Pawn shops--high interest loans for the credit challenged

The Telegraph reports on the credit crisis in England: Financial crisis: hard-up consumers are selling jewellery for cash

Pawnbrokers make loans with goods as collateral, and mostly items are redeemed.

"Pawnbrokers are distinct from high street buy-back shops such as Cash Converters, where a customer will sell an item with the option to buy it back 28 days later. If the customer doesn't repurchase the item, it goes into the shop to be sold (items are not usually limited to gold and jewellery; they can be electrical goods, for example).
Pawnbrokers are regulated alongside banks and other lenders by the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Borrowing through a pawnbroker may not be suitable for everyone and high interest rates mean it is not a long-term solution, as they themselves acknowledge, but sometimes it can resolve short-term cash flow problems. "