What to Do after You’ve Fully Paid

Your Car Loan

November 6, 2016 CherylTutorial
So you’ve finally paid off your car loan! Hooray!
Now what?
The next thing to do is get your original car documents back, have the mortgage and encumbrance
cancelled.
How?

1. Get Original Documents from the Bank

This may be the bank or any other financial institution that you’ve taken your loan from. Call ahead
to determine what they’ll need you to bring. They will also require a notarial fee (usually P300) for
notarizing the release.
What you will get:

 Original Certificate of Registration (CR) and Official Receipt (OR)

 2 Copies of Release of Chattel Mortgage
 Original Registered Promissory Note with Chattel Mortgage

2. Go to Registry of Deeds to Have Mortgage

Cancelled
 Go to the Registry of Deeds (RD) where the mortgage was registered. You can check this in
the Promissory Note with Chattel Mortgage as a blue stamp like in the photo below. In this
case, it’s at Pasay City. There are times though that this stamp is not clear. In such a case, try
the RD in the city of the registered car owner (as indicated in the CR).
 Fill up a form with your details. Note that presenter need not be the same as the registered car
owner.

 Submit the above form together with a copy of your valid ID, the 2 copies of Release of
Chattel Mortgage, and the Original Registered Promissory Note with Chattel Mortgage
 They’ll process it and ask you to pay a fee at the cashier. The fee varies on the amount
mortgaged. One time I paid P918, the second time I paid P1,128.
  Depending on the availability of the one who will sign, you may get your documents back
that same day or they may ask you to come back. I was asked to come back the next day
because the signatory was on leave that day.
 What You will Get Back:
o Official Receipt (OR) of what you paid for
o Assessment form and pay order
o 1 copy of the Release of Chattel Mortgage with the needed stamp and signature
(they’ll keep the other)
o Promissory Note with Chattel Mortgage

3. Go to LTO for Cancellation of Encumbrance

 Up until now, your CR still has the word ENCUMBERED written on it.

Encumbered, as defined by the financial dictionary,

a property owned by one party on which a second party reserves the right to make a valid 
claim

 Although it is an extra step, you’d want to do it for 2 reasons:

o Just so your papers are clean and no one can make a valid claim on your car
 o So as not to scare away any potential buyers of your car should you wish to resell it
 To go about this, proceed to the branch of Land Transportation Office (LTO) of your
CR. In the above case, it’s the Mandaluyong branch. It’s imperative that you proceed there
and not any other branch as the mother records are there.
 What to Bring: 
o Official Receipt (OR) from the RD
o Release of Chattel Mortgage with the needed stamp from RD
o Promissory Note with Chattel Mortgage given back by RD
o Fee of ~P280.00
o Original Certificate of Registration (CR) and Official Receipt (OR) of the car
o Copy of the latest OR of the car
o Car for stencilling
o Copy of valid ID of registered car owner
 Tell the inspecting officer that you are there for the cancellation of encumbrance. They will
inspect your documents and stencil the car engine. You’ll then be asked to wait as they have
to call the bank to verify. When everything checks out okay, you’ll be asked to pay the fee
and they’ll print a new CR for you. All the documents regarding the cancelled mortgage will
not be returned. The whole process took about 1 to 2 hours.

 Ta-da! Your vehicle is now officially yours! Congratulations!