Why It’s Best To Make Sangla (Pawn) At Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshops

Have you ever tried pawning something, a jewelry, a gadget or anything valuable you own, for an emergency need? Which pawnshop did you choose to go to?

My first time in a sanglaan (pawnshop) was when I was in college. The only piece of jewelry I had was a necklace given to me by my lola. My lola was the one who sustained my college tuition, through her small house rental business, and by soliciting from my generous uncle and aunties. However, most of the time, budget was stiff. I had to pawn a jewelry and get it back after a couple of months.

Tuition fee is just one of the many reasons I’ve heard of why Filipinos go to pawnshops. Another is for medical emergencies. Sometimes, people pay their debts by pawning their jewelries or gadgets in exchange of cash. It makes sense because it’s more difficult to have debts from people or relatives than having a pawned item. You avoid conflicts with the persons you are indebted from on times when you really can’t pay. There will be no trust issues that will be tarnished because of unpaid debts. Sino ba naman ang taong gusto na hindi sya nababayaran, right? But when you pawn your possession, you will only answer to a pawnshop ticket. If you are not able to pay on time, you just need to pay the required interest per month and your property will still be there.

Just this month, my husband has been bitten by our dog. It was a category 2 dog bite as told by the doctors. When you get this kind of bite, you have to take 5 anti-rabies shots within the month. The 5-shots amounted to almost P15,000 and it isn’t covered by Philhealth. When I called Philhealth, they only cover category 1 dog bites and you have to be treated only by specific hospitals.

at the hospital, for his weekly shots

5 anti-rabies shots all in all

We had to take the treatment seriously because my husband has a family history of diabetes. Any kind of wound should be treated immediately, not to mention that this one he had was a dog bite. But we did not have that extra money and the money we had were all allocated. As I was waiting then for some payments from my website’s ads, I decided to just pawn a piece of jewelry. I thought that instead of ruining my budget, I can just pay for the pawn interest as I wait for my money I can pay to redeem the jewelry.

at Cebuana Lhuillier branch

Alden is currently Cebuana Lhuillier’s ambassador.

The problem that time was that I haven’t pawned for a long time and I didn’t know how pawnshops work these days and which pawnshop would give the highest appraisal for my jewelry. I had no choice but to go to different pawnshops and compare. It was an interesting experience which I wanted to share with you. I preferred not to mention the names of some pawnshops as respect to their businesses except for Cebuana Lhuillier where I was really satisfied with the service.

The first pawnshop I went to was a small one and the windows were a bit too exposed to the public. I was hesitant that time because there was no security guard around. I was also afraid because there was a male bystander ( I wasn’t sure though, it was just because wala naman syang ginagawa aside from standing against the wall ). I still took risk and asked the pawn broker how much they would take my jewelry. My jewelry had some tiny diamond stones (they call these rositas) but the pawnbrokers appraised it too low because they said they do not accept diamonds, and that they were only appraising the gold.

The second pawnshop I went to was quite better because the pawnshop was more secluded and there was a security guard nearby. My only comment was that the pawnbrokers were located almost too hidden from the pawner. I wasn’t able to see the face of the person I was talking to, and I couldn’t see what she was doing on my jewelry. In fairness though, the appraisal was much higher than the amount given on the first pawnshop I went to. Maybe it was because they were able to assess the value of the diamonds and the gold.

To make sure that I would be getting the best appraisal, I decided to go to one last pawnshop which was Cebuana Lhuillier. I knew I made the right decision not to accept the appraisal of the second pawnshop because I got a higher appraisal in Cebuana. I also felt secured pawning at the Cebuana pawnshop with a security guard on standby, the pawnshop was clean and well-maintained and the pawn brokers were not hidden. I was able to see how my jewelry was appraised, even how the diamond stone sizes were measured. Then he also wrote how the appraisal was computed. I knew how my jewelry was appraised and compared to its original price, I know I really got a good appraisal. I was so happy that day that I had the budget to pay for the full program of the anti-rabies treatment.

With this kind of system and the way how Cebuana Lhuillier deals with the pawners, I was assured that I was not deceived in any way and that my jewelry is in good hands.

Manong pawn broker was accommodating and kind enough to grant a selfie with me

Another good thing about pawning at Cebuana Lhuillier is that you get reward points using their 24k Rewards Program. If you are still not aware of it, Cebuana Lhuillier has a very wide range of business which includes not only pawnshops, but also insurance and processing of remittances. The 24k Rewards Program gives incentives for all these transactions you make.

Cebuana Lhuillier 24K Plus card

If you have a 24k Plus Rewards Card, you’ll be able to avail these following perks:

• Free jewelry cleaning
• Preferential/maximum appraisal rates when pawning
• Chance to increase prizes when winning in Cebuana’s promos
• Check status of transactions on the internet via 24K Online
• Discounts from partner establishments
• Use reward points to pay interest rates and service charges in pawning and remittance transactions
• Conversion of reward points to E-load
• Use of reward points to pay for bills from partner establishments

I’ve learned all these reward system , how to pawn and and the items accepted at Cebuana Lhuillier through their website.

I hope you learned something from this blog post. Being a parent requires careful management of budget but sometimes, we really need to find a way to keep that budget intact. There is no shame in pawning and there’s no people in this world who doesn’t need to borrow at a certain point in time.

The important things for us will be

1. to be able to find a pawnshop that will appraise our prized possession appropriately
2. will not kill us with high interests (it’s a good thing that pawnshops are bound by law not to impose steep interest)
3. and will take care of the pawned items so that when the time comes that we can  already redeem our items back, they are still in their original condition

If you have a similar experience about pawning, feel free to share and comment under this post. I’d love to read all about it. Happy pawning!