When Loveland pawn brokers approached city officials more than a year ago seeking licensing of their businesses, it raised a question among police and city lawyers: Why would a free-market, unlicensed and unfettered industry seek new regulation?
The brokers said it was to protect the integrity of the industry, and prevent unscrupulous players from entering their market.
But assistant city attorney Moses Garcia, after consulting with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, arrived at a different answer: Licensed pawn brokers in the state can charge annual interest rates about 10 times higher than those afforded unlicensed dealers under state statute.
City councilors at a Tuesday night study session heard the yearlong history of efforts to draft a city licensing ordinance for pawnbrokers.
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