An article in the Financial Times of 24th June pointed out that the sector draws relatively few ombudsman complaints compared to payday loan industry, one customer said pawning her ring is an important part of her household budgeting for the month, just paying pennies in interest. Another customer had funded a seaside trip fro his 3 kids in a towing caravan funded partly by pawning family jewellery. Pawnbroking is referred to as the “Cinderella of the consumer credit market”. The Pawnbroker is described as someone they can build a friendly personal relationship with and customers are made to feel like VIP’s and most welcome. According the the Ombudsman who deals with hundreds of thousands of complaints against Consumer Credit firms only 13 were upheld against pawnbrokers. Pay Day complaints were 10,329, or 38 per cent of all consumer credit complaints. Ray Perry, chief executive of the National Pawnbrokers Association, said 88 per cent of people redeem their items. Peter Kenyon, CEO of Ramsdens stated that regular customers see pawnbroking as a lifeline without fear of uncontrollable debt.