Louisiana Pawnshop Act

Louisiana Revised Statutes
Title 37. Professions and Occupations (Refs & Annos)
Chapter 21. Miscellaneous Occupations (Refs & Annos)
Part I. Pawnbrokers (Refs & Annos)
§ 1781. Short Title
§ 1782. Definitions
§ 1783. Nature of the pawn transaction
§ 1784. Waiver, agreement to forego rights; prohibited
§ 1785. Licensing of pawnbrokers; limit to location
§ 1786. Application, fees, bond
§ 1787. Eligibility for license, net assets or bond
§ 1788. Change in ownership; change in name; change in location; ceasing to do business
§ 1789. Records from the Department of Public Safety and Corrections
§ 1790. Hours of pawnbrokers; days of operation
§ 1791. Maximum rate of interest
§ 1792. Pledgor's warranty; division of things
§ 1793. Pawn ticket
§ 1794. Presentation of ticket, presumption
§ 1795. Lost, destroyed, or stolen ticket
§ 1796. Records to be kept, entries required
§ 1797. Records open to inspection

§ 1781. Short Title

This Part shall be known and may be cited as the “Louisiana Pawnshop Act”.

§ 1782. Definitions

As used in this Part:
(1) “Applicable liabilities” include trade or other accounts payable; accrued sales, income, or other taxes; accrued expenses; and notes or other payables that are unsecured or secured in whole or part by current assets.
(2) “Commissioner” means the commissioner of the Office of Financial Institutions within the office of the governor.
(3) “Current assets” include an investment made in cash, bank deposits, merchandise inventory and loans due from customers, excluding the pawn service charge. The term does not include an investment made in any of the following:
(a) Fixed assets of real estate, furniture, fixtures, or equipment.
(b) Stocks, bonds or other securities.
(c) Prepaid expenses or other general intangibles.
(4) “Jewelry” means things consisting of precious stones and/or precious metals worn as adornment or apparel.
(5) “Law enforcement officer” means:
(a) The law enforcement officers of the office of state police and the probation and parole officers of the division of probation and parole of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections.
(b) The superintendent of the police of the city or town in which the pawnbroker maintains a pawnshop or his duly authorized designee having been so designated by title or position as one regularly responsible for the inspection and regulation of pawnshops or one designated in writing to enforce the provisions of this Part.
(c) The sheriff of the parish in which the pawnbroker maintains a pawnshop or his duly authorized designee having been so designated by title or position as one regularly responsible for the inspection and regulation of pawnshops or one designated in writing to enforce the provisions of this Part.
(6) “License” means the certificate of authority to operate a pawnshop as issued by the commissioner.
(7) “Maturity date” means the last date subsequent to the pawn transaction upon which the pledgor can redeem a pledged thing.
(8) “Month” means that period of time from one date in a calendar month to the corresponding date in the subsequent calendar month. If the subsequent calendar month has no corresponding date, the last day of the subsequent month shall be considered the corresponding date. In the event any period consists of more than one month and the last month has no corresponding date, the last day of the last month shall be considered the corresponding date.
(9) “Net assets” means the book value of current assets less applicable liabilities.
(10) “Pawnbroker” means a person who lends money on a deposit or pledge or who takes other things into possession as security for money advanced or who makes a public display at his place of business of the sign generally used by pawnbrokers to denote his business, namely, three gilt or yellow balls, or who publicly exhibits a sign that money is to be loaned on things on deposit.
(11) “Pawnshop” means the location at which, or premises upon which, a pawnbroker regularly conducts business.
(12) “Pawn transaction” means the lending of money on a deposit or pledge or taking other things into possession as security for money advanced. Any arrangement whereby a seller either reserves the right to redeem or repurchase a thing shall be considered a pawn transaction and the purchaser shall be subject to the provisions of this Part.
(13) “Person” means natural and juridical persons.
(14) “Personally identifiable information” with respect to each pawn transaction shall consist of the following:
(a) The pledgor's name and address.
(b) The pledgor's sex, race, and approximate height.
(c) The pledgor's date of birth.
(d) The distinctive number from the pledgor's Louisiana driver's license, driver's license from another state, international driver's license, passport, or identification by a government agency or the United States Postal Service.
(15) “Things” means any property, movable and immovable, corporeal and incorporeal, and rights therein.
(16) “Transactional information” with respect to each pawn transaction shall consist of the following:
(a) A clear and accurate description of the pledged things, including model and serial numbers if indicated on things.
(b) The date of the original pawn transaction.
(c) The maturity date of the original pawn transaction.
(d) The date and amount of each payment made on a pawn transaction, including any extensions made.

§ 1783. Nature of the pawn transaction

The pawn transaction constitutes a service and vests the pawnbroker with the right of causing the debt to be satisfied by privilege and in preference to all other creditors, secured and unsecured, perfected or not. The pawnbroker can be compelled to return the security only when he has received the whole payment of the principal as well as the interest, service charges, and costs. A pawn transaction shall be considered a loan.

§ 1784. Waiver, agreement to forego rights; prohibited

A pawn customer may not waive or agree to forego rights or benefits under this Part except that a claim, if disputed in good faith, may be settled by compromise or agreement.

§ 1785. Licensing of pawnbrokers; limit to location

A. No person shall do business as a pawnbroker without having first obtained the license required by R.S. 47:341 et seq. and as further required by this Part. A separate license is required for each pawnshop. The commissioner shall issue one or more licenses to a person if that person complies with the licensing requirements of this Part for each license. Each license shall remain in full force and effect until surrendered, suspended, revoked, or expired.
B. A pawnshop license shall constitute a license to operate both as a pawnshop and as a new and secondhand dealer. A pawnbroker operating under a license issued pursuant to this Part shall not be required to obtain an additional new or secondhand dealer's license or post additional bond but shall be subject to all other requirements of secondhand dealers as set forth in R.S. 37:1861 et seq.
C. (1) No license shall be granted to any person whose designated place of business is situated within three hundred feet or less of any official gaming establishment or designated docking facility of a riverboat licensed to conduct gaming activities or gaming operations pursuant to Chapter 4 or 5 of Title 27 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950. As to official gaming establishments, this distance shall be measured as a person walks using the sidewalk from the nearest point of the property line of the official gaming establishment to the nearest point of the designated place of business. As to docking facilities, this distance shall be measured in a straight line from the nearest point of the docking facility to the nearest point of the designated place of business.
(2) The subsequent construction, erection, development, or movement of an official gaming establishment or designated docking facility which causes a licensee's occupied designated place of business to be located within the prohibited distance shall not be cause for the revocation, withholding, denial, or nonrenewal of a license.

§ 1786. Application, fees, bond

A. An application for a new pawnshop license or the approval of a change in the ownership of an existing licensed pawnshop, shall be made under oath and state the applicant's full name, the applicant's place of residence, the place where business is to be conducted, and other relevant information required by the commissioner. If the applicant is a juridical person, the application shall state the full name and address of each operator, partner, officer, and director of the juridical person and owner or beneficial owner of at least twenty-five percent of the juridical person.
B. If the applicant does not possess a pawnshop license the application shall be accompanied by a fee of one thousand dollars to be paid to the commissioner, seven hundred dollars of which shall be the license fee and three hundred dollars of which shall be an application fee. If the applicant possesses at least one valid unsuspended pawnshop license, and is applying for an additional license to operate at another location, the application shall be accompanied by a fee of five hundred dollars, four hundred dollars of which shall be the license fee and one hundred dollars of which shall be an application fee. Upon denying an application the commissioner shall immediately return to the applicant the license fee.
C. Every licensee, on or before December thirty-first of every year, shall pay to the commissioner three hundred dollars for each license as the annual fee for the succeeding year. If the annual fee is not received by the commissioner on or before December thirty-first, the licensee shall be assessed an additional one hundred fifty dollars as a late payment penalty. If the annual license fee and late payment penalty are not received by the commissioner before March first of the following year, the license shall expire.
D. When an application and the fees required by Subsection B of this Section are received, the commissioner shall investigate the facts as required by R.S. 37:1787. If the eligibility requirements for a license are satisfied, the commissioner shall approve an application. If the eligibility requirements for a license are not satisfied, or if for any other reason the license has not been issued, the commissioner shall notify the applicant who shall within sixty days of written request be entitled to a hearing on such application pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act. All final decisions of the commissioner shall be subject to judicial review by the district court of East Baton Rouge Parish. The right to a hearing pursuant to this Subsection and judicial review thereof shall not limit the scope of judicial review or other means of review, redress, relief, or trial de novo otherwise provided to the parties by law.
E. Any applicant who owns a pawnshop that was licensed and doing business in this state for at least one year immediately prior to September 1, 1993 shall be entitled to receive one or more licenses by applying to the commissioner no later than September 1, 1993 and the payment of the fees required by Subsection B of this Section without the commissioner performing any further investigation of facts. When an applicant owns more than one pawnshop and at least one has been licensed and doing business for more than one year all of the applicant's pawnshops licensed and operating at the time of enacting this Part shall be eligible for a license pursuant to this Subsection.
F. Any person required to be licensed by this Chapter shall pay all applicable fees to utilize any electronic database licensing system as described in R.S. 6:121.8.

§ 1787. Eligibility for license, net assets or bond

A. To be eligible for a license an applicant shall meet all of the following:
(1) Be over eighteen years of age and of good character and reputation.
(2) Not have been convicted of a felony under the laws of the United States, the state of Louisiana, or any other state or country within the last ten years.
(3) Show that the pawnshop shall meet all other requirements of law.
(4) Have net assets of at least fifty thousand dollars that are used or readily available for use in the business or obtain and file with the commissioner a surety bond issued by a company licensed to do business in Louisiana in the amount of fifty thousand dollars.
B. An applicant whose license has been previously revoked shall also be subject to the provisions of R.S. 37:1806(F).
C. If the applicant for a pawnshop license is a juridical person the eligibility requirements of Paragraphs (1) and (2) of Subsection A shall apply to each operator, partner, officer, and director of the juridical person and owner or beneficial owner of at least twenty-five percent of the juridical person. The requirements of Paragraphs (3) and (4) of Subsection A shall apply to the juridical person as a whole.
D. Net assets may include capital investment unencumbered by a lien or other encumbrance and subject to a claim by a general creditor. If the commissioner is unable to verify through the presentation of a current balance sheet or a finding by an accountant, or an individual holding a permit to practice accounting in this state, that the pawnbroker meets the net assets requirement and through other means that the applicant for a pawnshop license meets and continues to meet the net assets requirement, then the commissioner may require the verification of the net assets requirement through an audited financial statement prepared by an independent certified public accountant authorized to practice in Louisiana by the State Board of Certified Public Accountants. 
E. The requirements in Paragraph (A)(4) shall not apply to pawnshops legally operating before June 29, 1995. Effective July 1, 1997, the provisions of Paragraph (A)(4) shall apply to any person seeking a license.
F. A pawnbroker's license shall expire without a hearing sixty days after receipt of notice from the commissioner that he no longer meets the eligibility requirements of Paragraph (A)(4) of this Section, unless the pawnbroker requests an administrative hearing in writing within thirty days of receipt of the commissioner's notice. The commissioner shall promptly forward the request for hearing to the division of administrative law with a copy of the above notice to the pawnbroker. The administrative hearing shall be conducted within ninety days of the date the request for hearing is received by the division of administrative law, unless it is continued for good cause at the request of either party.

§ 1788. Change in ownership; change in name; change in location; ceasing to do business

A. Except as provided below, an application for a new license is required upon a twenty-five percent or more change in the ownership of any licensed pawnshop.
B. (1) In the event that a licensee, for whatever reason, wishes to change its legal entity, it shall notify the commissioner thirty days prior to such change and submit a fee of one hundred dollars. For the purposes of this Subsection, a natural person may transfer his license to a juridical person in which he owns at least seventy-five percent interest. A juridical person may transfer a license to another juridical person provided that seventy-five percent or more of the ownership in the transferee is the same as that of the transferor.
(2)(a) Where a change in ownership occurs due to the death of an owner of twenty-five percent or more of a licensed pawnshop, a new license shall not be necessary under either of the following circumstances:
(i) The deceased held ownership as part of a community of acquets and gains and the surviving spouse obtains ownership of the deceased's share of the community, either in full or via usufruct.
(ii) The ownership of the deceased transfers via succession to an ascendant, descendant, or collateral heir of the deceased.
(b) When a licensee seeks to change ownership pursuant to this Subsection, upon renewal of the license, the licensee shall notify the commissioner in writing of the change of ownership and provide such proof as the commissioner deems appropriate to support such change in ownership.
(3) In the event that a licensee wishes to change its name, trade name, or assumed name, and such change is not due to a change in ownership or legal entity, the licensee shall notify the commissioner in writing within thirty days of such change and submit a fee of fifty dollars. If the licensee fails to notify the commissioner or remit the required fee within the required thirty days, the commissioner may assess the licensee an amount not to exceed one hundred dollars as a penalty.
C. (1) Before a licensee changes the location of a pawnshop, the licensee shall provide thirty days' written notice of the same and pay a fee of one hundred dollars to the commissioner who shall then amend the license. The licensee shall also provide all persons who have things in pledge, at the address listed on the pawn ticket, with thirty days' written notice of the change in location.
(2) When a change of location is to occur, in lieu of the notices required in Paragraph (1) of this Subsection, a licensee may give notice by publishing such in a newspaper of general circulation in the locality in which the pawnshop is located and placing a notice in the pawnshop window thirty days prior to the change of location. The notice must be published each week for four weeks prior to the change of location.
D. Before a licensee ceases business, the licensee shall provide thirty days written notice of the same to the commissioner who shall then cancel the license. The licensee shall also provide all persons who have things in pledge, at the address listed on the pawn ticket, with thirty days written notice of the date business will cease. Ceasing business shall not impair or affect the obligation of either the pawnbroker or the pledgor to fulfill the terms of any preexisting contract between them

§ 1789. Records from the Department of Public Safety and Corrections

The Department of Public Safety and Corrections on request shall supply to the commissioner any available arrest and conviction records of any person applying for or holding a license under this Part including the partners, officers, directors, and owners thereof.

§ 1790. Hours of pawnbrokers; days of operation

A. A pawnbroker shall neither open his place of business before the hour of 7:00 a.m. nor keep it open after the hour of 9:00 p.m., except in the month of December, during which time the hour of 9:00 p.m. shall be extended to 10:00 p.m.
B. No pawnbroker may keep his pawnshop open on Sunday except during the period beginning on the fourth Thursday of November and ending on January first.

§ 1791. Maximum rate of interest

Notwithstanding any other provisions of law to the contrary, a pawnbroker may charge a maximum rate of interest of ten percent per month on pawn transactions.

§ 1792. Pledgor's warranty; division of things

A pledgor warrants that the thing pledged is not stolen, that the pledgor has not received the thing by fraud, that the thing has no liens or encumbrances against it, that the pledgor is not in voluntary or involuntary bankruptcy and is not anticipating filing a bankruptcy proceeding of any type, and that the pledgor has the right to pawn the thing. A pawnbroker and a pledgor may agree to divide groups or sets of things pawned into separate pawn transactions.

§ 1793. Pawn ticket

A. A pawnbroker, at the time the pawn transaction is originally entered into, shall deliver to the pledgor a memorandum or ticket which shall clearly set forth all of the following and which shall be maintained as a record for the pawnbroker for a period of two years from the date of the transaction:
(1) The pledgor's name and address.
(2) The pledgor's date of birth.
(3) The distinctive number from the pledgor's Louisiana driver's license, driver's license from another state, international driver's license, passport, military identification, or identification issued by a government agency or the United States Postal Service.
(4) The date of the pawn transaction.
(5) A clear and detailed description of the pledged things.
(6) The amount of the cash advanced, designated as the “amount financed”.
(7) The maturity date of the pawn transaction.
(8) The total of the interest and pawn service charges, designated as the “finance charge”.
(9) The total amount financed plus the finance charge which must be paid to redeem the pledged things on the maturity date, designated as the “total of payments”.
(10) The annual percentage rate.
(11) A statement to the effect that the pledgor is not obligated to redeem the pledged things and that the pledged things shall be forfeited to the pawnbroker on the next business day after the maturity date. In the event the pawnshop is not open for business on the maturity date, then the forfeiture date shall be the day immediately following the next business day the pawnshop is open after the maturity date.
(12) The name and address of the pawn shop.
(13) A blank line for the pledgor's signature.
B. When a pledgor pays and a pawnbroker accepts all of the interest and service charges due on a pawn transaction, a new pawn transaction shall occur and a new maturity date shall be established. The new maturity date shall be extended beyond the original maturity date by a period equal to the number of monthly interest and service charge payments made. In such instances the pawnbroker may either provide the pledgor with a new pawn ticket or designate on the original pawn ticket the new maturity date.
C. Repealed by Acts 1999, No. 361, § 2.

§ 1794. Presentation of ticket, presumption

Except as otherwise provided in this Part, any person presenting a pawn ticket to the pawnbroker shall be presumed to be entitled to redeem the pledged things described therein.

§ 1795. Lost, destroyed, or stolen ticket

A. In the event a pawn ticket has been lost, destroyed, or stolen a pawnbroker shall either deliver the pledged things to the pledgor or issue the pledgor a new pawn ticket. But before doing either, the pawnbroker shall require the pledgor to make a written statement attesting to the loss, destruction, or theft of the ticket. The statement shall be signed by the pledgor and the pawnbroker or the pawnbroker's employee who accepts the statement from the pledgor. The statement shall contain the same information as the pawn ticket, the date the statement is given, and the number of the pawn ticket which was lost, destroyed, or stolen. When the pawnbroker has delivered the pledged things to the pledgor or issued the pledgor a new pawn ticket pursuant to this Section, then all prior tickets shall be null and the presumption of R.S. 37:1794 shall be inapplicable.
B. The pawnbroker may charge a fee not to exceed three dollars and fifty cents in connection with each lost, destroyed, or stolen pawn ticket and the taking of a written statement from the pledgor.

§ 1796. Records to be kept, entries required

A. Every pawnbroker shall maintain a permanent record of all transactions of things pledged on the pawnshop premises. This record, which may be maintained electronically, shall be kept for a period of two years. Entries shall be made in the English language and shall include the personally identifiable information and the transactional information for each pawn transaction. Personally identifiable information and transactional information provided under the provisions of this Section shall in no event be made available to the public.
B. For complying with the provisions of this Section and Part the pawnbroker shall be entitled to the service charge set forth in R.S. 37:1799.

§ 1797. Records open to inspection

A. The commissioner, or his designee, may inspect all records of any person regulated by the provisions of this Part to ensure compliance with the provisions of this Part and any rules or regulations adopted under this Part.
B. The records maintained pursuant to R.S. 37:1796 shall at all times be open to the inspection of the appropriate law enforcement officer as defined in R.S. 37:1782(5).

La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 37:1781 - 37:1797