Crédit Municipal is a financial institution with a social vocation : you go there with an item and you leave a few minutes later with its value in cash, while you have the option to return to redeem this item a little later.

The most unusual object that the manager of the Tours agency has seen is a certified piece of the Berlin Wall, but in general the deposits are more classic: “It is mainly jewellery, but we also lend for wine, cars, paintings, bronze, musical instruments“explains Valérie Flais.”For all things other than jewellery, we call in experts. Tours’ auctioneers evaluate the items. And since you remain the owner, you can take them back at any time. If, on the other hand, you do not get the object back after six months, you must pay earlier interestThis interest amounts to, for example, 60 euros every six months for an object worth 1,000 euros.

Last year, almost 1,700 people have used pawn loans in Tours, for an average amount of 969 euros. There is no typical profile: some come for 10 euros to help them finish the month. Others need tens of thousands of euros for a wedding, or not to dip into a profitable investment.
Nadia, she deposited in two installments 1,600 euros of gold jewelry: “the first time to go on vacation and the second time to help my mother pay off her rent arrears. I pay slowly, as fast as I can, and then I take out jewelry when I can“.

Jacqueline made a different choice: she recovered 2,500 euros by depositing jewelry two years ago. His finances would allow him to take them back, but she prefers to leave them in the safe of Crédit communal :”I know they are safer here than if it was my house“explains the seven-year-old.”On the other hand, I was very careful to pay my interest so that it was not put up for sale automatically.“. In fact, if you do not extend your original contract by six months, or if you do not buy back your object, it can be put up for auction after eight months. This has happened in 7% of cases.

Together with pawnbrokers, Crédit municipal also offers microloans, up to 8,000 euros : “These are small loans for people who do not have access to the banking world, for example for medical treatment or to return to work by facilitating the purchase of a vehicle” explains Valérie Flais.

Crédit Municipal is open to the public from Monday to Friday from 9:30 to 12:30 and from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m., place du president Coty, in Tours. The phone number is 02 47 05 58 58