Elgin, IL Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)
Key Facts
- Citywide license cap
- 2 pawnbroker licenses
- License term
- Feb 1 to Jan 31, annual
- Bond required
- $1,000
- Purchase hours
- 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
- Interest/fee cap
- 1/5 of loan amount monthly
- Holding period
- 10 days (3 days for coins/cash)
- Minimum penalty
- $500 per offense/day
Summary
Elgin caps the number of pawnbroker licenses at two citywide and requires every pawnbroker to hold a license from the city, renewed each February 1, backed by a one-thousand-dollar bond. Pawnbrokers may only buy or accept pledged goods between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m., must cap monthly interest and fees, and must hold identifiable items ten days before resale.
No person, either as owner, manager, lessee, officer or agent, or in any other capacity, shall operate or permit to be operated a pawnbroker establishment without first having obtained a license from the city to do so. The license fee shall be due and payable on or before February 1 of each year. The requisite fee shall accompany all original or renewal applications. Such licenses shall expire on January 31 of the following year. Failure or neglect to pay the requisite license fee in a timely manner shall be cause for denial of issuance or nonrenewal or revocation as the case may be.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 7).
Full Breakdown
020 makes it unlawful to operate a pawnbroker establishment, or to use the words pawn, pawnshop, or pawnbroker in a way likely to mislead the public, without a city license running from February 1 to January 31. 030 limits the city to two pawnbroker licenses in total. 070. 080. 130 bars accepting goods from a seller under eighteen, intoxicated, lacking approved photo identification, or known to be a thief. 140 bans pawning firearms and other concealable deadly weapons outright. 150 caps the finance charge, including interest and fees, at one-fifth of the loan amount monthly and requires a thirty-day grace period after default before the pledged property may be sold. 190 bars reselling an individually identifiable item within ten days, or coins and cash within three days, of purchase.
Violations & Fines
The chief financial officer may suspend or revoke a pawnbroker license for violating the chapter, a disqualifying conviction, or false or withheld application information, under section 6.42.230, after at least ten days written notice and a hearing. The city manager may summarily close the shop without prior notice if a violation immediately threatens public safety, under section 6.42.240. Section 6.42.280 sets a penalty of not less than five hundred dollars per offense, with each day a separate offense.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sources & Official References
Other rules in Elgin
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Pawnbrokers in Nearby Cities
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