PawnSmarts comes pre-configured for New Hampshire's RSA 398 framework and town-by-town rules — LEADS Online export, ID scan, item photos, and configurable hold periods and retention, all in one fast system.
New Hampshire pawn shop software is a point-of-sale and loan-management system configured for the RSA 398 framework and the town-by-town licensing, hold-period, and reporting rules that govern New Hampshire pawnbrokers, including the seven-year record retention required by RSA 398:13. It applies each municipality's required fields, hold periods, and report formats so a pawnbroker can write a compliant ticket without tracking the rules by hand.
New Hampshire is one of the most decentralized pawn states in the country — there is no statewide license and no single reporting system. Rules come from your town, city, or county. PawnSmarts is built to handle that reality: you set your fields, holds, and exports once, and the software does the rest at the speed of a 30-second pawn.
Pawnbrokers are governed by Title XXXVI, Chapter 398 of the New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated (RSA). The framework is deliberately local: under RSA 398:5, the governing body of any town, city, or unincorporated place may license suitable persons to carry on the business of pawnbrokers for one-year terms, and may revoke a license in its discretion after a hearing on charges preferred.
That means there is no single statewide licensing authority and no uniform reporting system. Fees, recordkeeping formats, hold periods, and inspection schedules are all set at the municipal level. Many towns also fold in RSA 322, which governs secondhand dealers, regulating pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers under one unified ordinance.
Each municipality issues its own pawnbroker license with its own fees, renewal dates, and conditions. A few real examples:
Some towns also reach down to your staff. Laconia requires a State of New Hampshire criminal history check for each employee working under the pawnbroker license. Hampton requires a list of all employees with names and addresses, and police notification of new hires before their start date. PawnSmarts gives every employee a profile with PIN-locked staff roles (Professional), so the record of who did what is always there when an inspector asks.
The licensing structure: any town, city, or unincorporated place may license pawnbrokers for one-year terms and revoke after a hearing (RSA 398:5). "Pawnbroker" covers any business lending money secured by possession of property with a right to sell if unredeemed — including sale-with-repurchase arrangements.
Many towns regulate pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers together, citing both RSA 322 and RSA 398. "Secondhand dealer" covers retail buying, selling, buy-back, exchange, or bartering of secondhand jewelry, watches, precious metals, instruments, cameras, electronics, tools, computers, firearms, and auto accessories. Some ordinances exclude antique dealers, estate dissolutions, wholesalers, flea markets, in-home purchases, and mail order.
New Hampshire restricts what a pawnbroker may legally take in pawn. PawnSmarts lets you flag and block these transaction types at intake so a mistake never reaches the drawer.
The practical effect: New Hampshire pawnbrokers cannot take real estate or promissory notes as collateral, and vehicle-title lending is capped at four. With PawnSmarts you can add a custom counter or field to track vehicle titles so you stay under the limit without doing the math in your head.
Laconia's ordinance is a good model for the detail New Hampshire towns expect, and PawnSmarts produces every piece of it.
PawnSmarts captures the ID scan and item photos at intake, stores them with the transaction, and can export the whole package — record plus images — in the format your agency accepts. Configurable hold periods and a seven-year retention setting keep everything where Laconia wants it.
Set your hold to 21 days for outright purchases in Hudson and PawnSmarts will flag any item that isn't yet eligible to sell — no calendar math, no accidental early sales.
Because licensing and reporting are local, requirements differ across the state. A few to know:
New Hampshire has no statewide electronic reporting mandate, so practice varies by town. Some accept email or paper; others, like Laconia, require electronic filing of transaction records with photographs. Many shops report through LEADS Online. PawnSmarts exports clean transaction data and captured images so you can submit to your local agency in the format it accepts — see our police reporting guide for how that works in practice.
The federal Military Lending Act applies to pawn transactions with covered borrowers (active-duty service members and their dependents). The APR, including pawn service charges, may not exceed 36%. Covered status is verified through the free DMDC (Defense Manpower Data Center) portal at or before the transaction, with proof retained. PawnSmarts gives you a place to attach the DMDC confirmation and screenshot to the pledgor's record, and built-in OFAC compliance checks run alongside it so high-risk transactions get caught at intake.
48 states pre-configured, plus configurable holds and retention for your town. ID scan auto-fills the pledgor; item photos attach to the record; LEADS Online export and OFAC checks are built in.
Write a new pawn in about 30 seconds. PawnSmarts works offline and auto-syncs when you reconnect — perfect for shops in towns with spotty internet. Runs on Windows, Mac, iPad, Android, or any browser.
On the Professional plan, pledgors get three automatic SMS and email reminders before a loan is due, with secure payment links so they can pay from home. Loans update instantly.
Month to month, no contract. We migrate your data for you for a one-time $395 and have you live in under 24 hours. No setup fee, no exit fee.
PawnSmarts is $89/month for the Essential plan or $129/month for Professional — month to month, no contract, no setup fee. Prefer to own it outright? Professional is also available as a one-time purchase for $2,995. Most New Hampshire shops save thousands versus the $200–$350/month web-based vendors. Compare for yourself against Bravo, HiTech, PawnMaster, and Pawndex, or see our full comparison.
"New Hampshire is all local rules, and Laconia is strict — 24-hour electronic filing with photos and ID copies. PawnSmarts captures the scan and item photos at intake and exports the whole package, so we hit the deadline without scrambling. The reminders pay for themselves; fewer pledgors let loans lapse."
— Early user, pawn shop owner, Laconia, New HampshireWant the bigger picture first? Read what pawn shop software does, browse the states we serve, or open the live demo and try a New Hampshire pawn yourself.
No. Under RSA 398:5, pawnbroker licensing in New Hampshire is entirely local — your town, city, or unincorporated place issues the license, sets the fee, and may revoke it after a hearing. There is no single statewide licensing authority or uniform application form.
New Hampshire law bars pawnbrokers from accepting pledges from minors or visibly intoxicated persons, more than four motor vehicle titles, any deed or title to real property (including mobile homes and condominiums), any mortgage or promissory note, and any article of clothing removed from the customer on the premises.
RSA 398:13 requires a minimum seven-year record retention period. Records and the pledged property must be kept on the licensed premises and be open to police inspection at any time. RSA 398:14 makes willful obstruction of that inspection a misdemeanor.
Pawn shop software generally runs from about $89 to $350 per month depending on features and number of stations. PawnSmarts is $89/month for Essential or $129/month for Professional — month to month, no contract and no setup fee — or $2,995 as a one-time purchase, and it can be free with integrated card processing.
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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