"I got a loan on a GPS and my Step-Dad's tools. Because we needed some money and got behind on some bills," says Simmons.

At K & K Loans, you can sell or trade items, or take out loans . K & K's owner describes how a loan there works:

"The person would come in with their merchandise, say a rifle. They basically have thirty days. It's a thirty day loan period and we lend them a certain amount of money. It's 20 percent interest," says Jon Green, owner of K & K Loans.

Green says if you pawned a ring for $100, you could pick it up for $120 within thirty days. But what happens if you can't afford to buy the item back with interest within 30 days? Do you lose it?

"If they can't pick it up, they can just pay the interest, which renews it for 30 days again, so they don't have to worry about coming up with a whole lot," says Green.

Green says there's no credit checks, and very little paperwork involved in getting a loan. He says the loans help some people get by.

"Our customers tell us if it wasn't for us I don't know what they would do as a source of money to pay bills at times. Everyone gets in jams," says Green.

Even though the interest may seem high, customers agree that it's a quick way to get cash in a pinch.

"If you need money for a few days and you know you can get your money back for the item you pawned, then that's the ideal way to go," says Richard Collins, a Buckhannon resident browsing the pawn shop Tuesday morning.

"Especially with the economy the way it is, a pawn shop is a great way to go and get a loan," says Simmons. Green says he co-owns another pawn shop in Clarksburg called C & J Trades. He says both locations offer loans, and buy and sell all kinds of items from computers to jewelery to tools.