Writing a Pawn Loan
Use this page to write a pawn loan: lend money against an item the customer leaves with you, and print their ticket.
Quick steps
- Click Pawn Loans in the main menu, then Write Loan.
- Borrower: pick an Existing customer, or type a New customer name (and Phone) under "— or add a walk-in —". Fill in ID Type, ID Number, ID Expiry and Date of Birth, and take a Photo of ID.
- Collateral: type an Item description, its Condition and its Serial #. Add up to three items.
- Loan Terms: type the Principal ($) and pick how you paid it out under Paid Out By (Cash, Debit, E-Transfer or Cheque). Leave Monthly Rate, Term (days) and Grace (days) as they are unless you mean to change them.
- Have the borrower sign in the white box.
- Click Write Loan & Print Ticket. Hand the borrower the money and the ticket.
Leave Monthly Rate blank. Your store rate is used and it is lowered automatically if the loan is big enough that the legal cap is lower.
Common questions
The customer has pawned with us before. Do I need a new ID photo? No. If an earlier loan has their ID photo on file, you don't need a new one.
It says a cash drawer must be open. A Cash payout comes out of the till, so a drawer must be open. Open one at the register and write the loan again, or pick the right till under Cash drawer (for cash) when more than one is open.
When is the loan due? On the maturity date: the loan date plus the term (30 days unless your store changed it). After that the borrower has the grace days (7 unless changed) before the item can go on the shelf.
The ticket didn't print. The loan is still saved. Open it and click Print Ticket.
More detail: opening the form and the borrower fields
Pawn loans appear only once they are switched on for your store. After that, admins and managers see Pawn Loans in the main menu, and the register gets a Pawn loans button. See Pawn Settings, Reminders and Police Export.
A pawn loan is money you lend against something the customer leaves with you. They get the money today; you keep the item until they pay it back with interest. If they don't come back, the item becomes yours to sell. Every loan is written on one form: who is borrowing, what they pledged, the terms, and their signature.
Open the Form
Go to Pawn Loans in the main menu and click Write Loan. The same button is on the Pawn Desk.
The page is titled Write Pawn Loan and is laid out for a tablet at the counter.
Borrower
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Existing customer | Pick them from the list if they are already a customer. |
| New customer name / Phone | Under "— or add a walk-in —". Type a name (and a phone number if you want to text them a reminder later) and a new customer is created with the loan. If you pick an existing customer and type a walk-in name, the existing customer is used. |
| ID Type | For example "Driver's License". |
| ID Number | The number on the ID. |
| ID Expiry | The date the ID expires. |
| Date of Birth | The borrower's date of birth. |
| Photo of ID (required unless on file) | Take a photo of the ID with the tablet's camera. A new borrower can't be given a loan without one. A returning customer who had an ID photo taken on an earlier loan doesn't need a new one. |
| Customer Photo (optional) | A photo of the borrower. |
The ID type, number and date of birth go into the police export, so fill them in every time.
More detail: collateral items and serial numbers
Collateral
The form has room for three items. Only the first needs to be filled in — rows left blank are ignored. You need at least one item with a description, or the loan is refused with "Add at least one collateral item (with a description)."
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Item description | What was pawned, for example "DeWalt 20V drill with 2 batteries". |
| Condition | Your note on its condition. |
| Serial # | The serial number. |
| Categories | Optional. Tick one or more of your product categories. If the loan is later forfeited, the item lands in inventory with these categories. |
The form says it plainly: "Record a serial number wherever one exists — it's what police use to match stolen goods." Serial numbers are searchable on the loan list and appear on the police export.
More detail: loan terms, the legal rate cap and how interest is charged
Loan Terms
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Principal ($) | How much you are lending. Required. |
| Paid Out By | How the money leaves the shop: Cash, Debit, E-Transfer or Cheque. See Paying out the principal below. |
| Cash drawer (for cash) | Only shown when more than one drawer is open. Pick the till the cash comes out of. |
| Monthly Rate | The interest rate per month, written as a decimal: 0.04 is 4% a month. Leave it blank to use your store rate — the placeholder shows it, for example "Blank = store rate (4%)". |
| Term (days) | How long until the loan is due. Starts at your store default (30 days unless you changed it). |
| Grace (days) | Extra days after the due date before the item can be forfeited. Starts at your store default (7 days unless you changed it). |
From these, Brother POS works out two dates:
- Maturity — the loan date plus the term. This is when the loan is due.
- Forfeit-eligible — the maturity date plus the grace days. The item can be moved to inventory the day after this date.
For example, a loan written on March 1 with a 30-day term and 7 days' grace matures on March 31 and is forfeit-eligible on April 7. You can forfeit it from April 8.
The legal rate cap
Under the Criminal Interest Rate Regulations, the form enforces two caps:
| Loan amount | Maximum rate |
|---|---|
| $1,000 or less | 48% a year (4% a month) |
| Over $1,000 | 35% a year (about 2.91% a month) |
What happens depends on whether you typed a rate:
- Blank rate — your store rate is used, but it is lowered automatically to the legal maximum for this loan amount. A store rate of 4% on a $1,500 loan is written at 2.91% a month, so a big loan is never blocked by a default meant for small ones.
- A rate you typed — it is used exactly as typed. If it is over the cap, the loan is refused with an error saying the monthly rate exceeds the legal cap for this loan amount. Clear the field or type a lower rate.
How interest is charged
Interest is charged by the started month, never pro-rated, with a one-month minimum:
- Paid back any time in the first month: one month's interest.
- Any part of a new month counts as a whole month.
For a $200 loan at 4% written on January 10:
| Paid back on | Months charged | Interest | Payoff |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 25 | 1 | $8.00 | $208.00 |
| February 10 | 1 | $8.00 | $208.00 |
| February 11 | 2 | $16.00 | $216.00 |
More detail: signing, saving and paying out
Borrower Signature
The borrower signs in the white box with a finger or stylus. Tap Clear to start again.
Save the Loan
Click Write Loan & Print Ticket. The loan gets the next number in your store's sequence (PL-00001, PL-00002 …), the pawn ticket is sent to your receipt printer, and the loan's page opens with the message "Loan PL-00001 written. Ticket sent to printer."
If the printer can't be reached, the loan is still saved and the page tells you the ticket did not print. Click Print Ticket on the loan page to try again. See Print the ticket.
Paying Out the Principal
Paid Out By records how the borrower received their money.
- Cash comes out of the till. The advance is taken off the open drawer's expected cash and printed on its Z-report as Pawn Advances. A drawer must be open — if none is, the loan is refused with an error and nothing is saved. Open a drawer at the register and try again.
- Debit, E-Transfer and Cheque are recorded on the loan but don't touch the drawer.
If only one drawer is open, the cash is booked to it automatically. If more than one is open, the form shows a Cash drawer (for cash) list — pick the till you took the money from. If you don't pick one, the loan is refused with "More than one cash drawer is open. Choose which drawer the cash goes through." and nothing is saved.
See Z-Reports for how pawn cash appears on the drawer report.
More detail: troubleshooting and good habits
Troubleshooting
"Select or add a customer." Pick an existing customer, or type a name under "— or add a walk-in —".
"Take a photo of the borrower's ID." This borrower has no ID photo on file. Take one in Photo of ID and write the loan again.
A walk-in customer wasn't created after the loan was refused. That's expected. The walk-in is only added when the loan is actually written, so a refused loan doesn't leave an empty customer behind.
"Add at least one collateral item (with a description)." The first item row needs a description.
The loan was refused with a message about the legal cap. The monthly rate you typed is over the maximum for this amount. Clear the field to use the highest legal rate automatically, or type a lower one.
The loan was refused and it mentions the cash drawer. You chose Cash but no drawer is open, or several are open and you didn't pick one. Open a drawer (or pick one under Cash drawer (for cash)) and write the loan again.
Best Practices
- Record the ID and a serial number on every loan. They are what the police export is built from.
- Leave Monthly Rate blank unless you are deliberately charging less than your store rate.
- Print the ticket before the borrower leaves.
What's Next?
- Pawn Desk and Loan List — see what's due and find a loan
- Redeeming, Renewing and Forfeiting — take payments and close out a loan
- Pawn Loans at the Register — write and service loans from the POS