[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the City of Mount Vernon 11-13-1957 as Ch. 30
of the General Ordinances, approved 11-15-1957. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Includes any person:
Lending money on deposit or pledge of personal property, other
than securities or printed evidences of indebtedness; or
Dealing in the purchasing of personal property on condition
of selling back at a stipulated price; or
Designated or doing business as a furniture storage warehouseman
and lending and advancing money upon goods, wares or merchandise pledged
or deposited as collateral security.
No person shall hereafter carry on the business of pawnbroker
without having first obtained from the Mayor a license, countersigned
by the City Clerk, authorizing such person to carry on the same in
the manner and upon the conditions as hereinafter provided.
[Added 4-13-1989, approved 4-13-1989]
Every applicant for a license shall file, together with the
application, fingerprints of both hands. The fingerprints shall be
placed upon cards provided by the Commissioner of Public Safety and
shall be taken under his/her supervision by a senior police officer,
and at such a place as the Commissioner shall designate. The Commissioner
of Public Safety shall have the authority to submit the fingerprints
of the applicant, together with the required fees, to the Division
of Criminal Justice Services or other appropriate agency for processing
and investigation. No application for a pawnbroker's license
shall be approved nor any license issued under the provisions of this
chapter until after the commanding officer of the Bureau of Criminal
Identification in the Department of Public Safety has reviewed and
examined the criminal history record information disseminated by the
Division of Criminal Justice Services. No license shall be granted
to any applicant who has been convicted of any felony or any misdemeanor
involving violence, dishonesty or deceit.
[Amended 1-14-1959, approved 1-15-1959; 9-14-2005, approved 9-15-2005]
The Mayor may, from time to time, grant to such persons as he
shall deem proper and who shall produce to him satisfactory evidence
of their good character a license authorizing such persons to carry
on the business of pawnbroker, which license shall designate the premises
in which such persons shall carry on said business, and no person
shall carry on the business of a pawnbroker in the City of Mount Vernon
without being duly licensed nor in any premises other than the one
designated in said license, under a penalty of $500 for each day he
or they shall exercise or carry on said business without such license
or at any other premises than the one so designated. Any person receiving
such license shall pay therefor to the City Clerk the sum of $350
yearly, for the use of the City, and every such license shall expire
on January 1 of each year and may be renewed upon application to the
Mayor each and every year, upon payment of the same sum and upon performance
of the other conditions herein contained. Every person so licensed
shall, at the time of receiving such license, file a surety company
bond in the penal sum of $15,000, which bond shall be conditioned
for the faithful performance of the duties and obligations pertaining
to the business so licensed, and the Mayor shall have full power and
authority to revoke such license.
If any person shall be aggrieved by the misconduct of any such
licensed pawnbroker and shall recover judgment against him therefor,
such person may, after the return unsatisfied, either in whole or
in part, of any execution issued upon said judgment, maintain an action
in his own name upon the bond of said pawnbroker in any court having
jurisdiction thereof.
Every pawnbroker shall keep a book in which shall be plainly
written, at the time of each loan, an account and description of the
goods, articles or things pawned or pledged, the amount of money lent,
the time of pledging the same, the rate of interest to be paid on
such loan and the name and residence of the person pawning or pledging
the said goods, articles or things, and shall fill out a card containing
the description of the articles pawned, with any and all numbers and
marks of identification contained thereon, and such card shall be
filed with the Police Department within 24 hours after receipt of
the article.
Every pawnbroker shall, at the time of each loan, deliver to
the person pawning or pledging any goods, articles or thing a memorandum
or note signed by him containing the substance of the entry required
to be made in his book by the last preceding section, and no charge
shall be made or received by any pawnbroker for any such entry, memorandum
or note. The holder of such memorandum or note shall be presumed to
be the person entitled to redeem the pledge, and the pawnbroker shall
deliver such article to the person so presenting such memorandum or
note on payment of principal and interest. Should such ticket be lost
or mislaid, the pawner shall at once apply to the pawnbroker, in which
case it shall be the duty of the pawnbroker to permit such person
to examine his books, and upon finding the entry of said ticket, note
or memorandum so lost and upon his giving to the pawnbroker an exact
description of the article pawned, the pawnbroker shall issue a second
or stop ticket for the same. If such pawner neglects so to apply and
examine said books and receive such memorandum or note in the manner
above stated, the pawnbroker will be bound to deliver the pledge to
any person producing such ticket for the redemption thereof. This
section is not to be construed as in any manner limiting or affecting
such pawnbroker's common-law liability in cases where goods are
stolen or other legal defects of title exist in the pledgor.
The said book shall at all reasonable times be open to the inspection
of the Mayor, the Commissioner of Public Safety or any police officer,
or of any person who shall be duly authorized in writing for that
purpose by any or either of them and who shall exhibit such written
authority to such pawnbroker.
[Amended 4-10-1981, approved 4-13-1981]
A.
No pawnbroker shall ask, demand or receive any greater rate of interest
than 3% per month or any fraction of a month, and a notice containing
a list of such rates of interest as herein provided and in accordance
with the Act of Congress entitled "Truth in Lending Act," 15 U.S.C.A.
§ 1601 et seq., and the regulations thereunder, as such
Act and regulations may from time to time be amended, shall be conspicuously
displayed within the premises of such pawnbroker. A minimum interest
charge of $0.25 per month may be made on any loan.
B.
No pawnbroker shall receive or be entitled to any interest or charge
as provided by this section on any loan for any period of time exceeding
15 months from the date of making such loan.
C.
Effective September 1, 1983, the interest rate shall be 2% per month
or any fraction thereof on each succeeding month after the first six
months and shall apply to all pawn transactions entered into on or
after such date.
[Amended 4-10-1981, approved 4-13-1981]
No pawnbrokers shall purchase, directly or indirectly, any secondhand
furniture, metals, clothing or other article or thing whatever, offered
to him as a pawn or pledge, nor shall it be lawful for any such pawnbroker,
licensed as aforesaid, to engage in any secondhand business nor to
receive in pawn or as a pledge any instrument or weapon mentioned
in the first three subdivisions of § 265.05 of the Penal
Law, except that a pawnbroker may purchase back any pledge offered
for sale by him at public auction and may thereafter sell such pledge
if the pledgor fails to redeem within 10 days or may purchase any
pledge offered for sale by any other pawnbroker at public auction.
[Added 4-10-1981, approved 4-13-1981]
No pawnbroker or person in the employ of a pawnbroker shall
receive or purchase any goods, chattels, wares or merchandise from,
or make any loan or advance or permit to be loaned or advanced to,
any child, actually or apparently under the age of 18 years, any money,
or in any manner directly or indirectly receive any goods, chattels,
wares or merchandise from any such child in pledge for loans made
or to be made to it or to any other person or otherwise howsoever.
It shall be no defense to a prosecution for a violation of this section
that in the transaction upon which the prosecution is based the child
acted as the agent or representative of another or that the defendant
dealt with such child as the agent or representative of another.
[Amended 4-10-1981, approved 4-13-1981]
No pawn or pledge made with a pawnbroker shall be sold until
the same shall have remained six months in his possession. All sales
of defaulted pledges shall be by public auction with each such pledge
being individually offered for sale and shall be conducted by licensed
auctioneers within the State of New York. All bids for the purchase
of any defaulted pledge offered at such sale shall be oral and expressed
in dollars and cents without the use of any special signs, signals
or motions, if less than 11 people attend such sale.
Notice of every such sale shall be published for at least six
days previous thereto in a daily newspaper printed in the City of
Mount Vernon, and also in a newspaper of the City where the sale is
to take place and to be designated by the Mayor, and such notice shall
specify the time and place at which such sale is to take place, the
names of the auctioneers by whom the same is to be conducted and a
description of the goods or articles to be sold.
The surplus money, if any, arising from any such sale, after
deducting the amount of the loan, the interest due on the same and
the expense of the advertising and sale, shall be paid over by the
pawnbroker to the person who would be entitled to redeem the pledge
in case no such sale had taken place.
