6 Georgia Title Pawn Rules That Cost Borrowers Their Car

When money is tight, a loan that only needs your car title can sound like quick relief.

But Georgians who sign one agree to terms that can decide whether they get to keep the car.

Here’s what to understand about title pawn rules before you sign anything.

Note: This is general information, not legal or financial advice. Pawn rules and dollar amounts are subject to change.

1. Your Title as the Pledge

A title pawn works because the state’s pawn statute counts your car’s certificate of title as pledged goods.

The pawnbroker holds that title for the entire pawn but doesn’t have to take your car at any point.

The law treats holding the title as holding the vehicle itself, so the pledge covers your car even when the pawnbroker never takes it.

Lose the title, and you can lose the car.

The title is the hook.

2. 25% for the First 90 Days

Interest and pawnshop charges on a title pawn can’t top 25% of the principal amount advanced during any 30-day period in the first 90 days.

On $800, that’s as much as $200 for each of the first three periods, or $600 in all.

Ouch.

The statute deems the charge earned on the day the pawn begins, with a like sum earned on the same day each month after.

Until you pay, the pawnbroker may keep your title.

3. 12.5% After Day 90

Once a title pawn runs past 90 days, the maximum charge drops to 12.5% of the amount advanced for each 30-day period.

That’s half the earlier rate.

On the same $800, you’d owe as much as $100 for every period your pawn stays open.

It’s lower, not gone.

4. Renewals, Not Payoffs

Title pawn terms run 30 days at a time, and you and the pawnbroker can agree in writing to extend one for another 30 days.

The statute treats a renewed pawn as a continuation unless you’ve paid every charge, every fee and the full principal.

Your title also has to be back in your hands, with the lien on it removed.

So if you pay only the charge, the pawn counts as a continuation and the principal stays put.

Paying isn’t paying off.

The 30-day grace period doesn’t begin until the day after the last extension runs out.

5. Repossession Without a Judge

Unless your agreement says otherwise, a title pawn gives the pawnbroker the right to take possession of your car if you default.

The pawnbroker or its agent can skip judicial process as long as the repossession doesn't breach the peace.

Court is optional.

A repossession fee runs $50 within 50 miles of the pawn office, $100 from 51 to 100 miles and $150 from 101 to 300 miles.

Beyond 300 miles, it's $250.

During a pawn or any extension of it, the pawnbroker also can't lease the car back to you.

Storage adds up to $5 a day, but only for days the pawnbroker must hold a car it repossessed.

Those fees come in addition to the charges you already owe.

6. 30-Day Grace Period

A title pawn comes with a grace period of 30 calendar days, and the pawnbroker can't sell the pledged goods while it runs.

If the last day lands on a day the pawnbroker is closed, the grace period runs through the next day the business is open.

To redeem within that window, you pay the unpaid fees and charges, the principal and an extra charge of up to 12.5% of the principal.

That's the deadline.

Pawns on other kinds of goods get just ten calendar days.

If you don't redeem in time, the law forfeits the pledged goods to the pawnbroker automatically, and any ownership interest you had in them ends.

Borrower Protections

The same title pawn statute that sets the charges also gives you ways to push back.

Any interest, charge or fee above what the law allows is uncollectable, and the pawn transaction is void.

The pawnbroker has to have you sign a disclosure statement and give you a completed copy.

A pawnbroker can't impose a fee unless it disclosed that fee first.

If a pawnbroker collects charges that were undisclosed or too high, you can sue to recover them in superior court.

A court that sides with you has to award reasonable attorneys' fees.

Before you file, you have to send the pawnbroker written notice by certified mail that names the charges you dispute.

If the pawnbroker makes a good-faith offer within 30 days to return the excess, the court awards its attorneys' fees to the pawnbroker.

You have two years from the day you knew or should have known about the charge.

The pawnbroker's lien covers the money advanced, the interest and the pawnshop charge on that pawn, but not other debts you owe.

A pawnbroker also commits a misdemeanor by making you sign away any provision of the pawn statute.

Know them before you sign.

Reform Bills That Stalled

If you're following the debate over title pawn rules, two reform bills drew attention in the 2025-26 session, according to Georgia Watch's April 2026 wrap-up.

House Bill 300 would have excluded motor vehicle certificates of title from pawn transactions, where your car's title serves as the pledge today.

House Bill 110 would have protected current military members in title pawn transactions.

Both failed to cross over from the House to the Senate.

Nothing changed.