The following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:
(1) APPROPRIATE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. The sheriff of each county in which the pawnbroker maintains an office, or the police chief of the municipality in which the pawnbroker maintains an office.
(2) ATTORNEY GENERAL. The Attorney General of the State of Alabama.
(3) PAWN TRANSACTION. Any loan on the security of pledged goods or any purchase of pledged goods on condition that the pledged goods are left with the pawnbroker and may be redeemed or repurchased by the seller for a fixed price within a fixed period of time. A “pawn transaction” does not include the pledge to, or the purchase by, a pawnbroker of real or personal property from a customer followed by the sale or the leasing of that property back to the customer in the same or a related transaction.
(4) PAWNBROKER. Any person engaged in the business of lending money on the security of pledged goods left in pawn, or in the business of purchasing tangible personal property to be left in pawn on the condition that it may be redeemed or repurchased by the seller for a fixed price within a fixed period of time. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the following are exempt from the definition of the term “pawnbroker” and from this chapter: any bank which is regulated by the State Banking Department of Alabama; the Comptroller of the Currency of the United States; the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or any other federal or state authority; and all affiliates thereof and any bank or savings and loan association whose deposits or accounts are eligible for insurance by the Bank Insurance Fund or the Savings Association Insurance Fund or other fund administered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation all affiliates thereof, any state or federally chartered credit union, and any finance company subject to licensing and regulation by the State Banking Department pursuant to Sections 5-19-1 to 5-19-19, inclusive.
(5) PERSON. An individual, partnership, corporation, joint venture, trust, association, or any legal entity.
(6) PLEDGED GOODS. Tangible personal property other than choses in action, securities, or printed evidences of indebtedness, which property is purchased by, deposited with, or otherwise actually delivered into the possession of, a pawnbroker in connection with a pawn transaction.
(7) SUPERVISOR. The Supervisor of the Bureau of Loans of the State Banking Department.