What pawn loans cost you depend on the state and local laws in your area regarding what a pawn shop can legally charge for it’s services.
Okay, so here we are with an interesting question that most first time pawn customers will ask when they are trying to figure out if making a loan is a good idea or not.
What they want to know is how much do pawn loans cost?
That’s an excellent question because before you jump into any kind of loan or financial service of any type you should know exactly what you are getting into up front, just so there are no surprises.
Now, before I get down to the nuts and bolts of this answer, there are a few things that we’ve got to get out of the way up front just so that everyone is on the same page.
First of all, it’s very difficult for me to tell you exactly what your local pawn shop is going to charge you for a loan and the reason for that is because it will vary based on the state that you live in.
You see, pawn shops are regulated on a state and local level and as much as I would love to, I just can’t account for all of the laws throughout the country accurately and I would hate to tell you one thing and have it turn out to be another completely.
So, with that in mind, what I’m going to do is give you an overview of how the process works and what possible fee’s there might be out there that you should be aware of.
When it comes time that you might be thinking about making a loan at a pawn shop, you should first stop and ask yourself how much pawn loans cost. Fortunately, pawn loans are one of the most affordable forms of short term financing available today.
Pawn Loan Fees and Charges
There are a variety of possible fees and charges that a pawn shop can charge you in connection with a pawn loan. They are all setup and regulated by your state and local laws.
What that means is that a pawn shop can’t just invent a fee for something. If they charge you one, it’s because the laws in your areas say that can or are supposed to.
Let’s take a moment and look at what some of the possible fee’s may be.
Storage Fee – Some states allow pawn shops to charge a monthly storage fee for housing your items while they are in on loan. Typically these fee’s are just a few dollars a month and don’t add up to much.
Origination or Setup Fee – This is a fee that’s charged once for setting up the loan or the cost of the ticket. It’s normally just a few dollars although it may be up to $10 depending on the state you are in.
Ticket Fee – If you lose your ticket and need another copy to redeem your loan, a pawn shop may be able to charge you for that ticket – normally only a few dollars though.
Reminder or Legal Notice Fee – If you let your loan go unpaid on for months at a time, the pawn shop may be required to send you a legal notice in the mail. They may be able to charge you a few dollars for the cost of the notice and mailing it – but it’s never a huge fee.
Of course, with all of these in mind, there is always going to be one other fee attached to your pawn loan that you will always be charged.
Pawn Loan Interest Charges
If you make a pawn loan at a pawn shop then that loan will have an interest rate attached to it.
Typically speaking, this interest rate is anywhere between 2-25% depending on the state that you live in. There’s not much you can do about these interest charges, although in higher interest states, the pawn shop may be willing to reduce the rate to earn your business and make sure that you don’t go to a competitor.
These interest rates are normally charged in 30 day, or 1 month periods. Here’s how you calculate how much they will cost you.
The equation for figuring our interest charges is the (amount your borrowed) X (the interest percentage).
If you barrow $100 and your state’s interest rate is 10% then you will multiply $100 by the 10%.
100x.10 = 10
So the interest charge every month for you loan will be $10.
How To Figure This All Out
If you want to figure this all out now, what you should do is lookup a list of local pawn shops in your area, which you can do wright from Google.com.
Just go to Google and search ‘local pawn shops’ or ‘pawn shops in my area.’ Google will return a list of pawn shops near you, along with their phones numbers and addresses.
You will want to give one or two of them a call and ask them a few questions, such as:
“What is the interest rate you charge and how often is it charged?”
– This will give you the interest rate that you need in order to do the interest calculation above and find out how much a loan would cost you in interest every month. (or 30 days.)
“What other fees are there when making a pawn loan? Is there a storage fee? Is there a ticket or setup fee?”
– This will tell you what other fees are attached to the loan that you will have to pay in addition to whatever the interest charge works out to be.
You can then take these two figures, add them up, and that’s exactly how much a pawn loan in your area will cost you.
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.
