A cash advance pawn shop is one way to get quick cash. However, it’s usually costly and comes with the risk of losing personal property (like a ring or a guitar) if it can’t be redeemed by the loan’s expiration date. It’s important to understand a cash advance pawn shop’s rates and fees before using one. Instead, try to build savings and create a budget to manage expenses. Resources like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can help you do that.

Pawn shops offer a quick and easy way to get short-term cash, especially for those with poor credit or no credit. They typically accept items of value, such as jewelry or coins; high-quality tools or sports equipment; musical instruments; vintage turntables or record players; and name-brand electronics.

How a Cash Advance Pawn Shop Can Help in Emergencies

In return for an upfront cash payment, a pawn shop will lend you money for a few weeks or months. The amount you borrow is typically a fraction of the item’s value, and pawn shops charge high interest rates – often much higher than other types of loans or credit cards. If you don’t pay back the loan by the agreed-upon time, the pawn shop keeps the item as collateral.

Unlike some other types of loans, pawnshops don’t report loan default to the credit bureaus, and they do not use debt collectors. But they do charge a monthly service fee and storage fee, which adds up quickly. Those fees should be factored into the loan’s total cost, or annual percentage rate (APR). It can be helpful to calculate APR so you can compare apples-to-apples when comparing a pawn shop cash advance with other options.