Chicago woman speaks out after pawn shop loan cost her $8K in fees
CHICAGO - There's a state loophole that allows pawnbrokers to charge loan interest rates as high as 243 percent!
State lawmakers announced a bill Wednesday that would cap that interest rate at 36 percent.
A Chicago woman shared her story as the new bill was announced.
She took out two $800 loans to help with moving expenses that ended up costing her $8,000 in loan fees.
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Plus, she lost her pawned items, which included a MacBook Pro and three professional cameras.
"The interest rate on my pawn loans were approximately 150 percent for over a year. I paid $200 per month in interest to roll over the loans and after a year I had paid over 2,400 in interest, made no progress toward paying off my loans and the pawn shop still had my items," said Jazmine Thompson, victim of predatory pawn loan.
A loan advocacy group found pawnbrokers collected $50 million in fees in 2020 alone.