TMS Idaho ELT Program — important state notification

Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) has announced the upcoming change to the implementation of the ELT program, which is currently voluntary). Mandatory ELT participation will be required for any lienholders who currently hold 50 or more active liens on vehicles. 

If you have not yet enrolled in the Idaho ELT program and would like to do so, please email the Vitu Client Advocate Team; their contact information is below.

Note: VINtek lenders can enroll for Idaho ELT program during the upgrade.

The details of the Idaho ELT program are outlined below:

TMS supports the following transaction types

• New/Update Lien Notification
• Lien Removal
• Lien Release
• Reject Lien
• Convert ELT title to paper
  
  • Idaho will allow alternate mailing address
• Title Maintenance

Near real time/API transaction processing

• All transactions are processed with the state in near real time via Application Programming Interface (API)
• Requests will be processed in near real time or within 30 minutes of request via Graphic User Interphase (GUI) or immediately upon import of requests from batch import processing

Second lienholder listed

• The state only sends an ELT record to the primary lienholder
• If a second lien is requested to be added, the primary lienholder must surrender the title, after which ID will issue a new title reflecting both lienholders to the primary lienholder
• At time of release, the state removes the primary lien. If additional lienholders exist on the title record, an ELT title will be sent to the remaining lienholder listed on the title record

Release processing

• At time of Release of Lien (release to registered owner or release to third party), if there are no additional lienholders listed on the title record, the state will release the lien and print the lien-free paper title and mail to the party specified
• For Release to Third Party (LO), if initiated manually (via GUI) and the new lienholder is an ELT participant, there is an option to select the new lienholder ELT ID and Idaho will issue the new title with the new lienholder and send electronically. This option is not available for release transactions sent via file

ELT Program pass-through fees 

• Currently there are not any ELT pass-through fees associated

Reach out for any questions

Should you have questions or require clarification, please contact Vitu Client Advocate Team via email at CMS-Service@Vitu.com or phone 866-730-7805.

Michigan ELT Title Printing Reminder

The State of Michigan has recently begun reinforcing restrictions on when paper titles may be printed for vehicles enrolled in the Electronic Lien and Title (ELT) program. To help you stay compliant, Michigan paper titles may be issued only in the following situations:

• The owner is moving out of state
• The vehicle is being traded out of state
• The owner is deceased and ownership is transferring to a new owner
• A dealer is selling the vehicle at auction
• The buyer is from another state (in‑transit transactions)
• Adding or removing a named owner

Outside of these specific use cases, titles should continue to remain electronic. If you have questions about a particular transaction or need help determining eligibility, please contact the following for assistance:

TMS — cms-service@vitu.com 

VINtekTIME — cms-service@vitu.com 

Premier eTitleLien — help@etitlelien.com

Cheatham County — Duplicate and Lien Filing Transactions

Vitu has received notification of fee changes for this specific Tennessee county.

Per Cheatham County the DLS fees are as follows:

• Dup Fee: $16
• Lien Placement fee: $27
• Mail Fee: $3
• Adding anyone to title: $103 (without lien) $107 (with lien) 
• Deleting anyone from the title: $103 (without lien) $107 (with lien) 

Note: Please keep in mind that the Add/Delete fees are specific to Cheatham County only.

We’ve heard increasing concern from our lenders and dealers about a form of suspected “artificial paydown” activity that may pose a risk in certain situations. While reported instances have been limited, the impact can be meaningful when it does occur.

In these scenarios, a consumer may appear to increase the equity in their vehicle by making one or more large payments on an existing loan. If those payments are credited before fully clearing, the reported payoff balance may temporarily decrease. The consumer may then trade or sell the vehicle and receive a positive equity payment from a dealer. If the initial payment is later reversed or does not clear, the actual loan balance may be higher than expected at the time the dealer submits payoff. The borrower then absconds with the equity payment potentially resulting in a writeoff and loss.

These payments may take the form of a single large transaction or several smaller payments over a short period. In some cases, similar patterns may involve multiple vehicle payoffs within a limited timeframe.

At Vitu, we work with lenders and dealers to support efficient transactions and improve visibility where possible. When potential risks arise, we aim to collaborate with our partners to increase transparency and help reduce potential exposure.

Lenders who are concerned about this type of activity may consider the following actions when suspicious recent payment activity occurs:

1. Limit automated payoff quotes: Temporarily removing payoff quote availability through systems such as Dealertrack or RouteOne may prompt direct communication between dealers and lenders. This can allow for additional lender review of recent payment activity — before a payoff is processed.‍
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2. Provide additional payment context: Sharing data including the date and amount of the most recent payment, along with cumulative payments over a 15-day period, can help alert dealers to potentially significant or pending payment activity. These fields are available today when dealers use Accelerated Title in the Dealertrack DMS.

We believe the best course of action is to drive greater transparency for the parties involved and thus, encourage our lender partners to begin sending the data elements in number three, above (provide additional payment context) above within their payoff quote response. As lenders begin passing this data, Vitu will add logic to our Accelerated Title application to prevent payoffs where recent borrower payments greatly exceed the borrower’s normal monthly payment. This would block dealers using Accelerated Title in situations where recent payments are unusually large relative to expected activity on a loan account. 

These measures are intended to support awareness and encourage additional review where appropriate. Each lender should evaluate and implement controls based on its own policies and risk tolerance.

If you’d like to discuss this further, please contact the Vitu Accelerated Title Team at CMS-Service@Vitu.com.

Our Title Status API delivers real-time visibility into the full lifecycle of a vehicle title. Every action taken within the Title Management System — from state change requests sent to the DMV to title receipt and perfection — triggers instant updates to you, our lender partners, via API. This eliminates guesswork, reduces manual follow-ups, and ensures that you always have an accurate, up-to-date view of title status.

This API is provided to you, our Lender partners, as an incredible way to drive efficiency for your team members by integrated title status data directly into your system of record and/or workflows. And since this API more or less provides flexibility, you can integrate it into you customer-facing website(s) or apps to improve your client’s experience — sharing key title status details directly with your customers (think of this as a “pizza tracker” for customer titles). With important title status information at your customers’ fingertips, API integration allows for self-service and most likely reduce incoming questions to your customer care teams. To learn more or enroll, contact your Account Executive or sales@vitu.com.

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Coming Soon: TMS Title Maintenance API

Our forthcoming Title Maintenance API allows you, our lender partners, to send CMS name change and state change transactions via API — driving tremendous efficiency. Your organization can integrate this API directly into your workflow or system of record — all avoiding having to log in to TMS to manually submit entries. This API is in development and is expected to be available in Q2 of 2026. 

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What else is Vitu working on?

At Vitu, innovation is driven by you, our Lender partners. We know how you have been asking for improvements and we’re listening. In addition to the exciting API news above, there are a whole bunch of other things going on. And while we might not have all the details for everything this month, rest assured, our CMS team will keep you updated as any of the following progress.

• Refinance Modernization — btw, take a look at that pop-up window to the left. We have additional details on our PerfecTitle Refinance solution for lenders.
• NTX Repo — again, look at the pop-up on the left for links for more info.
• Digital Mailroom — Vitu is exploring a digital mailroom service to provide our lenders with images of time-sensitive mail, such as tow notices, for faster notification.
• Accelerated Title Lender-to-Lender payoff (reciprocal lender payoffs) for refinance transactions. We mentioned it in the April CMS Quick Tips Newsletter and there’s some breaking news below.

And this is the tip of the iceberg with so much more planned for 2026. We can’t let the cat out of the bag just yet for all that we’re working on, but we’re right there with you doing all that we can to make your CMS workflows and available tools that much better.

Good news, everyone! Our development team has enhanced the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) logic — dramatically improving the speed and accuracy when evaluating values off of title-related documents during the intake process.

Our CMS team anticipates this enhancement will reduce Field Issue Tracking reported (errors) due to manual errors and incremental reductions in the Discrepancy work queues.

This OCR logic change has allowed us to take all title validation activities in-house and sunset a third-party vendor. Furthermore, the removal of this third party may reduce due diligence questions.

It’s what you have been waiting and asking for — enhanced security. Title Management System (TMS) is offering Dual Layer Authentication (DLA) as added security functionality. DLA is a security mechanism where two independent layers of authentication are required to access a system. It's similar to multi-factor authentication but emphasizes the layered structure. 

The TMS DLA approach leverages both client Single Sign-On (SSO) and TMS Login while blocking users that try to access directly (when configured/set up), at the same time maintaining state password compliance, a portion of credentials (one layer) owned by client-enhancing security and client control of user accounts. Disabling client Identity Providers (IdP) stops/prevents login to TMS. For example, disabling the Jane Doe account at Client IdP after separation of employment, minimizes the ability for employees to access TMS to take action on accounts/titles. 

TMS DLA users are maintained in Okta and are kept in sync whenever a lifecycle operation is performed on a user in TMS. The following actions are fully automated — no manual steps required: 

• Creation/Activation 
• Provide Updates
• Deactivation

Note: User permissions and roles remain independent of Okta and are managed within TMS. 

DLA set up requires a tiny bit of development/configuration and exchange of metadata:

• Configuration — Client IdP and SAML assertion mapping at CMS Okta and client level
• Exchange of metadata — Discuss SAML metadata information to be exchanged and other security certificates between CMS and client
  
  • Client to set up on your side, provide URLs/Certificates to us
• Configuration — Enable DLA for the client in TMS settings, we set up URLs and provide them to client
• Sync — Client users into CMS Okta upon enabling client for DLA; TMS will auto sync the existing active users to Okta
  
  • Post set up, user lifecycle is synchronized in real time

DLA is an excellent way to maximize security for your staff and clients’ information. If you are interested in learning more about DLA, please contact us at CMS-Service@vitu.com.

We’re enhancing Accelerated Title to include lender-to-lender payoffs (reciprocal lender payoffs) for refinance transactions! This latest enhancement drives meaningful efficiencies and value for both originating lenders and payoff recipients.

The Accelerated Title lender-to-lender payoff feature will be available for refinance transactions no later than June 2026. If you are currently an Accelerated Title partner, you do not need to take action to begin receiving digital payoffs from other participating lenders.

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Become our Accelerated Title Partner

If you are interested and are not yet an Accelerated Title partner, please contact us at lendersales@vitu.com. And for additional information, look at that popup on the side or click here to view our Accelerated Title for Lenders brochure.

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Opt Out

If you wish to opt out of lender-to-lender payoffs, please contact us at lendersales@vitu.com before May 28, 2026.

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Rest assured

Vitu developed lender-to-lender payoffs in Accelerated Title to meet growing demand for greater digitization and efficiency across the industry. We look forward to our continued partnership with you as we work together to move the industry forward.

We’d like you to be aware of some upcoming state ELT initiatives affecting Vitu Collateral Management Solutions (CMS) as of May 2026. 

To view this handy state-by-state update, simply click the image below.

For new clients that have migrated to the Title Management System within the past six months, you are entitled to a two hour consulting session to ask questions and understand how to more effectively use reporting, utilizing your live data. If you would like to schedule a session please reach out to cms‑service@vitu.com.

TMS and VINtekTIME clients 

Phone — 866-730-7805 —7am ET to 9pm ET

Email

cms-clientsupport@vitu.com — for anything that involves a paper title

cms-service@vitu.com — for ELT items and any other questions 

Link to TMS Help

Title Management System 

Link to State ELT errors 

State Release Error Codes 

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DDI clients

Phone — 803-808-0117 — 8:30am ET to 8:30pm ET

Email — help@etitlelien.com

California in June. 

We’re excited to announce in-person training in your area! This training guides credit union staff, Title Clerks and Loan Officers through DMV’s general policies regarding true full names, signatures, and addresses, providing you with a detailed breakdown of the vehicle lien registration and titling process. You will learn how to accurately complete necessary registration and titling documents to ensure a smooth transfer of ownership. Spaces are limited, so be sure to secure your spot ASAP!

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What you need to know

When, where: Sign up below

What: Lien Registration and Title Compliance

Time: 9:00 am to 3:30 pm

Price: $299 per person

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Topics covered

• Various DMV forms, titles, odometer disclosures and how to complete them
• The DMV’s general policies regarding true full names, signatures and addresses
• The information provided on the Vehicle Registration Inquiry Report (KSR)
• Lien titling use tax and additional qualifying exemptions
• Out-of-state lien transfers
• Deceased owner transfers
• The differences between GVWR, GVW and CGW weight ratings and how to document them

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What's included?

Instant access to these digital books:

• ‍REG 101CU — Introduction to Used Vehicle Lien Registration & Titling
• REG 201CU — Specialized Lien Registration Transactions