Washington regulates the business of pawnbrokers under the Pawnbrokers and Secondhand Dealers Act (Pawnbrokers Act).? Under the Pawnbrokers Act, "pawnbroker" is defined as every person engaged, in whole or in part, in the business of loaning money on the security of pledges of personal property, or deposits or conditional sales of personal property, or the purchase or sale of personal property.
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The statutory term of a pawnbroker loan is 90 days.? Every loan transaction entered into by a pawnbroker must be a written agreement setting forth the terms of the loan, including all interest and fees that may be charged.? A copy of the agreement must be furnished to the pledger of the property.? If a pledged article is not redeemed within the 90-day term, the pawnbroker receives all rights, title, and interest of the personal property.? ?
Loan Term, Interest, and Fees.
Interest may be charged every 30 days, and a document preparation fee may be charged once for the term of a loan, up to statutory limits.? The Pawnbrokers Act establishes schedules for the maximum amount of interest and document preparation fees that pawnbrokers may charge.
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The interest schedule includes 12 ranges, starting with loans less than $10 and incrementally increasing to loans more than $100.? The schedule allows for interest of $1 every 30 days for a loan less than $10, increasing by 25 cents each range, until loans of $100 or more, which may charge a 4 percent interest rate.
The document preparation fee schedule includes 17 ranges, starting with loans less than $5 to loans more than $2,000. ?The fee for a loan of $5 is $1.50 and increases up to $7.50 for a loan up to $49.99.? After $50, there is a sliding percentage fee scale for loans starting at $50 and going up to $2,000 or more.? The fee for a $50 loan is 15 percent, decreasing to a fee of 6 percent for a loan more than $2,000.
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For each 30-day period of a loan, pawnbrokers may also charge a storage fee of $5 and an additional $5 fee for storing a firearm.
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Rewriting a Loan.?
If a person who has entered into a loan transaction with a pawnbroker cannot redeem and repay the loan by the expiration of the loan term and wishes to rewrite the loan, and both the pawnbroker and individual mutually agree, an existing loan transaction may be rewritten into a new loan, either in person or by mail.?
Loan Interest and Fees.
The term of a loan is modified to a period of 60 days.??
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The interest rate for a loan of $100 or more is 5 percent for each 30-day period of the loan.
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The document preparation fee for any loan of $50 or more is 15 percent.
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The storage fee is increased to $10 for general items and an additional $10 for storage of guns.
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Online Payment.?
If a person wishes to rewrite a loan, and both the pawnbroker and individual mutually agree, an existing loan transaction may be rewritten into a new loan, and payment may be accepted in person, by mail, or through an online payment service.?