Penn Personal Loan Co Perth Amboy NJ Deposit Envelope 2.5% Rate c1940s
$ 6.86
Description
Penn Personal Loan Co Perth Amboy NJ Deposit Envelope 2.5% Rate c1940s. This deposit envelope from the Penn Personal Loan Company, printed on green paper stock with blue ink, documents the consumer credit landscape of mid-twentieth century New Jersey. The item is a bifacial promotional piece, with one side printed upside down relative to the other, indicating its dual function as a deposit slip and an advertisement. The side oriented for the depositor prominently features the company’s lending terms, including a monthly rate of 2½ percent and a table of loan costs for six months: one hundred dollars costs eight dollars and seventy-five cents, two hundred dollars costs seventeen dollars and fifty cents, and three hundred dollars costs twenty-six dollars and twenty-five cents. The text emphasizes flexible repayment, stating “Pay Back any time - Interest Charged only while you use Money,” a selling point designed to appeal to borrowers wary of fixed-term obligations. The company’s location is given as the corner of Smith and State Streets, over the Sun Ray Drug Store, in Perth Amboy, the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey. The telephone number, Perth Amboy 4-0087, and the New Jersey banking license number 676 are also included, lending an air of regulated legitimacy. A decorative banner advertises auto loans, with the reassurance “EVEN IF CAR IS NOT PAID FOR,” suggesting a willingness to refinance or lend against a vehicle with an existing lien. The reverse side, oriented for the teller or customer, continues the promotional messaging with vertical text noting that eight dollars and eight cents per month repays a one-hundred-dollar cash loan and that the average monthly cost of one hundred dollars is approximately one dollar and thirty-five cents. The envelope’s design, with its two distinct reading orientations and its use of a single-color print run on colored stock, reflects a cost-conscious yet effective approach to direct-mail or in-branch marketing. The emphasis on friendly, confidential service and Saturday hours (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.) reveals the company’s effort to distinguish itself from traditional banks by offering convenience and accessibility to a working-class clientele. This piece of ephemera offers a tangible glimpse into the small-loan industry’s practices and the everyday financial transactions of mid-century suburban New Jersey.
