Pocatello, ID Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)
Key Facts
- License required for
- pledge, chattel-mortgage and wage-assignment loans
- Annual license fee
- $50.00 per year or fraction thereof
- Daily report deadline
- noon the next business day to police
- Standard hold period
- 30 days after loan term expires
- Stolen-item hold
- 10 days verbal notice, 60 days written notice
- Minimum employee age
- 18 years to handle pledges or loans
- Penalty
- misdemeanor plus possible license revocation (§ 5.36.120)
Summary
Anyone operating a pawn business in the City of Pocatello must hold a pawnbroker's license under § 5.36.010 before making pledge loans, chattel-mortgage loans or wage-assignment loans. The license costs $50.00 a year or any part of a year under § 5.36.020, and a single qualifying transaction is enough to count as running a pawnbroker business without one.
The transactions set out herein are hereby declared to constitute the carrying out of a pawnbroker business. It is unlawful for any person to own/operate any such business or carry on any of the following business transactions without having first obtained a pawnbroker's license to do so: 1. Loaning or advancing money, whether in the form of cash, check or draft, to any person on the deposit, pledge, or bailment of personal property of any kind as security for such loan or advancement when the personal property may be repurchased by the party upon paying of a sum of money; ... The license fee for a pawnbroker as defined herein shall be fifty dollars ($50.00) per year or fraction thereof. ... Any violation of the provisions of this chapter shall be considered a misdemeanor, and in addition to possible revocation or denial of renewal of the license, the pawnbroker shall be subject to the issuance of an Idaho uniform citation for the violation.
Full Breakdown
Pocatello's pawnbroker chapter, §§ 5.36.010 through 5.36.120, treats three kinds of transactions as pawnbroking: loaning money against pledged personal property that can be repurchased, loaning against a chattel mortgage where the lender takes possession of the property, and loaning against an assignment of wages, and § 5.36.030 makes a single such transaction enough to trigger the license requirement. A sign advertising these services is treated as prima facie evidence of an unlicensed pawnbroker business under § 5.36.010(B). Licensed pawnbrokers must keep a permanent electronic record compatible with the Pocatello Police Department's system for every transaction, verified against a government photo ID, and transmit each day's transactions to the Police Department by noon the next business day under §§ 5.36.040 and 5.36.050.
Pledged property must be held for thirty days after the loan term expires before it can be sold, except gold, silver and other precious metals, which may be disposed of as soon as the term ends, under § 5.36.070. If police notify a pawnbroker that an item may be stolen, it must be held ten working days on verbal notice or sixty days on written notice under § 5.36.080. Pawnbrokers cannot employ or use anyone under eighteen to take pledges or make loans under § 5.36.100, and the license holder is responsible for every employee's compliance under § 5.36.110.
Violations & Fines
Operating without a pawnbroker's license, or violating any recordkeeping, reporting, age or stolen-property provision of Chapter 5.36, is a misdemeanor under § 5.36.120. The pawnbroker can also face revocation or denial of license renewal in addition to the criminal citation, and the police department issues an Idaho uniform citation for the offense; the general City penalty clause, § 1.04.040, otherwise caps a misdemeanor at a $1,000.00 fine or six months in jail.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sources & Official References
Other rules in Pocatello
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