Newport News, VA Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

Section 30-2 sets a two-track licensing gate: subsection (a) bars anyone from engaging in the pawnbroker business without a license authorized by the Circuit Court for the City of Newport News, and subsection (b) separately requires a valid business license from the commissioner of the revenue, though that second requirement doesn't reach any pawnbroker already licensed in Virginia before July 1, 1998. Under subsection (c), the circuit court may authorize the commissioner of the revenue to issue the license only to a natural person with no felony or crime-of-moral-turpitude conviction in the preceding ten years; applicants must first submit their date of birth and a sworn statement disclosing any criminal convictions or pending charges, in or out of Virginia.

The license names the specific building where the licensee may operate, and subsection (d) makes it unlawful to run the business from any other location without the circuit court's consent. Since a 2019 amendment, only natural persons may hold new pawnbroker licenses; any pawnbroker that isn't a natural person could keep operating on an existing license only through June 30, 2020, under subsection (f). A pawnbroker also has to carry a $50,000 minimum surety bond under § 30-3(a) before the license issues, and anyone who wins a judgment against the pawnbroker for misconduct can sue directly on that bond if the judgment goes unsatisfied under § 30-3(b).

Once licensed, a pawnbroker's interest rate is capped by § 30-6(a): ten percent a month on loans of $25 or less, seven percent on loans between $25 and $100, and five percent on loans of $100 or more.