Cheshire set looking to borrow against bling
A new online service targeting clients who are too posh for pawnbrokers has been launched. Manchester-based Sparkle Money, which is owned by managing director Richard Basso, will arrange for loans of between £500 and £100,000 to be made within 48 hours secured on valuables such as jewellery, watches, antiques, art and even cars.
“We're aiming predominantly at people with short-term funding constraints who need money quickly but don't want to go through the hassle of using a bank,” Basso told Crain's. “It doesn't affect anyone's credit rating and it works out cheaper than an unauthorised overdraft or breaching your credit card limit.”
He will charge a rate of 4-5 per cent per month on any item secured, which he claimed was around half the rate charged by a pawnbroker.
“It is quite expensive, but it's only meant to be used for short-term funding. We think the typical length of a loan will be between one and three months, so if we're lending £2,000 a client would pay £240 for three months.”
Read the full article on Crain's Manchester Business website here »
