This is the new trend now. They want cash. And they will take it by any means. This is about people who have been hit by recession in such a way that they are not hesitating to sell their personal valuables and get money in returns.
The new heroes on the block are the pawn brokers. They give you money in turn for whatever valuable you pledge to them. Consumers who have been refused a loan from conventional loan organizations like the banks or the cash convertors, have been flocking to the local pawnbrokers shop. It is almost like travelling in history; we started out with this, and then came banks and then the cash convertors. Today we are travelling in reverse direction.
One of the other reasons for this growing popularity in this trend is because of the booming gold prices. Pawn brokers seem to be very happy with the current developments. Bristol based pawn broker Albemarle & Bond said that the profit margin was quite high year ending in 2008. It almost rose by 19 percent. This process is quite hassle free and is easy to do, and more than al this it is almost like an immediate solution to all the problems. Once you have pledged your valuable and the rate for it is fixed along with the rate of interest, and the redemption period is defined you can take money right away. Now, isn’t that easy!
But, what would happen if you aren’t able to pay the fixed amount when the redemption period is done? Well usually it can be extended, but most of the times the items are sold if they customers don’t pay back. This is not in the interest of the pawn broker, since they are usually looking out for repeat customers.
One of the other emerging trends is also pledging other personal accessories like mobiles and new watches. Rolex seems o be high on this since lot of people have pledged their Rolexes for money. If you think this could be something illegal then relax because, a pawn broker according to consumer’s act 1974 is placed alongside a bank and other money-lending organizations.
Under this act it is also mentioned that the broker should give the consumer a receipt with details like the expiry of the redemption period, his interest charges and other such details that will assure the customer that this is a legal systematic process.
