Modern Guilt.

words. 

 "As banks zero in on more affluent customers who promise twice the revenue of their lower-income counterparts, close branches in poor areas and remain stingy with credit, pawnshops are revamping their image and stepping into the void to offer financial services.

“The way the banks have tightened up so much on making small loans and making equity loans, we’ve kind of evolved into, I like to call it the poor man’s bank,” said Robbie Whitten, chief executive of Money Mizer Pawn and Jewelry of Columbus, Ga.

...How fast the pawnshop industry is growing is unclear, but the industry association estimates there were 10,000 pawnshops in early 2012, the latest figures available, compared with about 6,400 in 2007. That expansion is, in part, fed by the rising number of Americans whose tarnished credit effectively bars them from the mainstream financial system. The growth has attracted the attention of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a recently formed regulator that has been scrutinizing pawnshops, along with other nonbank lenders like payday loan operators.

...As a result, pawnshops are offering services like check cashing, Western Union money transfers, bill payment and prepaid cards to customers who are “getting forgotten in the banking system,”..."

THE NEW YORK TIMES: DEAL B%X: Platinum Card and Text Alert, via Pawnshop