PawnSmarts comes pre-configured for Hawaii — the 20% monthly cap, the one-month maturity and 30-day holding period, the two-extension limit, the $10,000 pawn account cap, and thumbprint and photograph capture, all from $89/month.
Hawaii pawnbrokers comply with two statutes at once. HRS Chapter 445, Part V (sections 445-131 to 445-136) sets the loan terms, the finance charge and the prohibited practices; HRS Chapter 486M sets the transaction record and law-enforcement reporting — and HRS § 445-134.18 says flatly that "all pawnbrokers shall comply with the requirements of chapter 486M." Licensing is county-level: HRS § 445-1 defines "treasurer" as the director of finance of any county, and each county chief of police authorizes the transaction form. So a Hawaii shop produces two documents per transaction and works from a county-authorized form. PawnSmarts ships with both — across Honolulu and Oʻahu, Hilo and Kailua-Kona, Kahului and Wailuku, and Līhuʻe.
Plenty of pawn software vendors price the program low and then make their money on "support" — $200 to $350 a month, every month, whether you use it or not. PawnSmarts doesn't work that way. You pay $89/month for the Essential plan or $129/month for Professional — month to month, no contract, no setup fee, cancel anytime. Prefer to own it outright? Professional is also a $2,995 one-time purchase. And if you run your card processing through us, the software can be free.
HRS § 445-132 is short: "The treasurer may grant licenses for the period of one year, to suitable persons, to carry on the business of pawnbroking upon payment of the sum of $100." A secondhand dealer license under HRS § 445-171 carries a $10 statutory annual fee — though Honolulu's published schedule charges $100 for it, so confirm the current figure with your county. Licenses run one year, are non-transferable, are valid only at the specified place of business, and must be kept "exposed to view, in some prominent place."
No bond requirement appears in HRS Chapter 445 Part V or on the county licensing pages — Hawaii is unusual in that respect. The penalties are not mild, though: operating without a license carries a fine of not less than $5,000 nor more than $25,000 (§ 445-135), and a licensed pawnbroker who fails to comply with the part shall be fined not more than $2,500 for each violation and shall forfeit the license (§ 445-136).
Honolulu issues through the Department of Customer Services; Hawaii County through the Finance Department's Vehicle Registration and Licensing office, which requires a notarized business and occupation application and a State of Hawaii GE Tax number. Selling firearms requires a separate county permit.
| Hawaii pawn finance charge — HRS Chapter 445 | PawnSmarts |
|---|---|
| Maximum 20% per month (§ 445-134.13) | Applied automatically |
| Charge is earned at origination and not subject to refund (§ 445-134.12(a)) | No rebate logic |
| Maximum maturity: one month (§ 445-134.13) | Enforced |
| Extensions: two maximum, each priced as a new transaction (§ 445-134.12(b)) | Counter enforced |
| Holding period accrual: 1/30th of the monthly charge per day (§ 445-134.12(c)) | Calculated daily |
| No insurance, storage or handling charge of any kind (§ 445-134.13) | Fee schedule locked |
| Expressly exempt from HRS Chapter 478 usury limits (§ 445-134.12(d)) | — |
This one catches multi-state software out, because the cap is not on principal. HRS § 445-134.13(a)(11) prohibits a pawnbroker from allowing a customer's pawn account to exceed $10,000, and defines pawn account as "the total accumulation of unpaid pawn finance charges for any single customer." That requires a running, cross-loan, per-customer total of accrued-but-unpaid finance charges, checked at origination.
Hawaii requires more identity capture at the counter than almost anywhere. HRS § 445-134.13(a) bars accepting a pledge or buying merchandise from a person unable to supply verification by photo identification card, state ID, driver's license or federal government-issued ID — "provided that in addition to such verification, the pawnbroker shall take the person's thumbprint, and retain the thumbprint on file."
Then HRS § 486M-2(a) requires, immediately upon receipt of any article, on a form authorized by the chief of police in each county: the dealer's name and address; the customer's name, residence address, date of birth and age; the date and time received; the customer's signature; the driver's license or government photo ID number; a photograph of the person; a complete and accurate description of the article including all markings, names, initials, inscriptions and unique identifying markings; a reasonable estimate of the fineness and weights of any precious metals or gems; the price paid; and a signed copy of the pawn transaction agreement.
The 30-day redemption holding period under Chapter 445 is not the same thing as the retention rule in Chapter 486M, and neither substitutes for the other. HRS § 486M-4(a) bars altering, melting, defacing, breaking apart, disposing of or changing the character of precious or semiprecious metals and gems for fifteen calendar days after purchase or possession, whichever comes later — and adds a requirement that exists almost nowhere else:
Automated recycling kiosks for cell phones run on a separate 30-day retention with a five-business-day return to law enforcement on request (§ 486M-4(b)).
HRS § 486M-2(b) provides that completed forms are "surrendered, mailed, or electronically inputted and transmitted via modem or by facsimile transmittal to the chief of police." Submission is triggered on request of the chief, and the method and cadence are set by each county on the county-authorized form — there is no fixed statewide daily or 48-hour deadline, which surprises operators coming from mainland states.
The chief of police, or an authorized representative, may inspect records and any described articles believed to be stolen goods immediately during business hours (§ 486M-5). And HRS § 486M-7 makes it a misdemeanor to record information under § 486M-2 that the person knows or has reason to know is false — with a permanent ban from the business on a second conviction. Data integrity is not a soft requirement in Hawaii.
HRS § 445-134.17 is one sentence and both halves matter: "A copy of all pawn transactions shall be kept on the pawnshop premises and open to inspection by the proper authorities for a period of one year after the maturity date." Note that the clock runs from the maturity date — not origination, not redemption — and that a cloud-only archive does not satisfy the text.
HRS § 445-134.13(a) is a checklist, and the software enforces it. No pledge or purchase from anyone under 18 — HRS § 486M-3 repeats the bar for any dealer. No acceptance of a waiver of the customer's rights. No failure to exercise reasonable care to protect pledged goods. No charge for insurance, storage or handling. No maturity beyond one month. And — distinctively — no accepting vehicles, vessels or negotiable instruments as pledged goods. In an island state, "vessels" is a live category, and PawnSmarts blocks it rather than letting a well-meaning clerk write the ticket.
Hawaii has no express statutory police hold-order procedure. The nearest provisions are the § 486M-5 inspection power, the § 445-134.15 exclusion of stolen or encumbered goods from forfeiture, and the 15-day no-alteration window.
Firearms are not on the prohibited-collateral list in § 445-134.13(a)(12), which names only vehicles, vessels and negotiable instruments. But Hawaii's firearms law is among the strictest in the country and it applies with no pawn carve-out: HRS § 134-2 requires a county permit to acquire a firearm, with no permit issued earlier than 14 calendar days after application and a separate permit for each handgun transaction; HRS § 134-3 requires registration within five days of acquisition; and HRS § 134-4(b) restricts possessing a firearm owned by another without a permit. Selling firearms requires a separate county permit, and the Honolulu Police Department gives dealers 48 hours to deliver transfer documentation.
Hawaii has a large active-duty population, so this matters more here than in most states. The federal Military Lending Act caps the Military APR at 36% for covered borrowers — well below Hawaii's 20% monthly ceiling — and requires verification of covered-borrower status through the DoD's MLA database. PawnSmarts flags covered borrowers at intake and holds the loan inside the federal cap.
The 20% cap, the one-month maturity, the two-extension limit, the $10,000 pawn account cap and the prohibited-collateral rules are already built in.
The chapter 486M record captures photograph, thumbprint and full description, and exports on your county's form — including Honolulu's mandatory free online submission.
On Professional, pledgors get three reminders before maturity and can pay from home — fewer forfeitures, more redemptions.
We migrate your data for you for a one-time $395, and PawnSmarts works offline and auto-syncs so you're never down.
Twenty percent per month. HRS section 445-134.13(a) prohibits charging or receiving any pawn finance charge exceeding 20% a month, and separately prohibits any charge for insurance, storage or handling. The charge is deemed earned at the time the agreement is made and is not subject to refund, so there is no early-redemption rebate. Hawaii pawn finance charges are expressly exempt from the general usury limits in HRS chapter 478.
A Hawaii pawn may not have a maturity date more than one month after the agreement is signed. After maturity a holding period of not less than thirty days runs, during which the customer may redeem by paying the agreement amount plus one-thirtieth of the monthly finance charge for each day following the maturity date. The maturity date may be extended a maximum of two times, and each extension is priced as a new transaction.
HRS section 445-134.13(a)(11) prohibits a pawnbroker from allowing a customer's pawn account to exceed $10,000, and defines pawn account as the total accumulation of unpaid pawn finance charges for any single customer. Because the cap is on accrued unpaid finance charges rather than principal, it requires a running per-customer total across every open loan, checked before a new pawn is written.
Both. HRS section 445-134.13(a) requires photo identification and, in addition, that the pawnbroker take the person's thumbprint and retain it on file. HRS section 486M-2(a) separately requires a photograph of the person from whom the article was received, along with their signature, date of birth, age, and the date and time of the transaction. A dealer who first obtained a pawnbroker or secondhand license on or before January 1, 2002 and has operated continuously is exempt from the photograph requirement only.
Not right away. HRS section 486M-4(a) requires precious and semiprecious metals and gems to be retained in the county where they were obtained for fifteen calendar days after purchase or possession, whichever comes later, and bars altering, melting, defacing, breaking apart or disposing of them during that period. Inter-island transfer of newly acquired inventory has to wait out the window.
Pawn shop software for Hawaii generally ranges from about $89 per month to $350 or more per month, depending on the vendor and whether support is bundled. PawnSmarts is $89/month for Essential or $129/month for Professional, month to month, no contract, no setup fee, or $2,995 as a one-time purchase, and it can be free with integrated card processing. Every plan ships with the 20% monthly cap, the two-extension limit, the $10,000 pawn account cap, thumbprint and photograph capture, and your county's chapter 486M form.
Open the live demo and click around. If it looks right, sign up and we'll move your data for $395.
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