5 Ways to make money during the holidays

Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Thu, Nov 19 2009 | 4 Comments

With the holidays just around the corner, coming up with extra cash can be a bit difficult. Some people turn to things like payday loans to get extra money, but that isn’t such a great idea when finances are tight.

So, here are five ways that you CAN make a bit of money throughout the holidays.

1) This is probably the most important, get a job. It doesn’t have to be a permanent job, there are plenty of places that are hiring just for the holidays right now. Temporary work may be the best kind that you can find right now.

2) Clear out your closet and sell that junk! You can make some extra money by selling your stuff on eBay or through a garage sale. I was recently able to raise $300 by selling some of my more useless junk on eBay. I was able to sell an old iPod that was broken for $40…you would be surprised as to what some things can sell for.

3) Work extra hours if you are able to. Not everyone has the option to work overtime anymore, but if you do time and a half is not something to turn down. I’m sure that there are lots of people who have the ability to work overtime and are taking the time.

4) Spend less than you earn. This is more of a tip as to have more money during the holiday season. This would probably be a better tip for earlier in the year if you were trying to save up for the holidays. However, if simply don’t overexert yourself financially then you would have plenty of money left over for the holidays.

5) Eating in versus eating out. Again, this is just another tip to help you save money, but it is still important to remember how much money you can save if you eat in rather than eating out.

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Tags: holiday season, useless junk, extra money

Pawnbrokers aren’t struggling in this economy

Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Thu, Apr 30 2009 | 2 Comments

In the current economy families are having problems making ends meet. With unemployment on the rise, some families as well as individuals are trying to find new ways to help pay the bills every month. Pawnbrokers may be becoming a new kind of loan that people are turning to for short term financial assistance.

Pawnbrokers are businesses that offer short term financial assistance for consumers that usually may have bad credit and/or have been rejected for loans and credit cards. The person interested in getting a “loan” from the pawnbroker gives the broker something of value like a item of jewelry as collateral for a loan. The loan, which is typically shorter than 6 months, can have high interest rates. At 3-5% interest a month, pawnbroker loans are still far less than Payday loans, which in the U.S. can have interest rates in the 40-60% range.

In the United Kingdom, in the last 6 months of 2008, the pawnbroker company Albemarle and Bond’s profits increased from 24.9 million pounds to 26.5 million pounds, an increase of 19 percent. Another company, Cash Converters, also had a 120 percent increase in profits.

Some pawnbrokers, like H&T Group (who posted a 36.5% pre tax profit increase) will be increasing its number of stores from 106 to 250 over the next 5 years. From: Struggling Families turn to pawnbrokers

In the UK, the Consumer Credit Act of 1974 is the regulatory action taken against pawnbroker lending activity. The Act says that pawnbrokers have to give customers a detailed receipt as well as provide a final date of redemption and the interest rate the customer will be charged. The receipt is also needed to redeem the “item of value” from the pawnbroker.

In my opinion, while people may see the need for a short term loan, perhaps pawnbrokers shouldn’t be where they turn when they need money quickly. I think that when someone begins taking out short term loans then they fall down a “slippery slope” of debt. To me, a loan like this is like a high interest credit card where a person will go out and spend to the limit of the card then not be able to actually even make minimum balance payments on the card because they simply don’t have the money when the bill comes in.

What happens if a customer doesn’t have a source of income when the loan matures? The pawnbroker keeps their jewelry or valuable and that customer may have lost something very valuable to them because their situation didn’t change from the time they entered into the loan to the time the loan matured.

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Tags: short term loans, pawnbroker, high interest rates