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• laws to pawnshops, treating the pawnbroker's transaction as a loan with <br /> property as collateral. The Minnesota statute is unclear, and it is likely that <br /> the Attorney General will be asking the legislature to clarify its intent. <br /> There is a separate statute, however, that prevents a pawnbroker from <br /> "lending money on a pledge at a rate of interest above that allowed by <br /> law"--which at least implies that the general usury statute applies to <br /> pawnbrokers. <br /> In the states that have applied the usury rates to pawnbrokers, the <br /> pawnshops have revamped their stores as "buy-sell" operations, in which <br /> the pawnbroker buys the used or new property from the customer at one <br /> price and resells it for another. This "revamping" can present problems to <br /> the local licensing authority when it attempts to enact licensing ordinances <br /> • for such "buy-sell" businesses. Defining such businesses is difficult without <br /> including every retail store in a city, and equal protection issues may be <br /> presented depending on the distinctions made. Pawnbrokers may also <br /> attempt to avoid a statutory maximum on "interest" by labeling what <br /> formerly was the interest charged on the pawn as "holding fees." <br /> Minnesota may not face these issues if the usury statute is deemed to not <br /> apply to pawnbrokers. <br /> 13 <br />