By Kevin Prochaska

Ryan Gilbert's recent BankThink article "Give Nonbanks a Nationwide Reach" is part of a massive lobbying campaign by major payday lenders and others to sway Congress to pass H.R. 1909.

The National Pawnbrokers Association opposes the federal charter proposal Ryan Gilbert supports, because it is a bad deal for consumers and will further degrade credit options for the 44 million un- or underbanked consumers in the U.S. This legislation will provide the means for a powerful group of pay day lenders (including Gilbert's payday loan company BillFloat), subsidiaries of national banks and others to circumvent existing federal, state and local regulatory oversight, including provisions within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau set forth to reign in predatory lending tactics by nonbank institutions.

Additionally, this potentially dangerous legislation will allow "big finance" to unfairly compete with community and small dollar lenders across America and the thousands of people employed by locally operated nonbanks like our small business members.

These charters are a bad deal for consumers. Specifically, charters will:

    * Be granted primarily or exclusively to giant providers of financial services in the payday loan industry and subsidiaries of national banks and federally chartered thrifts already under the Comptroller's regulation and supervision authority, providers who can afford the charter and annual fees the Comptroller will charge.
    * Allow charter holders to go anywhere and do anything as long as the Comptroller allows it and without worrying about state licensing or state consumer protection laws;
    * Allow charter holders to offer financial products that particular states have banned or regulated heavily — if, like the old "Mother, may I? Yes, you may!" game, the Comptroller gives them permission. As a result, charter holders could offer payday loans in states that banned them outright (Ohio, North Carolina, Arizona, and Massachusetts), in states that cap interest rates (Georgia, Montana and New Hampshire), and in states such as Virginia that limit the number of payday loans that can be made in a year to the same consumer.
    * Exempt charter holders from complying with the Truth in Lending Act's baseline credit-cost comparison tool — disclosure of the annual percentage rate — that every other creditor in the nation has had to disclose since 1969, making comparison shopping much harder for consumers.
    * Exempt them from using the same TILA disclosure forms, created by the Federal Reserve Board, that every other creditor in the nation will still have to use, further hindering comparison-shopping by consumers. Instead, they will be allowed to use different disclosure forms over which the Comptroller will have exclusive jurisdiction.

Charter holders, as a result, will be able to compete at lower costs than smaller, state-regulated entities. Lower costs for charter holders do not guarantee that credit will be more plentiful — or that consumers will pay less for credit, although that is what the proponents of HR 1909 are promising. In fact, once their competitive advantages drive out local small-dollar credit providers, the basic economics theory of supply and demand points to higher costs for the same products and services. This future financial un-level playing field and associated revenues obviously justifies the proponents' huge expenditures on their lobbying campaign.

This federal-charter legislation is touted as a panacea for the alleged paucity of small-dollar loans across the nation because banks do not offer this type of credit. It is important to set the record straight on this claim as well:

    * Big banks have never provided small-dollar, short-term loans (unless one counts credit cards that most of the 44-million un- or under-banked consumers cannot get). Efforts over the past decade to persuade banks to offer similar products, encouraged by Congress and the FDIC, have produced few, if any, noticeable gains for consumers. and,
    * Thousands of state-licensed providers already grant credit to the consumers on terms established and enforced by the states, and with the same TILA compliance duties as every other creditor. Other small businesses provide all the so-called "auxiliary" services such as issuance of money orders and remittance transfers that the states also have regulated effectively for several decades.

Supporters of this legislation are selling a bill of goods to some well-intended members of Congress, who are justifiably eager to help constituents at home.  This legislation:

    * Casts aside more than 200 years of state regulation of nonbanks, and does vast damage to states' rights and federalism.
    * Allows powerful mega-retailers and nationwide payday lenders, and, not incidentally, subsidiaries of national banks or federal savings and loan associations, to circumvent existing federal, state, and local regulatory and consumer protection laws.
    * Makes credit shopping harder and credit offers far less transparent than they have been for more than 40 years.

Instead of creating a vast new supply of credit on reasonable terms from newly federally chartered providers, the legislation is far more likely to degrade further the credit opportunities, the assets and credit worthiness of consumers in the U.S. who need competitively priced small-dollar, short-term, safety-net loans that they get today from local community banks, credit unions, pawnbrokers and other state-licensed lenders. It also will cost local jobs and the health benefits.

This legislation is a "win-win" for mega-companies and mega-banks and "lose-lose" for everyone else.  Hopefully, Congress will recognize the bill's flaws and will soundly reject the idea of a federal, non-depositary charter.

Kevin Prochaska
CEO, Lombard Financial
President, National Pawnbrokers Association

May  10, 2011 - National Pawnbrokers Association

Bob Moulton, President of National Pawn and member of the Board of Directors of the National Pawnbrokers Association, announced the winners of the National Pawn Sponsored Mother's Day Essay Contest.

 Neo Best, a kindergarten student at Pathways Elementary School  in Hillsborough, and Horacio A. Rios, a fifth grader at Central Elementary School, also in Hillsborough, submitted the winning essays in a Mother's Day contest sponsored by National Pawn. With the two students tied for first place, Bob Moulton, owner of National Pawn, declared that he would award two first place prizes. The topic of the essay was, "My Mother." Prizes included a pair of diamond earrings valued at $2,000 for Neo and Horacio’s mothers, a $500 check for classroom supplies to Neo’s teacher, Mrs. Jennifer Behringer, and Horacio’s teacher, Mr. Brian Krauss, and a $1,000 check for school supplies to each winner’s school. Neo, Horacio and their families will be presented the prizes at a ceremony the day before Mother’s Day.  Bob Moulton will preside over the ceremony to be held at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, May 7, in the National Pawn store at 2334 Guess Rd., Durham.

"I believe in actively encouraging education and supporting schools as a rule, and I feel that it is especially important during these times of declining tax revenues and shrinking budgets," said Moulton. "It was my intent to motivate the students to creatively express their feelings for their mothers or other strong female role models, as well as reward the teachers and the individual schools where the winners attend."

The contest was open to all K-5 students in the three major Triangle school districts: Durham, Orange and Wake. The judges for the contest were Frances Scott, news anchor at ABC11; Rick Armstrong, Health and Science Producer at WRAL News; Barbara Petty, editor of BOOM! and Greg Petty, publisher of BOOM!, along with local writers Alice Osborn, Jan B. Parker and Kathleen Fitzgerald.     

The Verified Member Program offers a NPA seal for members to display on their websites. When a user clicks the seal, a dynamically generated window appears with the member’s company info, activity status, accreditation, and more. This program is free for all NPA members and is an added value to NPA membership.

Visit the National Pawnbrokers Association website website to learn more about this new program.

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Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the National Pawnbrokers Association team up to bring music into the lives of thousands of children, just in time for Christmas.

The National Pawnbrokers Association (NPA) is sponsoring its second annual Musical Instrument Gift Day, where pawnbrokers from around the country make generous donations of musical instruments to charity organizations. This year, NPA has found a friend in the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, extending their national reach to Boys & Girls Clubs across the country.

Musical Instrument Gift Day is held on December 6 in honor of St. Nicholas Day and National Pawnbrokers Day. St. Nicholas was famed for his generosity and his charity to the poor and is the Patron Saint of Pawnbrokers. In honor of that charity and generosity, Members of the National Pawnbrokers Association will be presenting their donations of musical instruments to Boys & Girls Clubs nationwide on or around December 6, 2010.

If you are interested in participating in this yearʼs event, whether youʼre looking to donate instruments or youʼre a member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, you can sign up by visiting the Gift Day website www.GiftDay.org and clicking “Contact.” A member of the Gift Day team will work with you to connect you with a donor or a donation recipient, depending on your needs.

Last year Musical Instrument Gift Day was a huge success, with pawnbrokers in over 17 states donating over one thousand instruments. The donation event was a huge success in South Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and even Georgia, where Governor Sonny Perdue hosted a special donation ceremony in his office attended by pawnbrokers and eager, young students in need of instruments.

This year, letʼs work together to make Musical Instrument Gift Day even more successful and make an even bigger difference in childrenʼs lives.

Go to www.GiftDay.org to learn more about this exciting event.

Burnsville, MN (October 4, 2010) – Pawn America is proud to announce the company has been honored as a 2010 Activa Award recipient. Launched in 1999 by FiSCA, the Activa Awards program honors outstanding examples of positive community involvement activities of its members throughout the country. FiSCA supports and encourages its members to make an investment in the communities that they do business by giving their time through community service and money through charitable contributions. As each year passes, the Activa Awards bring greater distinction and a better understanding of the pivotal role financial service centers play in making America’s neighborhoods a better place to live and work.

“Pawn America takes great pride in the initiatives we’ve created to address the needs we see in our communities,” says Pawn America Owner Brad Rixmann. “Whether it’s serving a meal at the Boys & Girls Clubs, volunteering time with the local Sheriff’s Foundation, or even donating “therapy-friendly” merchandise to local patients affected by injury, disease or illness…we want to help people. We believe in listening first, we then do our best to make a meaningful impact.”

Dave Crume, president of the National Pawnbrokers Association, lauded Pawn America in a recent statement. "Congratulations on winning this award for your accomplishments. It is a fitting reward and justly deserved for all of your efforts in your communities.
You have truly done some innovative charitable work here particularly with your libraries. Really, really cool idea!
Thanks for raising the bar for fellow pawnbrokers and financial service operators to beat!"

Pawn America has created and fostered several community initiatives for which the 2010 Activa Awards honor including:

• The Pawn America/Boys & Girls Clubs Kids Feeding Kids (KFK) initiative
Created to provide an opportunity for local kids to eat, learn culinary skills and cooperative behavior traits while serving their peers via a nutritious late-afternoon dinner 5 evenings a week. The goal of the program is to stop childhood hunger in areas of the Twin Cities that house a local Boys & Girls Clubs location. More than 50,000 meals are served annually.

• Hennepin County Sheriff’s Foundation
Pawn America is a valuable part of this independent, nonprofit, charitable organization dedicated to strengthening public safety through youth-based activity programs, prevention, intervention, education, outreach and 21st century crime fighting tools and programs.

• PC’s For People
A Partnership with this organization has collected hundreds of refurbished computers with the goal of giving outdated equipment a second lease by fixing it up for people who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to own a computer. Recently, Pawn America developed a retail “curbside drop campaign” encouraging customers to drop off old and working computer systems at their stores for a gift certificate in return.

• The University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview Transitional Care Unit
Pawn America began earmarking “therapy-friendly” merchandise when a nurse called requesting a few items on the wish list of patients and caregivers at the Transitional Care Unit. These items were to help rehabilitate, entertain and even inspire patients and include Wii consoles, musical instruments, games, CDs, DVDs and other types of entertainment options.

• Pawn America Builds Libraries for Soldiers in Iraq
Shortly after the start of the War in Iraq, Brad Rixmann learned the son of two Pawn America employees was being deployed. He wanted to help out and decided to package and send components of a media library with the soldier. Brad gave the soldiers a collection of more than 1,000 DVD’s, CD’s, video games and movies to entertain and comfort soldiers during their downtime. Since the first installment, Brad and Pawn America have sent components to Iraq for two additional libraries.


For more information about the pawn industry, visit Pawn Shops Today

The National Pawnbrokers Association (NPA) today announced the results of NPA 2010 Trend Survey that assesses how the changes in the 2009 US economy affected the pawn industry.  According to the survey, the average pawn loan amount increased to $100, nationally.  This estimate is up from 2008, in which the average loan amount was $80.

“Pawn store customers on average are 36 years old and tend to borrow only what they need, as indicated by the average national loan amount,” said Dave Crume, president of the National Pawnbrokers Association.  “The increase in the average pawn loan amount indicates that American families were seeking financial relief by turning to their local pawn broker.” Pawn

The survey also indicated that there was a slight increase in the number of defaults on pawn loans in 2009.  Almost half of the pawnbrokers surveyed said that defaults on pawn loans increased an average of 8% in their pawnshops.

With the melt-down of the US economy, 2009 witnessed an unprecedented upswing in gold prices, which skyrocketed over $1,100 per ounce. This trend encouraged many US consumers to sell their gold and jewelry to local pawnshops rather than “fly by night” mail-based clearing houses advertised on television. Subsequently, cash-for-gold transactions were up by as much as 35%.

What may come as a surprise, however, is that business across the board did not increase at pawn shops as Americans sought safety net loans.  Though the quantity and dollar amount of pawn loans and buy/sell transactions were up, pawnbrokers experienced a sharp decline in retail sales as cautious consumers cut back significantly on retail spending.  Some Pawnbrokers saw decreases in their retail sales that were calculated up to 15%, with many business even higher.

“The pawn business model is complex,” added Dave Crume.  “While many stores benefitted from the increased price of gold, there were also many shops that suffered from sluggish retail sales.”  For example, as unemployed construction workers looked to pawn tools and equipment to make ends meet, pawnbrokers acquired a surplus of construction tools when the loans defaulted, which they couldn’t sell during the recession. When asked, an overwhelming 51% of pawnbrokers said the the downturn in the economy helped increase pawn loans, but hurt retail sales.  

The forecast for 2010 was lukewarm.  Pawn store owners believe that this year will bring a slight increase in pawn loans, but they are skeptical that the retail side will improve. “For years, pawn shops have been providing safety net loans to families that encounter sudden financial emergencies,” adds Crume.  “These vital, small-dollar loans simply aren’t offered by banks and other traditional lending institutions. This year will be no different, but the industry will have to adjust to the new economic environment.”

For more news and information from the pawn industry, please visit Pawn Shops Today

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Owner of eight pawnshops says perceptions are wrong, and he aims to change them

DURHAM – If Bob Moulton hadn’t ended up in the family business, he might have been an actor: picture “Tick Tock” McLaughlin, the William H. Macy character in the movie “Seabiscuit.”

Reddish hair, thin build, a propensity for making funny. Moulton once used his impersonation of an Indian customer to rib one of his employees over the telephone. He was the class clown at Southern Durham High School, had designs on going to the North Carolina School of the Arts, but ended up as a radio DJ for meager pay at stations in Rock Hill, S.C., and Concord.
When he got married in 1983, he was making $80 a week.

He somehow made it. “I’ve been poor, but I’ve never been broke,” says Moulton. Still, 80 bucks a week wasn’t cutting it. He quit radio and moved back to his hometown of Durham to help his mom in her recently opened pawnshop.

There, he learned the business from his mother and an uncle, who also operated a shop. In 1986, Moulton opened his own store and has been a pawnbroker ever since – now operating eight stores in Durham, Raleigh and Wilmington.

He figures he spent around $2.5 million turning the defunct Don Murray’s Barbecue restaurant on Capital Boulevard in Raleigh from a grease-stained and rundown building into what Moulton declares to be the prototype of the modern-day pawnshop – National Pawn – complete with a walk-in vault that would be the envy of any banker.

Wander into that store, and the stereotypes about the pawn business drift away. On one side is a jewelry showroom as fine in decor as a shopping mall jeweler. On the other side are attractively displayed pawned items for sale – computer games, guitars, hand drills, television sets, even one iPad has found its way to hock.

Moulton is about building a business – and he and his wife, Teresa, have one now that generates some $7.5 million in revenue and provides jobs for 55. But he’s also about changing the way the public perceives the pawn business. “My mission is to improve the image of the pawn business,” says Moulton, who is president of the N.C. Pawnbrokers Association and has been on the board of the national association for a decade. “I’ll put my business reputation up against anyone in town.”

He’s fully aware of the perception of the pawn business – dirty, dingy stores full of stolen property with brokers looking to buy way low and sell way high. So, rather than tucking his stores in unobtrusive corners in bad parts of town, Moulton looks for high-profile locations near good neighborhoods.

His stores are far from dirty. On the contrary, they are bright and inviting. The employees are dressed in uniform blue shirts. National Pawn has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau of Eastern North Carolina, with no complaints over the past 36 months. As for stolen goods, industry research says that less than one-tenth of 1 percent of pawned goods are stolen.

Pawnshops actually help track stolen items rather than hide them. Each day, every pawnshop in the state is required by law to submit a report to local police on every pawned item, including the serial number of the item and the full identity of the customer. If an item turns out to be stolen, the police confiscate it and the pawnshop loses the money it lent.

In fact, the pawn business in North Carolina is tightly regulated at both the state and local levels. The Pawnbroker Modernization Act of 1989 sets strict limits on monthly fees that can be charged on a pawned item – they can’t exceed 20 percent of the amount lent for the item.

Jim Sughrue, spokesman for the Raleigh Police Department, says the department has a “generally good relationship” with pawnshops. “They have an interest in taking in as little stolen property as possible,” he says.

As for margins, Moulton says his philosophy is to make a small profit on high volume.

He once made a $500 profit on a 5-carat diamond that had been pawned for $20,000. The lucky buyer had it appraised and found it to be worth $75,000, but Moulton had no remorse. “I’d rather have a fast nickle than a slow dime,” he says.

Read more: Giving New Life to an Old Profession - Triangle Business Journal

Announcing the Future Business Leader Scholarship winners for 2010!
 
We are proud to award $1000 scholarships to the students listed below. They were chosen for their excellence in academia and leadership in their community.
 
Kelsi Holden, Niles, MI – sponsored by Worldwide Pawn & Jewelry, South Bend, IN
 
Arielle Baker, Fairmont, WV – sponsored by West Side Pawn, Knoxville, TN
 
Jaleesa Rollins, Mt. Vernon, IL – sponsored by King City Cash & Loan Pawn, Mt. Vernon, IL
 
The Future Business Leader Scholarship is also proud to award two scholarships to the C.O.P.S. program. The Concerns of Police Survivors will accept the scholarships and award them to survivors of slain police officers.
 
Thank you for your support of the FBL. Together we have not only helped many students and families with tuition support, but also helped the National Pawnbrokers Association give back to our communities. With your continued support and donations, we will be able to continue the scholarships of the Future Business Leaders.
 
Thank you,
 
Kathy Pierce
Chair, Future Business Leader Scholarship

Although children represent less than 25 percent of the population in our country, they are 100 percent of our future!

U93 Roof Sit 2010


Tom Howard Vice President of Operations of Worldwide Jewelry and Pawn presented a check for $1,000.00 to the annual U93 Roof sit to prevent child abuse.  We were glad to be involved in the cause and what a worthwhile cause it is.  

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Boston Globe Columnist / May 30, 2010 KEVIN CULLEN


Mike Goldstein, owner of Empire Loan in the South End, with Derek Hector, whose brother pawned their father’s Tuskegee Airmen ring five years ago before he died. (Photos By Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff)

As soon as his boys could walk, Francis “Fuzzy’’ Hector took them on airplanes at Air Force bases. He wanted them to stand inside the belly of a transport and get that rumbling feeling in their own bellies.

“Man,’’ Derek Hector was saying, “my brother Chris and I, we went to air bases all over the place when we were kids.’’
They called him Fuzzy because he was fast.

“My dad ran track for Boston English,’’ Derek Hector said, “and he could fly.’’

Then World War II broke out and Fuzzy Hector really did fly. He went to train in Alabama as one of the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American warriors deemed good enough to be part of an elite Army Air Corps unit, but not good enough to be considered the equal of a white man. Fuzzy Hector was a gunner and a radio operator.

After the war, Fuzzy Hector came back to the South End and raised two boys with his wife, the lovely Edna. He went to college and worked as an account executive for a liquor distributor for 30 years. And he kept telling all the other Tuskegee Airmen he would see around Boston that they had to do something, that they couldn’t leave their history to somebody else.

So they formed a local chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen and they would go into the schools and talk to the kids, and they would get together, old soldiers, and tell war stories, and whenever a Tuskegee Airman would die, Fuzzy and the boys would be there, at attention, snapping a final salute to a Lonely Eagle.

Fuzzy and Edna were married for 50 years when he died in 1998. Tuskegee Airmen, old black men in gray slacks, blue blazers, and ties the bright red color of their airplane tales, lined Charles Street AME Church and saluted Fuzzy Hector one last time.

“When my dad died, Chris really was the one who had to take care of things, take care of my mom, look after my dad’s affairs,’’ said Derek Hector, who had moved West in 1992, eventually to Chicago, where he worked as a tailor.

Chris Hector had to take care of himself, too, and that wasn’t easy after Vietnam. He had joined the Air Force, because of and in tribute to his father.

“The doctors said he was exposed to Agent Orange, and he had other problems,’’ Derek Hector said. “When he got out of the service, he had health problems the rest of his life.’’

Chris Hector got a job in the post office and that’s where he was working when Mike Goldstein first met him. Goldstein runs Empire Loan in the South End, and Chris Hector would come in to pawn jewelry.

One day, after his dad died, Chris Hector walked in and said he wanted to pawn his father’s Tuskegee Airmen ring, a heavy gold band with a blue stone.

“He told me about the history of it, about his father, about the Tuskegee Airmen,’’ Goldstein said. “I knew he was just borrowing against it, because in all the years I knew him he had never lost anything to foreclosure, and he certainly wasn’t going to lose his father’s ring. He pawned it dozens of times, over a six-year period, and he always paid back the loan and got the ring back.’’

Five years ago, Chris Hector stopped making payments on the last loan, for $150, that he took against the ring. In fact, he just stopped coming in.

He stopped coming in because he got sick and died. This took Goldstein months to find out. Goldstein was entitled to sell the ring or scrap it, but he couldn’t do it.

“I held that thing in my hand and it felt like history,’’ he said. “I just wanted to give it back to the family.’’

Goldstein put the ring in a safe and tried to find the family. He left a message with Edna Hector, but its significance didn’t register, and so the ring sat in a safe at the corner of Washington and East Berkeley streets for the last five years.

“It was one of those things, I just put it on the back burner and I figured I’d get to it some day, and the months passed and the years passed,’’ Mike Goldstein said.

Then one day he was reading Lena Horne’s obituary, and there was a story about how when Horne went overseas to sing during World War II, German POWs got better seats than African-American soldiers. Mike Goldstein thought of Fuzzy Hector’s ring again. He was sitting in his office and he looked at the calendar and saw Memorial Day was coming up and he knew he had to do something.

Mike Goldstein is a pawnbroker, not a detective, so he asked the people at his advertising agency, Mittcom, if they had any ideas. One of the supervisors, Alicia Pensarosa, started looking around and found Willie Shellman, president of the New England chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen. All she had to do was say the name Fuzzy.

A couple of days ago, Derek Hector went back to the South End for the first time in so many years he couldn’t remember.

“I remember it as Dover Street, not East Berkeley,’’ he said.

Then he walked into Empire Loan and Mike Goldstein handed him his father’s ring. He told Mike Goldstein he had given him a piece of his father back.

“This is the only thing of my dad’s that I have,’’ Derek Hector said.

Edna Hector is dying, and Derek Hector is back in town, taking care of her in her last days. Derek Hector put the ring in his pocket and went to see his mother.

“Mom,’’ he said, “I got dad’s ring back.’’

“That’s nice,’’ Edna Hector said. “You know, Chris has got to be more careful with your father’s things.’’

Kevin Cullen is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at cullen@globe.com.

© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.

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The National Pawnbrokers Association, the leading trade association representing the pawn industry, announced today the nomination and unanimous selection of Rick Harrison, star of the History Channel's hit TV series Pawn Stars, along with the staff of Gold and Silver Pawn as NPA's “Pawnbroker of the Year” for 2010.

The nomination stems from the overwhelming success of Pawn Stars, the History Channel's top rated show, which has dramatically improved the image of the modern day pawnbroker.

“Rick, Richard Sr., Corey and the others on Pawn Stars have raised the bar on Pawn Industry awareness. They have done more to improve the image of pawn shops in a shorter time than anyone has ever done,” said Dave Adelman, immediate past president of the National Pawnbrokers Association. “As a second generation pawnbroker, having been in the industry for over 31 years, I know all too well what they have accomplished.”

The award ceremony will take place at the NPA Pawn Expo 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada on Tuesday, July 20. Gold and Silver Pawn has been in operation in Las Vegas since 1988, on the famous Las Vegas strip. Just down the road at Caesars Palace, the cast will be in attendance at the Pawn Expo Welcome Reception, where they will be celebrated by thousands of their fellow pawnbrokers.

For information on registering for the NPA Pawn Expo 2010, please visit www.PawnExpo.com

For the latest news and information from the pawn industry, please visit www.PawnShopsToday.com

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