How Old Do You Have to Be to Get a Loan?

A question we receive a lot at Xtreme Pawn is “How old do you have to be to get a pawn loan?”

Similarly to just about anything in today’s world, you do unfortunately have to be 18 years of age to take out any kind of pawn loan. The reason for this is related to the process of pawning itself. Pawning your items in exchange for a loan is something where you do enter into a contract between you and the pawnbroker. Since a minor can not be signed into any kind of legally binding contract it would be near impossible to work out any kind of deal that stood above water. Regardless of whether a verbal or written contract were made out to the udnerage pawning party, it would be automatically void due to the age. Some may view this as a form of discrimination, but unfortunately there are real laws in place that prevent anyone under the age of 18 from receiving any kind of loan or we could potentially lose our licensing.

Occasionally we get parents who suspect their child may have stolen something and pawned the item off to make a quick buck from the pawn loan. While this is next to impossible, we do recognise that there are workarounds. If this were the case, it would be more probable that the minor had potentially stolen the item, but had someone else complete the pawn transaction. The most common tactic is to ask an older friend or relative who is 18 to pawn the item for them, which works as a loophole in a sense.

The good news here is that even if the above scenario took place, pawn shops will not sell stolen items. There are laws in place that pawn shops are required to follow to maintain their licensing. Pawn brokers follow a fixed set of steps when buying any merchandise. They will gather as much information as possible such as the serial number, condition of the merchandise, even taking note of any markings or identifiable attributes on the merchandise. Once they have all this information collected on the specific piece of merchandise, they still proceed to gather the customer's background and information. Questions regarding the history of how they came to own the item and whether or not it is sentimental are not uncommon. Pawn shops will also take a copy of the seller’s ID for extra protection in the event that an item does turn up stolen.

Should anything show up as a stolen item, it will not be sold, but returned to its rightful owner.

As tragic as it is, the reality is that many people of any age group can take and sell things that don’t belong to them. Here at Xtreme Pawn, we put forth an extra effort to gather background information and the history of each item as well as past owners of these items. We do our best to ensure that the seller of an item is the rightful owner. Sometimes this can be easier to tell than others, if a customer comes in with an item they’re not very familiar with or don’t understand the function of said item, we can often assume there may be something questionable going on. However, through a series of questions including how the item was obtained, how long it's been in their possession, can usually clear up some things if it’s something they inherited, or haven't owned long, this explanation can make sense. 

While we’re all aware of the potential workarounds to getting a pawn loan under age, it’s important to recognize the strong laws in place that when broken, can result in legal repercussions. The laws are there to prevent any wrongful selling of any kind, from audio equipment, skateboards & longboards, to the old emeralds in your jewelry box. It is very easy to get caught when selling items that do not belong to you. We do not encourage anyone to take these extra steps to pawn items when you’re underage and it’s important to remember that the police will have serial numbers available to them and if your item matches one reported stolen, we will have your ID to confirm who brought the item in, when, and any other details that were given.

Xtreme Pawn is a family oriented pawn shop and we take pride in protecting our business as well as the community against fraud. If you have any questions regarding pricing or appraisals or even just how the process works don’t hesitate to come on down or give us a call at (801) 876-1727 or contact us online.