THE PAWN BROCKER Dear friends,
Most of us have faced sudden monetaryneeds. The limit of the needs is depending on status of the individual. Yesterday night I saw two films in TV, both hadmonetary needs as the main theme. These two films prompted me much to write onthe topic today. Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 16-5-2011. Reposted on 12-3-2021 after editing and updating. R. Gopala Krishnan. 1. Pawn brokers Pawn broker shops are more commonin Tamilnadu than in Kerala. In Kerala there are chit funds lending money basedon GOLD PLEDGING similar to pawn brokers. There were much more Pawn brokers than todayin 67’s. I had occasions to wait to open the shop many times till 1985’s totake the loans. I am correct in mentioning the year. They were the emergencymoney givers on pledging gold ornaments. Some of them used to take silveritems and a few used to take on pledge brass and copper items too. On those days rather thanto-day’s board Gold loans are available on all working days; most banks used to display- TODAY NOGOLD LOANS. The amount given and the formalities were much more thantoday’s. Surely the interest rates were low. 1a. Sir, we have humanity Once I found a number of copperitems in a pawn broker shop in Sivakasi in 1972. I had gone there to pledgesome jewels on account of expenses connected with my mother’s death. I hadapplied for GPF Loan and it did not get sanctioned in time. Hence the purposeof my jewel loan at that time. For my query they intimated- theygave a good loan to almost equal to the value of the vessels. The persons comein an emergency not having anything other than those vessels to pledge. Wecannot be merciless. Most of the south Indian pawnbrokers give the amount we require, if it is reasonable with the pledgingquantity. They are notstrict for the exact loan rate/gram. This is my experience. 2. Can you pledge and get some money It was 1976’s. I was in Tutucorinas junior engineer. One day evening my Divisional engineer called at myresidence. Rather than casual, there was some more feeling in his face. Aftertaking coffee, he handed over to me a gold chain weighing about 8-10sovereigns. He wanted urgently about Rs 2500-00. He wanted me to pledge it withsome pawn brokers and get the money. I told him he can give some ornamentsweighing about 3-4 sovereigns maximum. But he said nothing available other thanheavy weighing ones. Next day I got him the money required. Hereleased the pledging after three months. Being a top level officer, he felt a little bit delicacy and wanted meto get the money. For peoples like me, not exaggerating, always we depended onpawn brokers, co- operative and nationalised banks for the monetary needs.Normally the salary though defined as money to make a hand to mouth existence; in reality it was least sufficient. 3. Lending period Normally the lending period usedto be six months, but most pawn brokers used to keep the jewels till one year.If it could not be redeemed with in the period, they permitted re-pledging. Innutshell we have to sign a fresh receipt for pledging. We would receive nothingfrom them and interest had to pay if not paid already. 99% interest would beaccumulating. 4. Co- operative and nationalised banks and gold loans The co- operative banks werequick and more flexible than nationalised banks on those days in giving loans.They too used to display- Nofunds available for Jewel loan some times. Their interest ratewas/is slightly less. Nationalised bank used to givenloans with an appraiser valuation. Hence the goldsmith was a hero (abovemanager??) who comes for appraising. Most used to please the gold smith the possible manner sothat he clears the jewels with fair appraising value. Here too funds and appraiser timewere criteria. For the lower interest rates, most preferred the nationalisedbanks and co-operative banks. 5. Interest rate. Normally simple interest rate iscalculated by most. Whatever it was, it was very less than theCREDIT CARD INTEREST RATEOF TODAY!!! 6. Promissory note Private people used to give loans onpromissory notes. Some used to take the documents of their land and houses andgive loans. The theme of the second film Bhoomika was that. Even after payingall interest, the owners are not returned with documents on paying back thecapital on some pretext or other by many lenders. They were on intention ofgrabbing the lands. 7. Personal loans Personal loan is a loan givenwith the risk of the lender. Sometimes banks used to give personal loans, atthe risk of the managers and on trust of the buyer. I do not recollect the year,there was a paper news later, one of the Kerala minister phoned state bank ofTravancore for a loan of Rs300-00 or 500-00. He was not having money and no source. The Bankgot wondered on getting a call from a minister and that too for such a smallamount. But it was a genuine call. The incident is at least 15-20 years back Ithink. 8. No Gold loan for gold coins >From banks to post office,advertisements are there for selling gold coins and >best investment, NO LOAN ISGIVEN FOR COINS. We have to convert the coins to >ornaments, if we require moneyat any time and that gold is the source. 8. Today scenario. Today many institutions advertisethrough TVs and newspapers regarding different type of loans and specially ofgold loan. The situations are very flexible now a day to get loans. So manyadvertisements are there because there are many people still in needs though financial status in generalhas increased. 9 Pension loan Nationalised banks occasionallyannounce pension loans with oneor two sureties without pledging anything for pensioners. For male pensionerswife can be surety and female pensioners husband can be the surety. Really itis great help for old age pensioners. Most deposit the loan (loan ranging from 1-4 lakhs)in the bank and withdraw during most emergent period. If no emergency occurred,it remains as deposit. Interest and repayment in instalments from pension is recoveredwhich is not much felt nowby pensioners since pension amount isnot less. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1163974117.216064.1615544313009%40mail.yahoo.com.
