“They usually come with rings from the former”: how pawnshops live today

They don’t go to a pawnshop, just like to visit, empty-handed: it means that, following the precept from the cartoon about Prostokvashino, you need to sell something unnecessary. For the experiment, simple gold earrings with a broken lock from my ninth grade are quite suitable – they have been dead weight at the bottom of the box for many, many years, and since there is still no desire to fix them, then you can at least try to get money for them. True, it is no longer possible to establish their initial cost, but all the more interesting!

A bright and conspicuous sign “Lombard” invitingly lights up almost every metro station in every district – it’s just that those who don’t need to go there usually don’t notice these signs. But you won’t have to search long. At the entrance to the pawnshop there is a showcase with jewelry ready for sale. Mostly diamond rings – is it banal or not? Prices are not so modest, but certainly significantly lower than those in a jewelry store: depending on the size of the stone and the appearance of the ring, they are sold for 19, 25 or 35 thousand. There is also an expensive set in the window – if you believe the label, also with diamonds and with something like enamel: here they ask 75 thousand for earrings and 65 thousand for a ring. Well, a luxurious necklace with diamonds – according to the label, 30 grams of pure gold plus stones – is sold for 84,500 rubles. Something dreary and unpleasant emanates from this showcase – you understand that it was not from a good life that some person dragged a diamond necklace to the pawnshop … The collection point itself is outside the door.

Most of all, the establishment resembles a currency exchange office: a tiny room, a glass partition with a window and a pull-out tray for goods, money and documents. There is no line, no other customers, and you have to shout “Hello!” loudly and insistently a couple of times before the cashier appears from the back room and asks what you came with.

Briefly announce: so and so, brought gold earrings. I put them in a tray.

The lady on the other side of the window performs cunning manipulations – she examines tiny pebbles through a magnifying glass and a stamp on which the sample of gold is indicated, she holds it with some kind of tool – after which she throws the earrings on the scales and briefly delivers a verdict:

– Two five hundred.

I clarify: they say, why exactly so many, and what makes up the price?

We count by weight. One gram of gold of this quality is 1800 rubles, you have 1.53 grams here. Minus the weight of the stones, you get 1.4 grams of net weight.

– Why are the stones negative? I thought, on the contrary, with stones more expensive …

“Because stones are being dug out. Your earrings are very simple, and even broken, we will not put them on display. They will go to scrap. There are no stones there.

Obviously, asking questions and trying to figure it out is not accepted here – either agree to the proposed amount, or leave. And it seems that meticulousness is mistaken here for a desire to leave – at least the lady immediately puts the unfortunate earrings back into the tray, hinting that the conversation is over.

Is this offer profitable – the devil knows, but the fact remains: the earrings are really broken, long forgotten, and certainly no one will ever need them. I agree:

– Okay, let it be 2500.

– First time with us?

I really want to answer: “I hope that it will be the last one.” The place is uncomfortable, and at least I won’t come to buy broken earrings. I nod in the affirmative.

– Then give me your passport.

The lady scrupulously retypes the passport data, and then suddenly notices:

– In general, earrings are rarely brought, I was even surprised. Women of your age most often come with rings from the former – they say that they won’t wear it anyway, they don’t want to keep it, and this is how compensation for damage from unsuccessful relationships turns out. Rings are heavier, for a ring you can get 10 thousand, and sometimes more …

It seems that this is the answer: that’s where all those diamond rings that are displayed in the window today came from – all this is the legacy of someone’s unsuccessful love.

– … and it is unprofitable to hand over earrings. Here, sign here and here.

The unpleasant procedure takes no more than 5-7 minutes. After that, they give you money, a receipt and say goodbye. Well, now you are suddenly 2,500 rubles richer.

Let’s study the receipt carefully. It says that the loan was issued at 127.750% per annum. During the three-day grace period, the amount will increase by 0.35% – for example, if I suddenly decided to return for earrings the day after tomorrow, I would have to pay 2536 rubles to the cashier. Further – 0.7% per day.

Strictly speaking, what is a pawnshop? Another microfinance organization offering “quick money”. However, here the borrower has an absolutely real chance to get away with it – since we are talking about issuing money secured by material values, you can simply consciously abandon the idea of ​​​​redeeming them, and perceive the surrender to the pawnshop as a sale. Then you won’t have to pay wild interest.

As Andrei Barkhota, an expert in financial services, noted in an interview with an MK correspondent, pawnshops really act as a kind of competitor to modern microfinance organizations, but they are increasingly losing to them.

Lombard lending is an eternal form of lending. It always uses collateral, so the technology is passed down from century to century: the borrower provides the items – and receives a cash loan. Recall Raskolnikov, who went to the old money-lender. The peculiarity is that the size of the loan rarely exceeds 50% of the market value of the item. And, if the borrower does not return, the pawnshop sells the item for a huge profit. Therefore, he always wins. But the attractiveness of pawnshops for Russians is constantly declining, because the borrower understands that his thing really costs much more than he is offered. At the same time, pawnshops compete with MFIs that provide loans without any collateral. Microfinance organizations today are the last hope for those who need to receive a small amount, say, 10 thousand rubles, in a few minutes. They go there, not to pawnshops. Yes, loans give up to 365% per annum, but quickly. In a pawnshop, in order to get the same 10 thousand, you need to bring a diamond ring.

According to Andrei Barhota, everything depends on the subject of collateral: in order to hand over a valuable thing to a pawnshop, you need to have this valuable thing – which means that this option does not suit those who have reached the last limit. So the stereotype that a pawnshop is a marginal place for representatives of the social bottom is not relevant today. However, according to the expert, they will always be in demand: jewelry is a money surrogate, as long as it is customary to give gold in our country, pawnshops will exist.

However, gold rings and chains are not the only thing that can be dragged to a pawnshop: absolutely everything that has some kind of value can be bailed out. Pawnshops accept (not the fact that at a nice price) antiques, silverware, even mobile phones, tablets or TVs. Feedback from Muscovites who generously share their experience on thematic forums confirms this.

“I had a porcelain figurine at home. Cute, in the form of a duck. But I had to move to another city and I decided not to sell everything I needed. Went to a pawnshop. Accepted, appreciated, paid. And there is no extra money.”

“A set of silver spoons has been lying at home since the times of the USSR. Was in perfect condition. Only I, as a bachelor, do not need them. I hardly cook, and on holidays I go to coffee. I took it to a pawnshop for a fair price. Satisfied”.

Someone, however, really returns for their things – there are also enough stories about how a couple of weeks later a diamond ring or a grandfather clock safely waited for the borrower. Such stories begin with the same words: “I never thought that I would end up in a pawnshop, but I urgently needed money.”