How Long Do You Have To Pay Off A Pawn Loan?
So, this is one of those questions that people normally have the first time they go to make a loan at a pawn shop.
It’s one of those questions that I expect people to ask when they’ve never worked with a pawn shop before – particularly if they have every intention of getting their items back.
Unfortunately, the answer isn’t so easy to give on a national basis.
The reason for this, is that pawn shops are governed by local and state laws to tell them how long they have to give a customer to pay back a pawn loan.
What that means is, that in some states you may only have 30 days to pay back a pawn, while in other states, you may have up to 120 days or longer. It’s not a golden rule that all pawn shops across the country follow.
Obviously, you could see the problem this puts me in when attempting to give you a universal answer that will cover all the bases.
That having been said, there is a very easy way for you to find out this information.
You will want to go to Google.com and find some phone numbers and then follow-up with the pawn shops in your area.
So, you’ve decided to pawn something at your local pawn shop. While getting your game plan together and crunching numbers, you’ll probably wonder exactly how long do you have to pay back a pawn? Even though there is no standard answer that applies to all pawn shops, there are a few things you can count on…
How To Find Out How Long Pawn Shops In Your Area Will Give You To Pay Back A Pawn
Okay, so with all of this in mind, the first thing that you’re going to want to do is go to Google.com.
You want to search the phrase ‘local pawn shops’, or ‘pawn shops in my area.’
Google will return a list of results of pawn shops that are close to you, along with their addresses and phone numbers.
You’ll want to go through this list, one by one and call some of them. You’ll want to ask them exactly how long you have to pay back a loan and if there are any specific rules in doing so. (Cash only? Do they accept debit cards for payment? etc.)
While you have them on the phone it wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to ask them if there are any payment options available to you as far as paying on the interest charges.
Most pawn shops will allow you to pay towards the interest charges on a pawn loan and that will offer you a huge advantage, particularly if you aren’t sure if you can pay back the pawn quickly.
This effectively can extend the amount of time that you can have something in pawn giving you some serious breathing room and eliminating a lot of potential worry and stress that you may have over making a pawn loan for the first time.
Typically speaking as long as you remain current, or close to current on your pawn loan, you should be able to keep your item in pawn for his long as you need to.
For instance, in the pawn shops that I’ve worked with, some people have had pawns for up to 15 years or longer. Of course nobody wants to do but that it is a scenario that I do see some people in. More on this a bit later.
The next thing that you will want to ask the pawn shop while you’re speaking to them, is what you need to have with you to make a loan. Do you need to have an ID, what kind of ID do you need, etc…
It’s also not a bad idea to ask them what items they typically accept. That way you know what to take to them when you head into their stores.
Is It Safe To Have A Pawn Loan For An Extended Period Of Time
While obviously, like I said, nobody wants to have a pawn for a long period of time, it’s not necessarily the end of the world.
As long as you remain current on your payments, you should be able to keep something in for as long as you need to.
We both know that this is not the ideal scenario, however sometimes you need to do what it is that you need to do to take care of bills or other financial responsibilities.
Keeping this in mind, be sure to check with your local pawn shop that they do in fact allow this. Nationally speaking, it’s a very standard practice across the country. However, I’m not familiar with every state’s laws so make sure you verify that this is in fact the case in the state that you live in.
Why Do Some People Keep Pawn Loans For So Long
Up above, I mentioned that some people have loans for a lengthy amount of time.
In some cases, this may simply be because they don’t have the money to pay down the principal of the loan and get their items back.
However, in other cases, people will use pawn shops as a cheap storage solution for smaller items.
Your typically storage unit might cost you $100 a month, but a pawn shop may only cost your $5 or $10 a month to store some small valuables ‘In a loan.’
It’s a huge cost saving option that some people have figured out and normally pawn shops are completely happy doing it. After all, they are collecting the interest every month so they are taken care of and the people who made the loans don’t have to worry about where their items are. Which brings up another point…
Using Pawn Loans As The Safe Keeper Of Your Goods
Another use that I see people have for pawn shops is storing their valuable jewelry while they have house guests that they may not completely trust.
When you put something in a pawn shop, it’s going to be in a safe or vault and protected against theft or damage.
People know that as long as they keep up on their storage and interest payments, they won’t have anything to worry about and can come back and get their items out when they need to. In the mean time, their jewelry is completely safe and secure and they will have the peace of mind knowing that nobody can take it.
I’ve seen people who live in high crime neighborhoods do the same thing and for the same reasons. This is one of those benefits of a pawn shop that’s never really discussed but yet, some people have figured it out.
Mandy Dormain started working for Pawn Nerd in 2020. Mandy grew up in a small town in northern Tennessee. But moved to New York for university. Before joining Pawn Nerd, Mandy briefly worked as a freelance journalist for several radio stations. She covers politics and economy stories.
