"Everyone has a story to tell" in the pawn shops where business is booming.
Chris Brown, the 52-year-old director of Christopher Brown Jewellers, is a sixth generation pawnbroker, often called the world's second oldest profession. He has eight stores across the North of England, including Brown & Gold on Park Road, Toxteth, where he sells anything from Rolex watches to Xbox games and even "grandma's wedding ring".
People trade them in for cash, using the items, often of sentimental value, as collateral for quick loans, given in as little as 10 minutes. Often Chris' customers are low earners, hit hard by rising food and energy bills, but they include people hit with sudden car repair or vet bills, and high earners needing quicker and easier access to £10k than they would get at a bank, as well as people who need £20 to last until their next Universal Credit payment.
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Chris believes "everyone has a story to tell". He said: "Knowing their stories and background is the fascination of the industry, it really is. You feel like you're providing a service to elements of society banks don't want to touch, or they don't have the credit worthiness to borrow from a larger financial institution."
Chris sees pawnbroking as a "lifeline" for people whose alternatives come with 10 times a pawnbroker's interest rate, and sometimes with danger. One option is payday loans up to a maximum of around £1,000, with interest paid at an APR (Annual Percentage Rate) of around 1,250% - 0.8% per day, according to MoneySupermarket.com.
Doorstep lenders, who visit customers' homes to collect payments, charge a similar interest rate or higher. Like pawnbrokers and payday lenders, licensed doorstep lenders are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
But some - often called loan sharks - operate illegally without license from the FCA, meaning they don't keep paperwork, they might change rates and repayments, and they use violence, threats and intimidation to enforce demands.
One Wavertree woman was left with a bald patch, black eye and a lump on her face after three men attacked her in front of her crying kids. The loan shark had visited her home with two thugs to collect £1,200, up front, on the first repayment date of a six-month loan.
Because pawnbrokers are regulated, Brown & Gold keeps records of transactions and the customers who enter loan agreements. They do a valuation on items before offering a loan for half its second hand value. Customers then enter seven-month agreements, with interest added monthly until they pay off the loan or the clock runs out.
Roughly 80% redeem their goods, mostly within three months, Chris estimates, and that figure remains steady despite economic changes. He said: "They've often got a lot more value than their weight in gold.
"They've got personal meaning to a lot of people, so the emotional side of it is worth more than their value, and you know people are going to collect them back. You know they don't want to lose grandma's wedding ring, or something that's been given to them or handed down."
If they struggle to pay, Brown & Gold makes a payment plan with them. When goods aren't redeemed, the pawnbroker sells them, returning an surplus profit to the customer after the debt has been paid, as is legally required.
Chris compared it to a mortgage on a house because you have an asset to cover the loan, "except you're not repossessing a house where we'd put a family onto the street". He said: "Your pawnbroking customer is a repeat user. Many of them have used us hundreds of times. The last thing they want to do is lose their goods.
"They know how the system works, they look at when they might be getting income into their bank account, either Universal Credit or wages or the sale of a house, or whatever it happens to be. They manage their finances and we work with them to make sure that happens."
After a year and a half of static loan books, Brown & Gold has seen a 50% increase in lending since June, with the pace picking up in the last four months. That growth has been felt across the sector.
H&T Group, which has more than 250 stores across the UK, is the country's largest pawnbroker. Demand for pledge lending - where customers pawn goods - is at record levels, rising 27% to £85.1m in the six months to June 2022, according to accounts published on Companies House.
The chain reported a pre-tax profit of £6.7m in the six months to June 2022, an increase of £2m - or 43% on the previous year. Chris puts this growth down to the rise in diamond prices after Russia invaded Ukraine last February, and a rise in gold prices since November, meaning people can get more for their goods.
But prices are also rising at the fastest level in 40 years, energy bills have soared, and wages aren't keeping pace. At the start of February, roughly half of adults struggled to afford energy bills and worried about staying warm, while 60% used less fuel due to the rising cost of living, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
While some sell used clothes on Depop and second hand goods on Facebook Marketplace or Ebay, others borrow money to make ends meet. Chris said: "There are lots of different ways of borrowing money. Pawnbroking has a place within the scheme. It's a very definite service and a very valuable service for lots of people.
"It may not apply to 99% percent of the population, some might never even dream of going to a pawnbrokers to borrow money, but in actual fact, from a short-term lending perspective, it's probably one of the most cost effective ways you can borrow money in a very quick and easy fashion. Certainly for those who are often in most need, it is an absolute lifeline."
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