To think that these places are ruining lives

Pawn brokers have a long and not entirely dishonourable history as the money lenders of the poor who had no access to other funds. The others -Payday loans etc are beneath contempt.

My grandad used to tell me stories about when he was young and his mother pawned his only suit for a few shillings and he had left a pound note in the inside pocket. Needless to say when they finally got the suit back, the pound note was nowhere to be found !

My grandmother set up house with the aid of pawn shops when she was first married, by buying sheets etc that hadn't been redeemed, washing them and built up her linene cupboard.

But these loan companies and so forth are horrendous, I agree!

Bring back that obsolete term, 'usury', defined as 'The practice of lending money and charging the borrower interest, especially at an exorbitant or illegally high rate.' Would that it were illegal, as it should be.

My husband had his car broken into a few months back and he had literally just loaded the boot ready to go out on site (he is and Electrical Engineer). The police said that someone must have been watching him as there was too much of a coincidence. They told him to pop round all of the cash converters (and similar) in the surrounding area as some of his property might turn up there. I am furious to think that the police know that much of the property in these places is stolen and yet they do nothing about it.

These payday loan companies thrive on misery and being a small employer I have always told our young guys that if they are desperate to come to me first and if I can help I will. I would hate to see any of them getting sucked into debt by these loan sharks money lenders.

We always get angry when we see them advertising on the TV .£2,000% interest in the small print on the screen. They prey on the vulnerable.

They are a reality of life and many a folk rely on them when no were else to turn and it can indeed get ugly

I agree cathy there are people who have no choice but to use these shysters. They are not stupid, they are aware of the interest rates but can't get money from anywhere else. The Bank of England set the base interest rate so why can't they set a rate which is the maximum that can be charged on loans.

I imagine most of the people that use these same day loan companies are just desperate and have nowhere else to go. I think I read that some sort of check on their working practices is being carried out at the moment but my own view is that they should be got rid of because it's impossible to continuously monitor if they're abiding by the regulations.

What really sickens me is to see people like Nicholas Parsons, Kerry Katona and David Dickinson advertising these companies. It seems that some people will do almost anything to get a bit more cash even when they're relatively wealthy.

I think there should be more publicity and advice given to people about credit unions.

I don't think pawnbrokers are in the same category as the high interest loan companies. They allow people who don't have money immediately available to use something they own as security to borrow money.

I also don't think pawnbrokers have the same bad name as these payday loan companies,I read an article about a Pawn broker Company that had been operating for many many years and a great many of their customers are "paper rich" but "cash poor" and they pawn their expensive goods even down to a top of the range car to get funds to pay bills if they are low on funds,but the payday loans seem to gravitate towards the lower end of the spectrum and people get sucked in at alarmingly high interest rates and get into positions they can't control,these companies should imo be banned asap.

gillybob I wonder if the police do "spot checks" on cash converters. If people had their electrical and other items security marked, any shop found with these markings would presumably be in trouble.

I can assure you that the Police do spot checks.

I think that the difference is that if you don't redeem a pawned item you don't have debt collectors sending Heavies round to your house - you just lose the item. I was always fascinated reading The Diary of a Provincial Lady where, in spite of employing a maid, a cook, a gardener and a nurse/governess, the heroine was constantly having to pawn her great aunt's diamond ring to pay the bills and then frantically redeeming it when required for a social occasion. Very different from the way I was brought up, where we had no money but at least we weren't in debt.

What is needed is an expansion of credit unions which are community based and run by local people for local people. Payday loans companies are simply loan sharks masquerading as businesses.

Spot checks are not good enough though petra . The police pretty much told us to go around the various "shops" ourselves to see if we recognised anything. Surely there should be checks carried out when the item is taken in and perhaps photographs taken at the time which may make thieves think twice.

I believe that the very fact that one of these companies flags up on your credit file can mean that you will be black marked by the usual "decent" loan companies and banks, which is a vicious circle.

It's the same old story - the less people have the more they have to pay for everything.

I thought I had heard some political party was planning to regulate them because of their extortionate interest charges.

I have even seen these companies advertising such loans so you can decorate your house without waiting for payday. I can understand needing to get money urgently in Crisis but never for something that you cold save up for.
As it is, these loans will only be needed by those with already poor credit ratings. who do not have ordinary credit cards.

I cannot understand how they got approval in the first place.