(a) “Appropriate law enforcement agency” means the sheriff of each county in which the title pledge lender maintains an office, or the police chief of the municipality or law enforcement officers of the Department of Public Safety in which the title pledge lender maintains an office.

(b) “Attorney General” means the Attorney General of the State of Mississippi.

(c) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Banking and Consumer Finance of the State of Mississippi, or his designee, as the designated official for the purpose of enforcing this article.

(d) “Identification” means a government issued photographic identification.

(e) “Person” means an individual, partnership, corporation, joint venture, trust, association or other legal entity.

(f) “Pledged property” means any personal property certificate of title that is deposited with a title pledge lender in the course of the title pledge lender’s business and is the subject of a title pledge agreement.

(g) “Pledgor” means the person to whom the property is titled.

(h) “Title pledge agreement” means a thirty-day written agreement whereby a title pledge lender agrees to make a loan of money to a pledgor, and the pledgor agrees to give the title pledge lender a security interest in unencumbered titled personal property owned by the pledgor. The pledgor shall agree that the title pledge lender keep possession of the certificate of title. The pledgor shall have the exclusive right to redeem the certificate of title by repaying the loan of money in full and by complying with the title pledge agreement. When the certificate of title is redeemed, the title pledge lender shall release the security interest in the titled personal property and return the personal property certificate of title to the pledgor. The title pledge agreement shall provide that upon failure by the pledgor to redeem the certificate of title at the end of the original thirty-day agreement period, or at the end of any extension(s) thereof, the title pledge lender shall be allowed to take possession of the titled personal property. The title pledge agreement shall contain a power of attorney which authorizes the title pledge lender to transfer title to the pledged property from the pledgor to the title pledge lender upon failure to redeem the pledged property on or before the maturity date of the title pledge agreement, or any extension thereof. The title pledge lender shall take physical possession of the certificate of title for the entire length of the title pledge agreement, but shall not be required to take physical possession of the titled personal property at any time. A title pledge lender may only take unencumbered certificates of title for pledge, but may encumber the title as part of the title pledge transaction by perfecting its security interest in the titled property.

(i) “Title pledge lender” means any person engaged in the business of making title pledge agreements with pledgors; provided, however, that the following are exempt from the definition of “title pledge lender” and from the provisions of this article: any bank which is regulated by the Department of Banking and Consumer Finance, 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 of such bank, and additionally 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 or any successor thereto, and all affiliates of such banks and savings and loan associations, any state or federally chartered credit union and finance company subject to licensing and regulation by the Department of Banking and Consumer Finance.

(j) “Title pledge office” means the location at which, or premises in which, a title pledge lender regularly conducts business.

(k) “Title pledge service charge” means a charge for investigating the title, appraising the titled personal property to which the pledged property relates, documenting and closing the title pledge agreement transaction, making required reports to appropriate law enforcement officials, and for all of the services provided by the title pledge lender.

(l) “Title pledge transaction form” means the instrument on which a title pledge lender records title pledge agreements pursuant to this article.

(m) “Titled personal property” means any personal property the ownership of which is evidenced and delineated by a state-issued certificate of title.

(n) “Records” or “documents” means any item in hard copy or produced in a format of storage commonly described as electronic, imaged, magnetic, microphotographic or otherwise, and any reproduction so made shall have the same force and effect as the original thereof and be admitted in evidence equally with the original.