Monday, May 21, 2012

Florida ELT Mandatory in January 2013

Florida House Bill 1223 (CS/CS/HB 1223) titled Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles was implemented into law by the Florida legislature and Approved by the Governor on 4/27/2012. The bill changes the language of the Florida statues to require participation:

Section 22. Subsection (8) of section 319.24, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
319.24 Issuance in duplicate; delivery; liens and encumbrances.—
(8) Notwithstanding any requirements in this section or in s. 319.27 indicating that a lien on a motor vehicle or mobile home shall be noted on the face of the Florida certificate of title, if there are one or more liens or encumbrances on the motor vehicle or mobile home, the department shall may electronically transmit the lien to the first lienholder and notify the first lienholder of any additional liens. Subsequent lien satisfactions shall may be electronically transmitted to the department and must shall include the name and address of the person or entity satisfying the lien.

and

Section 23. Subsection (7) is added to section 319.27, Florida Statutes, to read:
319.27 Notice of lien on motor vehicles or mobile homes; notation on certificate; recording of lien.—
(7) The department shall establish and administer an electronic titling program that requires the electronic recording of vehicle title information for new, transferred, and corrected certificates of title. Lienholders shall electronically transmit liens and lien satisfactions to the department in a format determined by the department. Individuals and lienholders who the department determines are not normally engaged in the business or practice of financing vehicles are exempt from the electronic titling requirement.

DDI attended a presentation by the Florida HSMV in May 2012. They made it clear that the law would be implemented on January 1, 2013 without a grace period. They have not yet released a list of exempt lenders but are unlikely to make exceptions for anyone normally engaged in lending. This requirement means that the HSMV will reject applications for liens from lenders who have not yet enrolled in the ELT program.

I'd like to encourage lenders not to wait until the end of the year to enroll. Florida does not charge an enrollment fee. The application process for ELT was taking 2-3 weeks, but has increased lately to 3-4 weeks because of the increase in applications to Florida.

For more information about our product, Premier eTitleLien™, and instructions on enrolling in Florida, please visit www.etitlelien.com.

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