Personal asset lender Assetline celebrates its first anniversary next month, having written about A$3 million of loans since its launch.The company has carved out a small niche all its own, lending against luxury goods, including jewellery, cars, boats, art and antiques.Its core product, the personal asset loan, offers short-term finance on a non-recourse basis. Loan-to-valuation ratios are between 40 per cent and 70 per cent and the standard term is three months (longer terms are negotiable).Assetline charges interest ranging from two per cent to seven per cent a month. The rate is usually determined by the size of the asset; low-value assets are more of a fiddle, so the rate is higher.This type of business has an exemption from the National Consumer Credit Protection Act, there are no credit checks on applicants and there is no credit reporting in the event of a default.Assetline has been described as a high-end pawnbroker but it is not a description the owners are fond of.One of the company's directors, Nick Raphaely, said he and co-founder Steven Beinart identified a gap in the market that emerged after the financial crisis.Raphaely said: "Banks became very conservative after the GFC and would not recognise luxury goods as suitable collateral."In addition to the personal asset loan, Assetline offers a business asset loan called inventory finance and acquisition finance, which borrowers can use to fund purchases such as artworks acquired at action.Its new product is a sale advance loan, which provides some cash upfront on assets that are being sold.Raphaely said: "We had a client selling a Rolls Royce. He wanted to take his time with the sale to make sure he got the price he wanted. But he wanted some cash in hand, so we gave him an advance."The cash takes the pressure off having to make a fire sale. The client has to work out whether that is worth the price of the interest on the advance."A lot of these goods take time to sell. If a collector consigns an artwork to auction it could be three or four months before the auction, while the auctioneer prepares the sale catalogue, and then 60 days from auction to settlement."Assetline does not operate a shopfront. Business comes through referrals from sources such as auctioneers and loan brokers.Raphaely said the business was home-grown and operating on a proprietary system.