through HD Financial because it was one-stop shopping. Four months after that I refinanced with my credit union. Cut a full year off the loan term and still reduced the payment $30 a month on top of that because the CU's rate was so much cheaper. Live and learn.

 

I paid off my bike and it took them 6 weeks to get my title to me. I'm glad I knew the guy that bought my bike.

 

same in ny. in ny, once the bike is registered, you havea title that showns the lean holder. once you provide a lean release, dmv will issue you a new title. most of the time, lean holders do this......but there is no requirement for them to do it.