Money-Magnets.Net

Pawnbrokers all over the world are seeing their business increase by as much as 20%. Some areas are getting 10 to 20 new clients a day and the clientele have changed to upper class people who are selling boats, cars, jewelry to make ends meet.

Visiting a pawn broker is often seen as a last resort because people feel that they can't get money elsewhere.  The image is negative of a seedy shop in the rough part of town. In recent years this image has been cleaned up with more pawn broker shops appearing on the high street such as Cash Converters. However one company in the UK has gone one step further and now offers an onlie pawn broker service at Borro. "People are struggling – with middle Britain their options are being diminished. The cost of living has gone up and access to mainstream credit is now very limited. As a result, we are attracting the middle class," said Paul Aitken from Borro.com (quote from The Independent Newspaper).

However while the lending side may be on the rise the retail side may be affected just the same as other retail outlets. Some pawn brokers are reporting that goods in the shops just aren't selling as quickly as they used to. The percentage of loans being repaid is also slipping to about 80% in some stores which means that the store has to sell the valuables. Some stores are now limiting what they will accept since some items are harder to sell on, but of course gold jewelry is always acceptable.

With the recession only just starting to bite the pawn brokers may still have more customers to come.