Exactly, liens have to be cleared (paid off) before ownership can be transferred. That's the whole power behind a lien. IIRC, you're talking about a company that went out of business that still showed as lienholder. That can be difficult, but the loans that company carried were probably (99%) sold to another company in that same line of business. Someone somewhere will have info on that and will know how the loans were sold. Not always to the same company, BTW. Whoever that is will be the one to clear the lien---IF the debt was settled. If it wasn't, like if it was charged off as bad debt, they will want their money, but may be willing to settle in order to collect something where they had nothing before. There can be a lot of twists and turns in something like this, and can get very complicated. Probably not worth the trouble, it can be a headache.
Who shows as lienholder? Can you tell if it is a large company from the name, or could it be a local small loan finance co.?
