Luxurious life

"The Indian gold may be a little weak, because it is so intense yellow," says Pamela Baffour-Djan, metallic looking bracelets custody, "but that is because it is at least 22 carats," nearly pure .

She disappears into a safe storage and returns with a jaw-dropping line of high-end loot, all left Borro loan guarantee, pawnshops online. Sort Cartier diamond and pearl necklace, apparently worth € 50,000. It is followed by a solid gold Rolex watch with a face that shines like a huge clockwork currency. 1950 Fender guitar comes next, then a few diamonds thick ring around so much it looks like a miniature pool sapphire has an oligarch. Once symbols of success of their owners, these luxury items in the vault of Borro, the depths of the London Chancery Lane, represent a new type of deposit loan is far from being the poignant lines of wedding rings found in simple pawnbrokers as a traditional year-old Ferrari a used car.

The company pion exchange. Pawnshops were once considered the last resort of the poor, but it has become more socially acceptable for everyone, including the rich, borrowing against the personal valuables.

"Small businesses represent 65 percent of our business, but in the end, we the people ... businessman over 200 employees, "said Paul Aitken, CEO of Borro.

"These are often people who have bought assets in the event was good and now they want to return cash without delay."

The increasing use of pawnbrokers by the rich is not a British phenomenon. Pawngo U.S. online broker, founded in 2011, also found that entrepreneurs are increasingly relying on services to increase loans quickly without too many questions. Offering what he calls a "white glove, five-star service," CEO Todd Pawngo Ellis said he also wealthy clients who want the splendor of past good times guaranteed loans attract.

"We recently approved a loan of $ 125,000 for a client who had clearly once a great time to Louis Vuitton. The customer sent us a collection of eight to 10 impeccably Vuitton handbags, plus a large diamond and some beautiful replica watches. '

While some objects placed with this new style of pawnbroker, such as gold jewelry, may deliberately purchased as a store of value, much less obvious pitfalls of the good life also end up in the coffers, which suggests clients have often taken by surprise by a need for quick cash. Pawngo accept nothing that can not be shipped via FedEx. Unlike Borro, a large cache of art, most of the stored Christie. The company also owns a fleet of Ferraris and Porsches. To protect the identity of lenders, Borro is closed on the works they have obtained, although Aitken mentions the name of Warhol, Picasso, Henry Moore and Damien Hirst as artists whose work has spent time on the inventory Borro. The acceptability of property loans are good news for a change of angle of the pawnbroking business. But the idea that those who are committed to their business and personal finances afloat with the progress of their swiss replica watches and handbags seem precarious. Both Borro and Pawngo say though they have a reasonable, even prudent to offer a service at a time when bank loans can often be difficult to obtain.

"What I hear most often from clients is that business is good, but the money comes slowly," says Ellis Pawngo the. "In general, my clients are entrepreneurs who in the past had a lot of access to credit, banks are now more reluctant. Banks now have to go through many processes and are not really helping small businesses. "