On December 1, Governor Sonny Perdue met with pawnbrokers from around the state to take part in the National Pawnbrokers Association’s Musical Instrument Gift Day. At least 8 Georgia pawn shop owners pledged over 70 instruments to donate to the Charles R. Drew Charter School. Governor Perdue selected the school at an event in his office with students, faculty and members of the local businesses making the donations. The school is a part of a successful initiative to redevelop the community of East Lake and will use the musical instruments to build a strong music program. Georgia native Dave Adelman, former President of the National Pawnbrokers Association, spear-headed the effort with the Governor. 
This effort is part of a larger program held in honor of St. Nicholas Day – Patron Saint of Pawnbroking - and National Pawnbrokers Day, December 6. Pawn shops across the country are organizing donation drives to supply badly needed musical instruments to local charity organizations and schools who, due to drastic budget cuts in state education funds, can’t supply enough instruments to form a small band. Businesses in Warner Robins, LaGrange, Conyers, Kingsland, Norcross, Fort Valley and Macon took part in Gift Day donations. Pawn shops traditionally have a history of donating musical instruments and awarding scholarships to support the young members of their communities. For more information on this effort, visit www.GiftDay.org.
For digital photographs & press release of the Governors Gift Day ceremony: www.giftday.org/gagov.html


The old saying, “a friend in time of need is a true friend”, is certainly the occupation description of the community’s local pawnshop.
When a person is down, lost their job, behind on their house payment, and their credit cards charged up to their max, what bank will give you a loan? What bank would even waste their time for you to complete the multi-page application for that loan? What hope is there to be able to buy food for the family? A pawnshop is the one place in the community you can always go and get the money regardless of the job, credit rating, or loan approval! The pawnshop of your community is the helping hand in time of need.
How do I know this? I have personally lived it! Now only 17 years later, my entire life revolves around the close-knit pawn community as all my true friends are pawnbrokers and all I own is due to the helping hand of my town’s local pawnshop.
In 1992, I had lost my job due to one insurance company purchasing another and the new company’s staff replaced me. The day prior I had purchased and paid cash for my new Cadillac. Only 7 months later I was sitting in a parking lot applying for food stamps. My house payment was behind, my credit cards were at their limit and my payments were behind. I did not have a job, or any prospects for a job, and was unable to get a bank loan because of bad credit and jobless.
I walked into my first pawnshop in Round Rock, Texas called Action Pawn and owned by Dale H. I carried a large box of jewelry and asked the sweet lady behind the counter to loan me enough to make my house payment. Her name was Melba L. and she could tell I was about to burst out in tears and said to me with such a sweet voice, “Honey how much do you need?” I told her what my house payment was and she chose the pieces of jewelry that would enable her to make that loan. 
During my monthly visits to pay the “interest” on my loan, I overheard Melba on a cold, solicitation call from someone obviously wanting to sale Action Pawn health insurance. After Melba hung up from the phone call, I shared with her that I had begun my own insurance agency. I asked if she would allow me to provide her a quote on health insurance for Action. Melba agreed to allow me to quote and I was able to put in 5 products for the price she was paying for only 1. In addition I was able to insure all her employees instead of the 12 that was on the policy at that time.
Shortly thereafter, Dale had a horrible wreck. He was transported to an out-of-network hospital and was in the intensive care unit for almost a month. As his insurance agent, I was able to get the insurance company to code his hospital claim as “in-network”. I was even able to get his cancer insurance company with an intensive care rider to send him a check for each of the days he was an intensive care patient!
While Dale was still recovering he sent word to Jim S., the TPBA Executive Director at that time, that he should discuss with me the possibility of my insurance company handling the Association’s health insurance. To make a long story short, we talked and not only do I handle the Association’s health insurance but many pawnbrokers now have health insurance. I also began handling the pawnshop’s commercial package policy as well.
Jim S. retired and moved to Colorado. I purchased his log cabin in a very remote area on the side of the Santa de Cristo Mountains at 9,000 ft. as my mountain retreat. After only 17 years from my first pawn loan, my insurance agency has blossomed, my home & my cabin have no mortgage. I was able to purchase a home for my handicapped son and it is also on the way to being paid off.
Through all I have accomplished and earned to the employees that I am able to employ, this all generate taxes that keep the American economy running. It all leads back full circle…to my first pawnshop visit where I made my first pawn loan.
So, what is the pawnshop’s place in your community? The pawnshop is the community! The helping hand when you need it the most, giving the community the chance to grow!
Sharon A Cobb, LUTCF, RHU
Professional Texas Ins.
Pflugerville, TX 78691
Why is the proposed Consumer Finance Protection Agency placing
national banks in line to receive millions of new customers at the
expense of community banks and other regulated lenders currently
servicing minorities, immigrants and non-banked Americans?
The proposed Consumer Finance Protection Agency is being considered as one of the
most important elements in the Obama administration’s finance reform policy. It would
impose strict federal regulations on small and non-bank lenders designed to protect
consumers against predatory lending practices and usurious interest rates, and would
closely monitor banking regulators. Despite reports earlier this month that lawmakers
would adjourn further discussion on the agency, House Bill 3126 - Consumer Financial
Protection Agency Act - is currently under heavy debate in Congress. Legislators are calling
new attention to the need for a government entity that would tightly regulate non-bank
lenders on a federal level, citing payday loans and sub-prime mortgages as one of the
many causes of the financial downfall.
As members of Congress tout the virtues of the CFPA and the protections it would grant consumers, serious questions are being raised as to the long term effects it will have on non-bank
lenders and the millions of un-banked and struggling families that rely on their services to
make ends meet. The pawn industry, for example, an already heavily regulated business
at the local, state, and federal levels, is concerned that the addition of new regulations
would seriously jeopardize the services that pawnbrokers currently provide to their local
communities. Furthermore, Senate Bill 500 which is also circulating in Congress proposes a
36% APR rate cap on all loans that might put the industry out of business entirely.
Details of the issues at hand can be found at www.PawnShopsToday.com.
David Crume, President of the National Pawnbrokers Association, is concerned that
lawmakers mistakenly equate the pawn industry with payday loan companies, and that
these laws will severely limit the services pawnbrokers can offer. “Pawn stores offer
collateral loans that are small dollar, short term, and pose no negative credit effects if
unpaid. Pawn and Payday,” he says, “are two very different products. Payday loans
require repayment and could affect a consumer's credit if left unpaid. The average pawn
transaction is $80, and is a non-recourse loan.” Crume says that banks simply don’t offer
these types of loans, making the pawn industry such a vital part of the financial system.
According to Crume, the new legislation will reduce pawn stores to buy/sell
establishments. With diminishing credit accounts and banks unwilling to extend loans in
small dollar amounts, many consumers are flocking to these non-bank lenders in order to
close the financial lapses that occur when bills are due but paychecks haven’t arrived.
America’s small banking sector has also expressed uneasiness about the CFPA. In a
letter from Senator Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana on September 25, 2009 to Senator
Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs,
Landrieu reports significant concerns from community banks in her state. “Although
community banks did not offer the types of products that caused the financial crisis,” she
writes, “many are concerned the administration’s proposal could result in additional
regulatory burdens and costs to their institutions.”
Who, then, will really benefit from the CFPA? In February of this year, the FDIC
reported as many as 28 million un-banked and 44 million under-banked Americans,
citing lack of liquidity to carry account balances and bank fees, bad prior experiences,
lack of sufficient identification, and unfamiliarity or distrust of banks as the most
common reasons why people are un-banked. According to Melissa Koide, Deputy
Director of the Asset Building Program for the New America Foundation, many of the
un-banked consist of lower income families that operate at the margins and can’t afford
to wait several days for checks to clear. Another large portion of the under-banked
community is made up of immigrants who use remittance services to send money to their
families in their home countries. Her statistics show that the under-banked spend 25
billion dollars a year, with 6 billion spent on credit, and 4.6 billion on payment and
remittance services. The hefty regulations and new fees the CFPA seeks to impose, could
create a major fall-out in the non-banking sector, leaving millions of under-banked
Americans with few alternatives.
The wide sweeping nature of the CFPA would target the institutions that did not
introduce the toxic components leading to the financial meltdown. Smaller financial
institutions and non-banks, such as community banks and pawn stores would be
overburdened with new regulations and forced to pay for the very agency that could run
them out of business. In the end, where will the millions of un- and under-banked be
forced to turn? That’s right, to the national banks, the same ones that offered sub-prime
mortgages to millions of Americans, triggering the biggest financial downturn in decades.
With the resulting weakened competition, major banks stand to gain billions in new
accounts at the expense of the American consumer.