Pawn Settings, Reminders and Police Export
Use this page to set your default pawn loan terms, understand the text reminders borrowers get, and download the police export.
Quick steps
To change your default loan terms:
- Click Pawn Loans in the main menu, then the ⋮ button and Settings (or Settings on the Pawn Desk).
- Under Default Loan Terms, set Term (days), Grace (days), Monthly rate, Reminder (days before) and Renewal fee ($).
- Click Save Settings. New loans use the new terms.
To download the police export:
- Click Pawn Loans in the main menu.
- Set Written from and To for the dates you need (leave them blank for the last 30 days), and click Clear first if you had a search or status picked.
- Click the ⋮ button and Export (Police). A spreadsheet file downloads.
Common questions
Does changing the rate change loans already written? No. Loans keep the term, grace and rate they were written with. Only the renewal fee is read at the moment a loan is renewed.
Why didn't a borrower get a reminder text? They need a phone number on file, they must not have opted out of texts, and text messaging has to be on for your store.
How do I switch pawn loans off? Untick Enable Pawn Loans and save. Your loans are kept.
More detail: turning pawn loans on and every setting
Turning Pawn Loans On
Pawn loans are switched on for your store by the Brother POS team. Once they are on:
- Pawn Loans appears in the main menu for admins and managers.
- The register gets a Pawn loans button.
- Settings → Edit Settings → Operations tab shows a Pawn Loans section with a Configure Pawn Loans → link.
Pawn Settings
Open Pawn Settings from Pawn Loans → ⋮ → Settings, the Settings button on the Pawn Desk, or Configure Pawn Loans → in store settings.
Enable Pawn Loans
The Enable Pawn Loans tick box "Shows the pawn desk in admin and the Pawn button in the POS register." Unticking it and saving hides both. Your loans are kept.
To turn it back on, go to Settings, find the Pawn Loans section and click Configure Pawn Loans →. That opens this page again, where you tick Enable Pawn Loans and save.
Default Loan Terms
"Used as defaults when writing a loan; a clerk can override per loan."
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Term (days) | 30 | Days from the loan date to maturity. |
| Grace (days) | 7 | Extra days after maturity before the items can be forfeited. |
| Monthly rate | 0.04 | The interest rate per month as a decimal (0.04 is 4% a month, 48% a year). |
| Reminder (days before) | 3 | How many days before maturity the borrower is texted. See Maturity reminders. |
| Renewal fee ($) | 0 | A flat fee added whenever a loan is renewed, on top of the interest. |
Click Save Settings. Changes apply to loans written from now on; loans already written keep the term, grace and rate they were written with. The renewal fee is the exception — it is read at the moment a loan is renewed, so a change applies to every renewal from then on.
The page reminds you: "Legal cap: 48% APR for loans ≤ $1,000, 35% above. A monthly rate of 0.04 = 48% APR. Rates over the cap are rejected when writing a loan." When a loan uses this default rate, it is lowered automatically to the legal maximum for that loan's amount — so the default 0.04 is used as-is on loans up to $1,000 and lowered on loans over $1,000. A rate typed on the loan itself is not lowered; if it's over the cap, the loan is refused. See The legal rate cap.
More detail: maturity reminder texts
Maturity Reminders
Once a day, Brother POS texts borrowers whose loans are coming due. A borrower gets a text when:
- the loan is still active,
- its maturity date is between today and Reminder (days before) days from now,
- the customer has a phone number and hasn't opted out of texts,
- and text messaging is switched on for your store.
The message reads like this:
Reminder: pawn loan PL-00012 matures Mar 31. Payoff $216.00. Reply to arrange payment or renewal.
Each loan is reminded once per term. Renewing a loan re-arms the reminder for its new due date.
Walk-in borrowers only get reminders if you typed their phone number when writing the loan. A reminder is what brings many borrowers back to renew instead of forfeiting.
More detail: the police export and its columns
Police Export
Pawn Loans → ⋮ → Export (Police) downloads a spreadsheet (CSV) of loans for police or acquisitions reporting.
It uses the same search, status and dates you set on the loan list, with one row per pledged item:
- Written from / To — the loan dates to include. Leave both blank for the last 30 days, up to today.
- Search and Status — if you've narrowed the list (for example a serial number, or Active only), the export is narrowed the same way. Click Clear first for every loan in the date range.
Download it at least monthly to keep a complete record.
| Column | |
|---|---|
| Loan # | |
| Date | The loan date. |
| Customer | The borrower's name. |
| DOB | Date of birth. |
| ID Type, ID Number | As recorded on the loan. |
| Item | The item description. |
| Category | The categories chosen for the item. |
| Condition | |
| Serial # | |
| Amount | The loan's principal. On a loan with several items, each row shows the full loan amount. |