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" So you need cash fast and are considering visiting a pawnshop with your great-aunt&amp;#039;s watch. Here&amp;#039;s how pawning works: A pawnbroker loans you money\u2014up to three-quarters of the item&amp;#039;s resale value\u2014and you&amp;#039;ll usually have up to 90 days to pay it back at a high interest rate. If you can&amp;#039;t, you&amp;#039;re off the hook for the loan, but the shop keeps your things. Because of this risk and the high interest, pawning is often a last resort. But if you decide to do it, here&amp;#039;s how. Have a plan to pay back your loan\u2014ASAP To avoid hemorrhaging money, pay back the loan fast\u2014ideally within 30 days. Brick-and-mortar pawnshops tend to charge anywhere from 3% to 25% interest per month, and online pawnbrokers cap out around 10% (by comparison, the current average credit card interest rate is about 15% a year). At the high end, that means a $400 loan could cost you $100 monthly\u2014or $300 if you pay off your loan in three months. Because of potentially super-high interest rates and strict deadlines, only pawn to settle a debt that can&amp;#039;t wait for your usual paycheck. If you&amp;#039;re not sure when you&amp;#039;ll be paid next, or you&amp;#039;re hoping for a windfall, pawning is a bad idea. Don&amp;#039;t pawn your grandma&amp;#039;s ring While gold, silver and platinum jewelry and luxury watches are in-demand items, if you can&amp;#039;t bear to lose it, you shouldn&amp;#039;t pawn it. Experts estimate that some 15% of their customers never get their items back, even if they fiercely intend to. Don&amp;#039;t settle for the first offer Comparison-shop for lower interest rates, look out for hidden fees and\u2014most important\u2014make sure the company you&amp;#039;re dealing with is legit. If you don&amp;#039;t like the offer you&amp;#039;re given, walk away. Another pawnshop may give you what you want. Consider selling the item Some pawnbrokers will pay up to 80% of the resale value for items like jewelry, precious metals and gems. (You&amp;#039;re unlikely to get much, though, for items such as consumer electronics, power tools or musical instruments.) If there&amp;#039;s a decent chance you won&amp;#039;t be able to repay the loan in full, pawning a high-value item for a fraction of the value and then paying interest on the loan will hit your wallet harder than if you&amp;#039;d sold it right off the bat. Scam alert! Five signs a pawnshop might not be on the up-and-up There&amp;#039;s a bad buzz about it. Don&amp;#039;t ignore word of mouth\u2014read reviews of shops in your area online and ask friends where they&amp;#039;ve had good experiences. You aren&amp;#039;t asked about the origins of your item. A legitimate pawnshop should do a background check to make sure the item isn&amp;#039;t stolen. An online pawnbroker offers you full resale value for your item. An honest pawnbroker can&amp;#039;t make a profit if he pays you the same amount for which he&amp;#039;d sell your valuable. You don&amp;#039;t want to send it off on a promise and never hear from the pawnshop again. Your instincts say it&amp;#039;s shady. If the pawnbroker doesn&amp;#039;t give you clear answers, or you have a bad feeling about the shop, keep moving. The pawnshop is not a member of the National Pawnbrokers Association (NPA). This is not a guarantee of trustworthiness\u2014however, a broker must be licensed under state and federal laws to join the NPA, and adhere to the group&amp;#039;s code of ethics. SOURCES: Andy Anderson, director of processing, ePawnMarket. Ashley Broad, general manager, American Jewelry and Loan, Detroit, star of Hardcore Pawn on truTV. Daniel Delnoce, director of marketing and sales, ePawnMarket. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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