“The industry association estimates there were 10,000 pawnshops in early 2012, the latest figures available, compared with about 6,400 in 2007. That expansion is, in part, fed by the rising number of Americans whose tarnished credit effectively bars them from the mainstream financial system. The growth has attracted the attention of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a recently formed regulator that has been scrutinizing pawnshops, along with other nonbank lenders like payday loan operators. EZCorp, a publicly traded operator of pawnshops, reported that total loan balances swelled 22 percent to $44 million in its most recent quarter.”
http://www.volokh.com/2013/08/30/pawn-shops-boom-consumer-retail-banking-retreats/
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