Compare legal limits, fees and the true cost of small loans in your state before you talk to any lender. Compare legal limits, fees and the true cost of small loans in your state.
Pawn Shops vs Payday Loans in Maine
38 pawn shops in 27 cities and towns across Maine. Pick a city for the full list with addresses and phone numbers, or scroll down for the smaller towns.
Maine has about 1,377,327 residents, so that's 2.8 pawn shops per 100,000 people (U.S.: 2.7). For comparison, there are 0.4 payday, installment and title loan stores per 100,000 people in Maine.
- Pawn shops
- 38
- Cities & towns
- 27
- Pawn shops per 100k
- 2.8
- Loan stores
- 5
- List a phone
- 100.0%
- Have a website
- 73.7%
Pawn shops vs payday loan stores in Maine
Maine has 38 pawn shops and 5 payday, installment and title loan stores.
Pawn shops
38
2.8 per 100k residents
Payday & loan stores
5
0.4 per 100k residents
2 store chains
Biggest loan store chains in Maine: OneMain Financial (4), loanDepot (1).
Borrowing $500 for one month: payday vs pawn vs credit union
| Option | How it works | Cost for one month |
|---|---|---|
| Payday loan (not legal in Maine) | $75.00 fee every 2 weeks, renewed once | $150.00 |
| Pawn loan (example: 20% a month) | You leave an item worth more than the loan; repay to get it back | $100.00 |
| Credit union PAL (28% APR + $20 fee) | Repaid in installments; membership required | $31.67 |
- Payday cost, share of monthly household income in Maine
- 2.4%
- Pawn cost, share of monthly household income in Maine
- 1.6%
- A $400 emergency equals
- 1.9 days of income
Payday: a typical fee of $75 on a $500 loan for 2 weeks, paid twice for a one-month loan (Maine payday rules are not set in dollars or payday loans are not allowed). Pawn: an example rate of 20% a month; pawn fees and interest are set by Maine law and vary by shop — ask for the total in writing. PAL: payday alternative loan from a federal credit union, capped at 28% APR plus an application fee of up to $20.
Pawn loan vs payday loan: the key differences
| Pawn loan | Payday loan in ME | |
|---|---|---|
| What you need | An item of value (jewelry, gold, electronics, tools, firearms) and an ID | A bank account, proof of income and an ID |
| Credit check | None | Usually none |
| How much you get | A fraction of the item's resale value | Based on your income, up to the state limit |
| If you can't repay | The shop keeps the item; no collections and no credit damage | Fees pile up with renewals; the debt can go to collections |
| Bank account access | None | Lender can debit your account or cash your check |
| Rules in Maine | Pawnbrokers are licensed and regulated by Maine; fees, terms and holding periods are set by state law | Storefront payday loans are not allowed in Maine |
Pawn shops by city in Maine
Where pawn shops cluster in Maine
Cities ranked by pawn shops per 100,000 residents, with local median household income and poverty rate. Statewide: 2.8 per 100k, median income $75,636.
| City | Pawn shops | Per 100k people | Median income | Poverty rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portland | 2 | 3.0 | $79,745 | 11.2% |
Pawn shops in smaller towns of Maine
Other cities and towns in Maine with pawn shops, and the number of shops in each.
- Auburn 3
- Augusta 1
- Bangor 3
- Bath 1
- Biddeford 3
- Brunswick 1
- Calais 1
- Corinth 1
- Damariscotta 1
- Dexter 1
- East Waterboro 1
- Eliot 1
- Farmington 1
- Gray 1
- Lewiston 2
- Lincoln 1
- Newport 1
- Norridgewock 1
- Norway 1
- Oxford 1
- Sabattus 1
- Sanford 3
- Searsmont 1
- South Portland 1
- Waterville 2
- Windham 1
Pawn shop listings: © Overture Maps Foundation (CDLA-Permissive 2.0), including Foursquare OS Places and © OpenStreetMap contributors; filtered and de-duplicated by us. Population, income and poverty: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey. Call ahead to confirm hours and what a shop buys or lends on.