Authors: Sara Davies and Andrea Finney
Funded by: National Pawnbrokers Association
Published by: University of Bristol
Publication date: August 2020

This report details findings from a new online survey of 1,669 pawnbroking customers nationwide conducted in February and March 2020. The survey was undertaken before the full impact of COVID-19 was felt in the UK. The report also considers loan-level management information of 85,000 loans from some of the biggest pawnbroking companies in the UK using data up to and including December 2019.

Since the previous survey, conducted a decade ago, the landscape of credit regulation and the role of pawnbrokers in the market has changed significantly. A review of the pawnbroking industry in 2018 by the Financial Conduct Authority identified a number of key strengths in sector; but nonetheless raised concern about how fairly customers were treated when they did not redeem the pledge. The National Pawnbrokers Association (NPA) commissioned this research to gain insight into the views and experiences of their customers in light of these changes.

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Pawnbroking customers in 2020 (PDF, 454kB)