When you are a boat owner and are looking to sell your vessel, there are many things you need to do to get your boat ready. Naturally, you will take the time to do any needed repairs or upgrades, so your boat looks its best and brings you the best price. Once you have an interested buyer and negotiate a sale price, you can work to finalize the transaction. If you have gone through the documentation process with the United States Coast Guard (USCG), there are some forms you will need to file upon completion of the sale to let the Coast Guard know you are no longer the owner of the boat. One such form is the USCG satisfaction of mortgage, which is important for you to use for several reasons.
USCG Documentation Tracks Your Mortgage
When you get documentation from the Coast Guard, the Coast Guard keeps track of all the liens and mortgages against your vessel and puts them on the record with your vessel. To keep the record current, it is important that you keep the USCG updated regarding the satisfaction of any liens or mortgages. Without proof of satisfaction of your mortgage, your documentation cannot be removed from records, meaning the new owner cannot document the boat for themselves until your paperwork is done.
Failure Runs the Risk of USCG Fines
If you do not get the appropriate paperwork from your lender to provide the USCG satisfaction of mortgage statement, you run the risk of getting fined by the Coast Guard. The Civil penalty for failure to notify can be quite steep, with fines allowed to range up to $10,000. It is certainly in your best interests to get the paperwork to your lender so that they can complete the form and send it off to the National Vessel Documentation Center, the branch of the Coast Guard that takes care of documentation issues.
Getting Assistance with the USCG Satisfaction of Mortgage
Since there is no set USCG satisfaction of mortgage form for you to use, you may want to get our assistance here at Maritime Documentation. We have a form that meets all the standards required by the USCG for a proper satisfaction form, and the form can be filed with us electronically so we can check it over for mistakes or omissions and then send it on to the Coast Guard for processing. If you have any questions regarding this form or our services, please feel free to give us a call at (800) 535-8570, and we will be happy to help you.