Operating Segment Information (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2014	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2014	Jun. 30, 2013
Revenues:
Merchandise sales	$ 89,170	$ 86,576	$ 298,211	$ 281,262
Jewelry scrapping sales	20,273	26,288	74,169	113,579
Pawn service charges	59,917	60,397	183,212	187,812
Consumer loan fees and interest	61,144	59,234	192,258	183,119
Consumer loan sales and other	10,876	2,671	22,587	10,169
Total revenues	241,380	235,166	770,437	775,941
Merchandise cost of goods sold	55,751	51,050	183,196	164,711
Jewelry scrapping cost of goods sold	15,131	20,377	55,262	80,993
Consumer loan bad debt expense	17,246	12,518	46,100	34,496
Net revenues	153,252	151,221	485,879	495,741
Operations	109,575	104,230	330,408	309,346
Administrative	14,467	12,644	50,244	34,918
Depreciation	7,551	7,377	22,556	21,008
Amortization	1,640	1,591	5,555	3,621
(Gain) loss on sale or disposal of assets	(26)	178	(5,974)	220
Interest expense (income), net	6,073	3,637	15,680	11,027
Equity in net income of unconsolidated affiliates	(2,117)	(4,328)	(3,880)	(13,491)
Impairment of investments	0	0	7,940	0
Other (income) expense	(370)	96	786	0
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	16,459	25,796	62,564	129,092
Segments [Member]
Revenues:
Merchandise sales	89,170	86,576	298,211	281,262
Jewelry scrapping sales	20,273	26,288	74,169	113,579
Pawn service charges	59,917	60,397	183,212	187,812
Consumer loan fees and interest	61,144	59,234	192,258	183,119
Consumer loan sales and other	10,876	2,671	22,587	10,169
Total revenues	241,380	235,166	770,437	775,941
Merchandise cost of goods sold	55,751	51,050	183,196	164,711
Jewelry scrapping cost of goods sold	15,131	20,377	55,262	80,993
Consumer loan bad debt expense	17,246	12,518	46,100	34,496
Net revenues	153,252	151,221	485,879	495,741
Operations	109,575	104,230	330,408	309,346
Administrative	0	0	0	0
Depreciation	5,887	5,697	17,566	15,950
Amortization	747	1,180	3,331	2,849
(Gain) loss on sale or disposal of assets	(20)	178	(6,616)	220
Interest expense (income), net	4,232	2,765	11,613	8,211
Equity in net income of unconsolidated affiliates	(2,117)	(4,328)	(3,880)	(13,491)
Impairment of investments			7,940
Other (income) expense	(174)	57	131	(312)
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	35,122	41,442	125,386	172,968
Segments [Member] | U.S. & Canada Operations [Member]
Revenues:
Merchandise sales	74,674	71,464	253,501	237,577
Jewelry scrapping sales	18,909	26,288	69,531	108,777
Pawn service charges	51,894	52,505	161,117	165,202
Consumer loan fees and interest	41,749	40,279	136,108	126,873
Consumer loan sales and other	531	1,058	2,025	5,469
Total revenues	187,757	191,594	622,282	643,898
Merchandise cost of goods sold	45,927	41,795	153,864	138,936
Jewelry scrapping cost of goods sold	13,894	20,285	51,257	76,922
Consumer loan bad debt expense	12,894	9,994	37,571	27,363
Net revenues	115,042	119,520	379,590	400,677
Operations	84,553	84,194	261,161	251,593
Administrative	0	0	0	0
Depreciation	4,305	4,184	12,867	11,905
Amortization	414	721	1,723	1,490
(Gain) loss on sale or disposal of assets	129	174	(6,630)	202
Interest expense (income), net	0	(25)	(11)	7
Equity in net income of unconsolidated affiliates	0	0	0	0
Impairment of investments			0
Other (income) expense	(7)	0	(7)	(5)
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	25,648	30,272	110,487	135,485
Segments [Member] | Latin America [Member]
Revenues:
Merchandise sales	14,496	15,112	44,710	43,685
Jewelry scrapping sales	1,364	0	4,638	4,802
Pawn service charges	8,023	7,892	22,095	22,610
Consumer loan fees and interest	14,839	12,864	43,460	36,583
Consumer loan sales and other	10,333	1,034	20,520	2,880
Total revenues	49,055	36,902	135,423	110,560
Merchandise cost of goods sold	9,824	9,255	29,332	25,775
Jewelry scrapping cost of goods sold	1,237	92	4,005	4,071
Consumer loan bad debt expense	1,361	685	3,206	(1,024)
Net revenues	36,633	26,870	98,880	81,738
Operations	22,112	16,513	58,580	46,483
Administrative	0	0	0	0
Depreciation	1,502	1,420	4,411	3,782
Amortization	329	434	1,553	1,285
(Gain) loss on sale or disposal of assets	11	4	15	18
Interest expense (income), net	4,234	2,790	11,628	8,205
Equity in net income of unconsolidated affiliates	0	0	0	0
Impairment of investments			0
Other (income) expense	(167)	57	(208)	(238)
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	8,612	5,652	22,901	22,203
Segments [Member] | Other International [Member]
Revenues:
Merchandise sales	0	0	0	0
Jewelry scrapping sales	0	0	0	0
Pawn service charges	0	0	0	0
Consumer loan fees and interest	4,556	6,091	12,690	19,663
Consumer loan sales and other	12	579	42	1,820
Total revenues	4,568	6,670	12,732	21,483
Merchandise cost of goods sold	0	0	0	0
Jewelry scrapping cost of goods sold	0	0	0	0
Consumer loan bad debt expense	2,991	1,839	5,323	8,157
Net revenues	1,577	4,831	7,409	13,326
Operations	2,910	3,523	10,667	11,270
Administrative	0	0	0	0
Depreciation	80	93	288	263
Amortization	4	25	55	74
(Gain) loss on sale or disposal of assets	(160)	0	(1)	0
Interest expense (income), net	(2)	0	(4)	(1)
Equity in net income of unconsolidated affiliates	(2,117)	(4,328)	(3,880)	(13,491)
Impairment of investments			7,940
Other (income) expense	0	0	346	(69)
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	862	5,518	(8,002)	15,280
Corporate Items [Member]
Revenues:
Merchandise sales	0	0	0	0
Jewelry scrapping sales	0	0	0	0
Pawn service charges	0	0	0	0
Consumer loan fees and interest	0	0	0	0
Consumer loan sales and other	0	0	0	0
Total revenues	0	0	0	0
Merchandise cost of goods sold	0	0	0	0
Jewelry scrapping cost of goods sold	0	0	0	0
Consumer loan bad debt expense	0	0	0	0
Net revenues	0	0	0	0
Operations	0	0	0	0
Administrative	14,467	12,644	50,244	34,918
Depreciation	1,664	1,680	4,990	5,058
Amortization	893	411	2,224	772
(Gain) loss on sale or disposal of assets	(6)	0	642	0
Interest expense (income), net	1,841	872	4,067	2,816
Equity in net income of unconsolidated affiliates	0	0	0	0
Impairment of investments			0
Other (income) expense	(196)	39	655	312
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	$ (18,663)	$ (15,646)	$ (62,822)	$ (43,876)