Even if you’re not a regular viewer, the chances are that you’ve caught the occasional episode of the long-running BBC 1 TV programme, Antiques Roadshow. Just in case you’ve been marooned on a desert island or living in a Trappist monastery since 1979, the format is simple: an expert team of antique valuers travel across the country to various towns, whereupon local people bring them antiques or curiosities of various kinds for a free valuation. Part of the show’s appeal is watching ordinary people gasp in delight upon discovering that some peculiar china teapot or coin collection or unusual item of furniture is worth a small (or large) fortune.
No one has to wait for Antiques Roadshow to visit, though. Most auction houses offer regular valuation days, allowing local people to do pretty much the same thing they’d do on the TV show: bring in items of interest for expert valuation. More often than not, the next step is to sell the item off at one of the auction house’s upcoming auctions.
There may be multiple reasons that people do this; most commonly, they have a pressing and sudden need to raise money to solve a personal cash flow problem of some kind. However, there’s another way of raising money against personal valuables that doesn’t necessarily entail having them sold at auction: the unbeatable secured asset loan from unique peer-to-peer lender Unbolted.
Unlike just about every other p2p lender and every traditional banking institution, Unbolted’s pool of investors don’t require any proof of personal creditworthiness. If you’ve got a borrowing need and you have a high-value personal possession (we call them “assets”), we’ll draw on the expertise of our valuation partners to determine its value on a secondary market. Because your asset is all the security we need for your loan (we use it as collateral for your borrowing), we never subject our prospective borrowers to the intrusion of a credit search. That means there’ll be no digital footprint of your application with credit rating companies.
We know there are plenty of people with good character who may not have had the opportunities needed to achieve an excellent credit rating - something that virtually all of our competitor peer-to-peer lender platforms require. We think such people deserve a chance to borrow, and if they have a high-value asset that they’re willing to place under our control as collateral for the loan, that chance is there for the taking.
The beauty of this is that you don’t have to permanently lose a cherished possession at auction, whether it’s a luxury handbag, a loved musical instrument, a revered classic car or some beautiful jewellery bequeathed by a loved one. If you’re able to repay the loan within six months, you get your possession back in the same pristine condition we received it in (we take great care to protect all the collateralised assets under our control in optimal and bespoke safe storage conditions). The auction option only happens for those who aren’t able to repay (although on occasion, we’ll extend the usual six-month term a little further if you think money will be coming your way).
Unbolted allows you to raise the cash you need and eventually re-unite with your cherished possessions. Don’t wait for Antiques Roadshow to visit. Unbolted’s always in town.
