As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
COLLATERAL LOAN BROKER
Any person loaning money on deposit or pledge of personal
property, other than securities or printed evidences of indebtedness,
dealing in the purchase of personal property on condition of selling
back at a stipulated price or designated or doing business as furniture
storage warehousemen, and loaning and advancing money upon goods,
wares or merchandise pledged or deposited as collateral security;
a pawnbroker.
PERSON
One or more persons of either sex, natural persons, corporations,
partnerships, associations, joint-stock companies and all other entities
capable of being sued.
No person, either as principal, agent or employee, shall, within
the limits of the City of Middletown, establish, engage in or carry
on the business of collateral loan broker, either separately or in
connection with some other business, without first having obtained
and paid for and having in full force and effect a license as herein
provided.
Such application shall be accompanied by a bond to the City of Middletown, approved as to form by the Corporation Counsel, in the penal sum of $10,000, with two responsible sureties or sufficient collateral security, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties and obligations pertaining to the business so licensed, the due observance during the term of the license of any and all ordinances and laws which are now in force or may hereafter be adopted or enacted respecting the business of collateral loan broker as defined in §
214-1, and the accounting for and paying over of all moneys which the licensee shall be liable to pay as such collateral loan broker to the City of Middletown.
The Mayor may, at any time, after investigation and after a
hearing before the Mayor at which the licensee may be heard, for violation
of this chapter or for any other proper cause, revoke any license
granted under the provisions of this chapter. Whenever any license
shall be revoked, no refund of any unearned portion thereof shall
be made, and no license shall be granted to any person whose license
has been revoked within a period of one year from the date of such
revocation. Notice of such revocation and the reason or reasons therefor
in writing shall be served by the Mayor upon the person named in the
application by personal service or by mailing the same to the address
given in the application and upon filing a copy of such with the City
Clerk.
If any licensee shall move his place of business from the place
designated in the license, he shall immediately give notice to the
City Clerk and have the same endorsed on the license.
No collateral loan broker shall accept any pledge until the person pawning such pledge shall have adequately proved his identity or shall have adequately proved ownership of the article pawned. Every licensed collateral loan broker shall keep in a substantially bound book, which shall be legibly written in ink and in English at the time of making a loan, an account and description of the goods, articles or things pawned or pledged, including the number or numbers and any monogram, inscription or other marks of identification that may appear thereon, the amount loaned thereon, the time and day of the loan and its maturity, the rate of interest paid on such loan and the name, general description and residence of the person pawning or pledging such goods, articles or things and a record of the means of identification of the pledger or of the proof of ownership by the pledger. Such book and all articles pawned or pledged shall at all reasonable times be open to inspection by any police officer, the Mayor, or any person duly authorized in writing for such purpose by the Mayor or Chief of Police, who shall exhibit such written authority to the collateral loan broker and to all persons authorized by §
45 of the General Business Law of the State of New York. No entry in such book shall be erased, obliterated, altered or defaced.
Every collateral loan broker shall, at such times as the Police Chief may prescribe in a written notice, to be served upon such collateral loan broker by a member of the Police Department, report to the Police Department, on blank forms to be furnished by the Police Department, a description of all goods, articles or things, or the identity or proof of ownership of pledgers, such as is required to be kept under §
214-9 of this chapter, which have been pawned or pledged in the course of business of the collateral loan broker during the days specified in such notice and, if such notice from the Chief of Police so prescribes, such collateral loan broker shall, at that time and until he/she is so notified to discontinue so doing, keep and furnish on such blank forms such information, as well as a general description of every person depositing such pledge.
Every licensed 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/her containing his/her
address and the substance of the entry required to be made or received
by any collateral loan broker 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 collateral loan broker
shall deliver such article to the person so presenting such memorandum
or note upon payment of principal and interest; should such memorandum
or note be lost or mislaid, the pawner shall at once apply to the
collateral loan broker, in which case it shall be the duty of the
collateral loan broker to permit such person to examine his/her books,
and upon finding the entry for such memorandum or note so lost and
upon giving to the collateral loan broker an exact description of
the article pawned, the collateral loan broker shall issue a second
or stop ticket for the same. In case such pawner neglects to so apply
and examine such books and receive such memorandum or note in the
manner above stated, the collateral loan broker shall be bound to
deliver the pledge to any person producing such memorandum or note
for redemption thereof. This section is not to be construed as in
any manner limiting or affecting such collateral loan broker's
common-law liability in cases where goods are stolen or other legal
defects of title exist in the pledge.
No licensed collateral loan broker shall sell or otherwise dispose
of any pawn or pledge unless the interest shall be six months or more
in arrears, and all such sales shall be at public auction and shall
be conducted by auctioneers licensed with the State of New York. All
bids for the purchase of any defaulted pledge offered at such sale
shall be 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 public sale shall be published for at least
six days previous thereto in the principal newspaper printed in the
City of Middletown, and such notice shall specify the time and place
at which such public sale is to take place and a description of the
goods or articles to be sold. Every collateral loan broker shall enter
in a book kept for that purpose a true account of the sale of all
goods sold by him/her at auction or otherwise, stating the day of
the month when pledged, the name of the person pledging, the day when
and the amount for which each pledge was sold and the name of the
auctioneer. Any person who shall have pledged any unredeemed goods,
or his assigns, administrators and executors, shall at all reasonable
times be permitted to inspect such entry book of sale. Every collateral
loan broker shall give notice of the expiration of the six months
from the date of the loan after which a public sale of the article
pledged may take place, by letter directed to the borrower at his/her
last known residence at least 10 days and not more than 20 days after
the expiration of such six months.
Every licensee shall cause to be posted in a conspicuous part
of his/her office or place where the collateral loan broker business
is carried on, so as to be visible to all persons pledging goods,
a printed card or table of the rates of interest authorized by this
chapter, printed in large type and in both the English and Spanish
languages.
No license issued under this chapter may be assigned, sold or
transferred.