Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 70.djvu/1097

 70

STAT.]

PUBLIC LjAW 982-AUG. 6, 1956

in excess of $1,000, under a penalty of $100 for each such offense: Provided, That pawnbrokers may ask, demand, and receive a minimum charge in lieu of interest of 50 cents. (b) The borrower may pay all or any part of any loan made pursuant to this Act at any time before the date of maturity thereof, but any such payment may first be applied by the licensee to all interest unpaid up to the date of such payment. SEC. 10. (a) No person, except as authorized by this Act, shall directly or indirectly, by any device, subterfuge, or pretense whatsoever, ask, demand, charge, contract for, or receive, or participate, as agent, broker, procurer, intermediary, or volunteer, or in any other capacity, in asking, demanding, charging, contracting for, or receiving any interest, discount, fee, charge, or other consideration which in the aggregate is greater than the interest which is permitted by section 1178, 1179, or 1180 of such Act approved March 3, 1901, as amended, upon any loan or application for loan in the amount or of the value of $1,000, or less, whether or not such loan is made. (b) No person engaged in the business regulated by this Act shall pay, directly or indirectly, to any person, any money, service, or thing of value for the doing of any of the acts prohibited in the subsection (a) of this section: Provided, That this subsection shall apply only to acts done or performed with reference to loan transactions or applications for loans in sums of $1,000 or less, or in inducing or seeking to induce any person to borrow in sums of $1,000 or less. (c) No instrument evidencing a loan made within the District in violation of the provisions of this Act shall be valid or enforceable in the District by the lender or by any other holder thereof who acquired the same with actual knowledge that said loan was made in violation of the provisions of this Act or with knowledge of such facts that his action in taking such instrument amounted to bad faith. (d) Any loan made by any person not licensed under this Act for which there has been charged, contracted for, or received a greater rate of interest, discount, or consideration than the interest which is permitted by sections 1178, 1179, or 1180 of the Act approved March 3, 1901, as amended, and any loan made by a licensee under this Act for which there has been charged, contracted for, or received a greater rate of interest, discount, or consideration than licensees are permitted to charge, contract for, or receive under this Act is hereby declared to be against the public policy of the District. No such loan made outside the District shall be enforced in the District and every person in anywise participating therein in the District shall be subj set to the provisions of this Act, except that the provisions of this subsection shall not apply to a loan legally made in any State under and in accordance with the provisions of a duly enacted pawnbroker law. SEC. 11. (a) Every pawnbroker shall keep a book in which shall be fairly written, at the time of each loan, an accurate account and description of the goods, article, or thing pawned or pledged, the amount of money loaned thereon, the time of pledging the same, the rate of interest to be paid on such loan, and the name and residence of the person pawning or pledging the said goods, article, or thing, together with a particular description of such person, including complexion, color of eyes and hair, and his or her height and general appearances. (b) The said book shall at all reasonable times be open to the inspection of the Commissioners. I t shall be the d u t j of every pawnbroker, and of every person in his employ, to admit to his premises during business hours any member of the Metropolitan Police Force of the District of Columbia as aforesaid to examine any pledge or pawn book or other record on the premises, as well as the articles

69Z25 O - 57 - 70 ( V o l. 70)

11341

Payment of loan,

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