[HISTORY: Adopted by the Common Council of the City of Albany 7-18-1983
by L.L. No. 2-1983 as Ch. VII, Art. II, Div. 8, of the 1983 Code; amended
in its entirety 2-6-1984. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
[Amended 11-25-2002 by Ord. No. 42.112.02]
A.
The City Clerk of the City of Albany is hereby authorized
to grant, from time to time, under his hand and the Official Seal of his office,
to such citizens as he may deem proper, and who shall produce to him satisfactory
evidence of their good character, a license authorizing such citizen or citizens
to carry on the business of collateral loan broker, which license shall designate
the house in which such person shall carry on said business and the length
of time for which such license is issued, provided that such person desiring
said license shall make application to said City Clerk, in writing, for said
license and shall file with such application the sum of $137.50 annually.
B.
All money collected for such license shall be paid to
the City Treasurer of the City of Albany.
It shall be unlawful for any person to conduct or carry on the business
of collateral loan broking unless a license therefor has been duly issued
as herein provided. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall
incur a penalty of twenty-five dollars ($25.).
No premises in which the business of a collateral loan broker is conducted,
either alone or in connection with some other business, in the City of Albany
shall be open except between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on weekdays,
and excepting Saturdays, when such premises may be open until 9:00 p.m.
Every person carrying on or conducting the business of a collateral
loan broker under a license duly issued as hereinbefore specified is hereby
required to report in writing, daily, to the Chief of Police, in such form
as said Chief of Police may prescribe, all articles, with a description thereof,
on which he has made loans and all articles or things whatsoever, including
watches, jewelry, wearing apparel and furs, which he has purchased during
the twenty-four (24) hours immediately preceding the delivery of such report,
together with the name and address of the person or persons from whom such
articles or things have been purchased and the amount paid by the licensee
therefor.
When a person licensed as a collateral loan broker shall refuse or neglect
to make the reports hereby required or shall make any false entry in such
report or in any manner report falsely or shall omit to make a full and complete
report, he shall incur a penalty of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.)
nor more than one hundred dollars ($100.) for each and every such offense.
Every person so licensed as hereinbefore provided shall, at the time
of receiving such license, file with the City Clerk granting the same a bond
to the City of Albany, to be executed by the person so licensed and by two
(2) responsible sureties, in the penal sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000.),
to be approved by the Corporation Counsel, which bond shall be conditioned
for the faithful performance of the duties and obligations pertaining to the
business so licensed and the observance of all laws and ordinances relating
thereto, and the City Clerk shall have full power and authority to revoke
such license for cause.
Every collateral loan broker so licensed as hereinbefore provided shall
keep a book in which shall be fairly written, at the time of such loan, an
account and description of the goods, articles or things pawned or pledged,
the amount of money loaned thereon, the time of pledging the same, the rate
of interest to be paid on such loan, the name and residence of the person
pawning or pledging said goods, articles or things; and every such collateral
loan broker shall, at the time of each loan, deliver to the person pawning
or pledging any goods, articles or things, a memorandum or note signed by
him, containing the substance of the entry required to be made in his book,
as in this section provided, and no charge shall be made or received by any
collateral loan broker for any such entry, memorandum or note. Said book shall,
at all reasonable times, be open to the inspection of the City Clerk or the
Judge of the criminal courts, the Chief of Police, Captains of Police and
Police Justice of the City of Albany, or any or either of them.
No collateral loan broker, licensed as hereinbefore provided, shall
ask, demand or receive any greater rate of interest than three percent (3%)
per month or any fraction of a month for the first six (6) months and two
percent (2%) per month for each succeeding month, upon any loan not exceeding
the sum of one hundred dollars ($100.), or more than two percent (2%) per
month for the first six (6) months and one percent (1%) per month for each
succeeding month on any loan exceeding the sum of one hundred dollars ($100.);
no such collateral loan broker shall make any charge for parking, storing,
keeping or caring for any article, goods or thing pledged and upon which a
loan has been made, and no such pawnbroker shall sell any pawned or pledged
article until the same shall have remained one (1) year in his possession,
and all such sales shall be at public auction and not otherwise and shall
be conducted by licensed auctioneers doing business in the City of Albany.
Notice of every such sale shall be published for at least six (6) days
previous thereto in the official newspaper or newspapers printed in the City
of Albany, and each such notice shall specify the time and place at which
such sale shall take place, the name of the auctioneer by whom the same is
to be conducted and a general description of the kind of article to be sold,
together with a statement of the inclusive dates of the pawn tickets representing
the pledges to be sold. Any person, including the collateral loan broker,
may become the purchaser of any or all goods, articles or things to be sold
at any such sale. The surplus money, if any, arising from the sale of each
article or thing at such sale, after deducting the amount loaned therefor,
the interest due thereon and the expenses of the advertising and sale apportionable
thereto, shall be paid over by the collateral loan broker to the person who
would have been entitled to redeem the same in the event such sale had not
taken place.
A violation of the provisions of either of the foregoing sections, by any person licensed as hereinbefore provided, shall be sufficient cause for a revocation of said license by the City Clerk as provided in § 147-6.
Any ordinance inconsistent with this chapter is hereby repealed; and
this chapter shall take effect immediately.
