PawnSmarts comes pre-configured for Massachusetts — it holds your city's Division of Banks approved rate, tracks the four-month on-premises retention rule, runs the 10-day auction notice, and accounts for the surplus you owe the pledgor, all from $89/month.
Massachusetts pawnbrokers are governed by Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 140, sections 70 through 85. Licensing is municipal — the Police Commissioner in Boston, the License Commission in Lowell, city aldermen or council elsewhere, and selectmen in towns — but the interest rate is not. Under MGL c.140 § 78 the licensing authority sets the rate to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Banks, and the Division of Banks publishes the approved rate for every municipality. That means Massachusetts pawn shop software cannot ship with a single state rate — it has to hold your city's rate, in whatever shape that rate takes. PawnSmarts does, along with the four-month retention rule and the mandatory auction process — from Boston and Worcester to Springfield, Lowell, New Bedford, Quincy and Cambridge.
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.
This is the single most important fact about running a pawnshop in Massachusetts, and the thing most out-of-state software gets wrong. MGL c.140 § 72 says the licensing authority "may fix the rate of interest… and may fix different rates which may be received for different amounts of money lent." Section 78 then requires those regulations to be set to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Banks. The Division of Banks publishes the approved rates and states plainly that no pawnbroker may lawfully charge an interest rate that has not been approved by the Division.
The result is roughly three dozen municipalities with individually approved rates, in at least six different shapes:
| Massachusetts rate structure — approved municipal examples | PawnSmarts |
|---|---|
| Flat monthly percentage — 3% per month on all loans (Springfield, Lowell, Brockton, Salem) | Supported |
| Monthly percentage with a $25 floor — 3% per month on loans over $25 (Boston, Lawrence, Chelsea) | Supported |
| Weekly percentage — one-quarter of 1% per week on loans over $100 (Cambridge) | Supported |
| Amount-tiered — 3% per month from $25 to $100, 2% per month above $100 (Quincy) | Supported |
| Simple annual — 18% per annum (Chicopee, New Bedford, Taunton, Westfield, North Adams) | Supported |
| Rate plus a maximum accrual period — 3% per month, capped at four months (Worcester) | Supported |
Massachusetts also forbids one charge that is routine elsewhere: you may not charge for the pawn ticket. MGL c.140 § 80 requires the pawnbroker to deliver a signed memorandum containing the substance of the record-book entry, and states that "no charge shall be made or required by any pawnbroker for such entry, memorandum or note." No state statute authorizes a separate storage, care or safekeeping fee either — sections 72 and 78 speak only of a rate of interest.
MGL c.140 § 71 is where Massachusetts diverges hardest from the rest of the country. Articles deposited in pawn must be retained on the premises occupied by the pawnbroker for at least four months from the date of deposit (one month if perishable — and personal apparel is expressly not perishable). After that period:
A pawnbroker license is required in any city, and in any town of 10,000 or more inhabitants, for lending on deposits or pledges of personal property or purchasing property on condition of selling it back at a stipulated price (MGL c.140 § 76). The chapter applies only where the property is deposited with the lender — non-possessory title lending sits outside it.
The license fee is set by town meeting or city council but may not exceed $100, and at the time of receiving the license you file a $300 bond with two sureties conditioned on faithful performance (MGL c.140 § 77). These figures have never been inflation-adjusted and are among the lowest in the country.
A license does not protect the holder in any building other than the one designated on it, unless the licensing board consents to the move (MGL c.140 § 204).
MGL c.140 § 79 requires a book in which, at the time of making a loan, is legibly written in the English language: an account and description of the articles pawned including all distinguishing marks and numbers, the amount loaned, the time of pawning, the rate of interest, and the name and residence of the person pawning. It then adds a requirement most states do not have:
There is also a category-specific rule that is easy to miss. Under MGL c.140 § 83, when a pawnbroker buys or takes in pawn any tool of the kind used by contractors, builders or mechanics, the description and amount go in a book kept for that purpose, the person offering the tool must sign their name and address in it, and the pawnbroker must also write in the person's name and address. Signature plus a separate broker entry, in a separate book. PawnSmarts flags tool transactions and captures both.
Your books are open at all reasonable times to the mayor, board of police, superintendent and deputy superintendents, chief inspector, any state police officer, or anyone they authorize in writing (§ 81), and police may enter the premises and demand to see articles, books and inventories (§ 73).
The state floor is in § 79 — a correct record of transactions furnished once a week, or oftener if required, to the licensing authorities or their designee. There is no statewide pawn database and no state electronic reporting mandate. The real obligations are municipal, and they are considerably tighter than weekly:
Chapter 140 sections 70–85 set no state holding period for outright purchases and no state record retention period — both come from your municipality, under the junk and secondhand dealer authority in MGL c.140 § 54. Verified examples: Springfield bars sale of any purchased article for 30 days and requires it to remain unaltered, and requires photographs to be kept a minimum of three years. Webster runs 30 days for pawnbrokers on secondhand articles, 10 days for secondhand and junk dealers, and 7 days on old metals, gold and silver, reducible to 4 days by the Chief of Police with proper documentation of origin — and items may not be displayed for sale until the period expires unless clearly marked with the transaction number and release date.
If you lend to active-duty service members or their dependents, the federal Military Lending Act caps the Military APR at 36% and requires verification of covered-borrower status through the DoD's MLA database. That federal cap sits close to the Division of Banks' own stated ceiling for approved Massachusetts rates, so it binds more often here than in most states. PawnSmarts flags covered borrowers and keeps the loan within the federal cap.
Your municipality's Division of Banks approved rate, the four-month on-premises retention rule and the auction notice schedule are configured before you start.
Daily electronic files go out on your city's cutoff — NESPIN, your local police department, or the licensing authority — with the weekly statutory report always covered.
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.
There is no statewide rate. Under MGL chapter 140 section 72 the municipal licensing authority fixes the rate, and section 78 requires those regulations to be set to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Banks. The Division of Banks publishes the approved rate for each municipality and states that no pawnbroker may lawfully charge a rate it has not approved. Approved structures include flat monthly percentages, monthly rates with a $25 floor, a weekly rate in Cambridge, an amount-tiered rate in Quincy, simple annual rates of 18%, and Worcester's 3% per month capped at four months. The Division has declined to approve rates exceeding 36% APR on loan amounts above $25.
No. Massachusetts has no automatic forfeiture. Under MGL chapter 140 section 71 articles must be retained on the pawnbroker's premises for at least four months, and the remedy after that is sale by public auction for any article exceeding $25 in value, following written notice by registered mail sent at least 10 days before the sale. Any surplus after the debt and the expense of notice and sale must be paid to the pledgor on demand, and the statute applies notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary.
At the state level, a photograph. MGL chapter 140 section 79 requires the pawnbroker to record the name and residence of the person pawning and to photograph that person, keeping the photographs with the books as part of the records. The state statute does not require a government photo ID, ID number, date of birth or thumbprint, though municipalities frequently add ID capture requirements on top.
May 1. Under MGL chapter 140 section 202, licenses granted outside Boston continue in force until the following May first unless sooner revoked, regardless of when in the year they were issued. The license fee may not exceed $100, and a $300 bond with two sureties must be filed at the time the license is received.
The state floor in MGL chapter 140 section 79 is once a week, or more often if required, to the municipal licensing authority. There is no statewide pawn database and no state electronic reporting mandate. In practice municipalities impose tighter deadlines: Springfield requires transmission of the prior day's transactions to NESPIN before the first afternoon hour of each business day, and Webster requires electronic delivery to the police department by noon the following business day.
Pawn shop software for Massachusetts 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 is configured with your municipality's Division of Banks approved rate, the four-month retention rule and the auction and surplus process.
Open the live demo and click around. If it looks right, sign up and we'll move your data for $395.
Questions? [email protected] · 800-710-6184