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The UK's first online pawnbroker Borro.com is apparently going great guns. It launched in August and already boasts that it has provided loans of between £100 and £13,500 to people in every region of the UK.
The service is owned by one of the oldest pawnbroker chains Suttons and Robertsons. People looking for a loan can borrow 40% of the value of an item, which might be jewellery, fine wine, musical instruments or even a car.
You apply for a loan in exchange for handing over your item, then send the goods to Borro.com by Royal Mail special delivery - a collection service is used for big items. Borro.com says it can turn a loan application around in 48 hours.
And all this for an interest rate of between 4% and 6% a month over a maximum six-month term, which is the equivalent of an 84% APR.
Pawnbrokers have been growing in popularity for some time, and aren't the most expensive form of short-term borrowing - payday loans only lend over a one-month term but typically charge an APR equivalent to well over 1,000%. An agreed overdraft is certainly much cheaper - for example Barclays charges up to 1.39% a month for an overdraft - but Borro.com is not targeting people who can easily ask the bank to help them out of a tight spot.
Online pawnbrokers can also offer something the traditional high street version cannot: secrecy. Since pawn still carries a great deal of stigma the fact that transactions are carried out online may make pawning attractive to a far wider group of clients. But with rates this high doesn't the appeal end there?
Is there a place for this form of short-term borrowing? Or is Borro.com taking advantage of people in need of a helping hand?
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