Pawning business picks up for holidays
JAKARTA (JP): Pawnshops in the capital are no longer dominated by visits from the poor, with many affluent figures, like businesspeople, celebrities and even children of former ministers, visiting the shops often to get loans by pawning their belongings.
Such a trend can be clearly seen at the Kebayoran Baru government pawnshop in South Jakarta, which has been widely dubbed as home to middle- to upper-class families.
According to state-owned Perum Pegadaian pawnshop spokesman for Jakarta, Aryadi, the Kebayoran Baru branch has been the biggest contributor to the company's profit.
"In previous times, our clients were mostly the poor. But now the trend has changed with many affluent people, especially businessmen, coming to our pawnshops to pawn their stuff," he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
He said many entrepreneurs probably preferred to visit pawnshops nowadays to get cash to run their as credit from banks was hard to get.
When contacted separately on Saturday, the manager of the Kebayoran Baru branch, Edhi Junaidi, said that its regular customers were mostly local wealthy people, such as businessmen, lawyers, bureaucrats and celebrities.
"They pawn their belongings to get cash to run their businesses or even to pay for their credit card," Edhi said, refusing to give any names.
He said 95 percent of pawned goods comprised gold jewelry.
The rest, he added, was mostly electronic goods, including television sets, and CD and VCD players.
"They (the rich) usually pawn their valuable jewelry. It's no wonder my office becomes the biggest contributor to the company's (Perum Pegadaian) income," he said.
Traditionally, people -- mostly those with a poor economic background -- put their goods at pawnshops as security for loans several days prior to "big days", such as the upcoming Christmas and Idul Fitri.
In Indonesia, the business is a monopoly of Perum Pegadaian.
For regular customers, the main attraction of pawnshops is the simple and speedy procedure.
Those attempting to get loans just have to show the goods to be pawned to an officer, who would spend a little time to appraise the estimated value of the items.
Pawnshop countrywide offer four different categories of loans, namely A (for loans between Rp 5,000 and Rp 45,000); B (from Rp 45,000 to Rp 150,000); C (Rp 150,000 to Rp 500,000); D (Rp 500,000 to Rp 20 million); and E (Rp 20 million and above).
For the A and B categories, the pawnshops imposes a 1.25 percent interest rate for every 15 days.
For C-category loans, the interest rate is 1.5 percent, and for loans in the D category, the interest rate is 1.7 percent for every 15 days.
If a pawned item is not reclaimed after 120 days, or four months, the pawnshop has the right to sell the item at open auction.
When asked about the number of people pawning their goods at the pawnshop over the past few days, Edhi said that the figures were relatively stable.
"But now, many people have begun reclaiming their pawned stuff (mostly jewelry) for the holidays," he said,
The situation is similar to that of the Salemba pawnshop, Central Jakarta.
People have started to flood the pawnshop to reclaim their belongings, which had been put up as security for loans, manager Firdaus Mutiara said.
Firdaus said that people were likely to use their belongings, mostly gold jewelry, for Christmas and Idul Fitri celebrations.
"Usually, they will come here again in the weeks following the festive seasons to pawn their goods again," he said, referring to his past experience.
The Pegadaian office in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, also relates the same story. Most of its customers have came to take out belongings for the coming celebrations.
A client, Nurhayati, said she came to reclaim her mixer, which she pawned two months ago.
"I plan to sell cakes and cookies for Christmas and Idul Fitri, so I have to get the mixer back since it is my only one," the mother of two said.
She said she often went to the pawnshop, whenever she needed cash immediately. (04)