Pawnshops Prepare For School

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Pawnshops prepare for school

Vimolrat Singnikorn

Pawnshops are getting ready to assist parents as schools begin.

Suchart Chutipongsapisit, manager of a pawnshop in Pattaya, said that city pawn shops would be busy during to the current economic slump, which is making some parents suffer, leading them to bring gold and other properties to exchange for cash for their child’s tuition.

Local pawnshops are making sure they enough cash reserved to handle parents pawning their belongings to pay for their children’s school tuition.

“Usually there are usually about 120 customers per day, but during this month the number had increased to 180-200 customers per day so a daily budget of two million baht must be prepared. Mostly what customers bring to exchange are gold ornaments,” he said.

On other years, pawnshops in Pattaya will reserve about 20-30 million baht annually but for this year 40-45 million baht is needed to meet the demand.

Interest rates have been lowered since July 2008: for cash less than 4,000 baht, 0.75% interest is charged, between 4,001-30,000 baht 1% interest, and for 30,001-100,000 baht 1.25% interest.

If interest is paid every month, the owner still owns the property pawned. If interest is not paid for four months, 30 days will be given for them to pay the interest otherwise the property will be seized by the pawn shop.

Many parents bring gold to exchange for cash to be used for their child’s tuition as the price of gold is currently on the rise.

However, Jakkrakrit Tongsuk, a gold shop owner in Central Pattaya, said that there has been about 10-15% decrease in pawning gold and as the price of gold increases, fewer people are buying it as well.

Pattaya Mail

2009 05 30