Gold prices skyrocket: More and more people are pledging their jewelry

The price of gold in Norwegian krone reached new highs during the year. Among other things, the strengthening dollar caused the price of gold to rise from around NOK 570 at the beginning of the year to NOK 715 at the beginning of December.

In five years, the price of gold doubled. Lånekontoret, Norway’s only pawn shop, is seeing a growing interest from Norwegian households in pawning their gold goods.

There has been an increase in the loan portfolio during the year, about 85 percent of which are pledges of gold items, they wrote in a press release.

You could borrow more today

The price of gold is controlled by a number of different factors. Of course, the prices of raw materials themselves have a significant impact, but exchange rates, economic cycles and uncertainty in other markets also play a role. Global turmoil also tends to push the price of gold higher. This means that you can borrow more of your gold today than you could, say, three years ago.

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– A safer alternative to consumer loans is to borrow from yourself by pledging your valuables with Lånekontoret, says Helle Beseth Markusen, General Manager at Lånekontoret in the press release.

– She adds: – As the price of gold rises, it is possible to obtain an increasingly large loan amount on your gold items.

A mortgage can do several things

However, used items of value such as watches, antiques, silver items, designer coats and bags could be mortgaged, but gold was the most popular item to mortgage.

If you are unable or unwilling to redeem the mortgage, it is sold at auction, and any profit goes back to the borrower.

Lånekontoret is the only pawnshop in Norway and has a long history. It was founded in 1888 by the municipality of Oslo to help the poor and prevent usurious loans. Today, Lånekontoret is part of a foundation-owned company that provides loans to anyone who has valuables of lasting value.