UK households sitting on thousands as price of home staple increases

UK households could be sitting on thousands as the price of scrap gold increases. The price of scrap gold is at a "record high", making now the time for people to check if they have any unused or broken jewellery lying around, an expert has warned on ITV today (Wednesday).

Claer Barrett, Financial Times columnist and host of the Money Clinic podcast took to ITV Lorraine on Wednesday December 6 to explain how people can check their gold and the steps to take to part with it. Host Lorraine kelly said: “This is interesting and it could affect a lot of people.

"You don’t think it’s going to but it might - but the price of gold is at a record high. What does that mean for us? Does it affect us in any way?” Ms Barrett said: “This has been a huge story this week, but how it translates into people’s bank accounts could be, maybe you have some broken gold jewellery hanging around in a drawer upstairs?

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“The price of scrap gold - I’ve been speaking to the London Gold Centre this week. The price of scrap gold has gone up by about 20 percent in a year. So if you’ve got something, you know, that’s broken or you’re not wearing, it could be worth getting it checked out.

“Obviously how much you’ll get for it will depend on the carat, the purity of that gold, and you can tell that from looking at hallmarks and things like that. But their advice is do shop around if you’re thinking about selling your gold. Look at places online that advertise prices and get at least two or three estimates before parting with it.

She added: “So there could also be a benefit for those of us with mortgages.” Gold prices surged to three percent in Monday's trade, reaching $2,135 per ounce. This surpassed the previous record of $2,072 in August 2020 but declined to $2,025 per troy ounce later the same day.