Operating Segment Information - Segment Information (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2014	Mar. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2014
Revenues:
Merchandise sales	$ 107,852	$ 103,454	$ 217,491	$ 209,041
Jewelry scrapping sales	18,399	26,193	36,933	53,896
Pawn service charges	59,470	59,162	124,397	123,295
Consumer loan fees and interest	54,441	54,777	113,288	109,981
Other revenues	1,195	1,545	2,066	2,674
Total revenues	241,357	245,131	494,175	498,887
Merchandise cost of goods sold	72,492	64,223	144,970	128,364
Jewelry scrapping cost of goods sold	14,354	20,111	29,029	40,131
Consumer loan bad debt	12,106	10,876	34,156	29,064
Net revenues	142,405	149,921	286,020	301,328
Operations	100,290	101,107	203,984	206,468
Administrative	10,849	19,996	19,201	35,720
Depreciation	7,699	7,414	15,272	14,754
Amortization	1,368	1,393	2,825	2,758
Loss (gain) on sale or disposal of assets	626	87	885	(6,203)
Interest expense	11,296	6,114	23,330	11,165
Interest income	(514)	(155)	(1,046)	(352)
Equity in net loss (income) of unconsolidated affiliates	3,678	(492)	1,484	(1,763)
Impairment of investments	0	7,940	0	7,940
Restructuring	726	0	726	0
Other expense	1,859	442	2,618	274
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	4,528	6,075	16,741	30,567
Segments [Member]
Revenues:
Merchandise sales	107,852	103,454	217,491	209,041
Jewelry scrapping sales	18,399	26,193	36,933	53,896
Pawn service charges	59,470	59,162	124,397	123,295
Consumer loan fees and interest	54,441	54,777	113,288	109,981
Other revenues	1,195	1,545	2,066	2,674
Total revenues	241,357	245,131	494,175	498,887
Merchandise cost of goods sold	72,492	64,223	144,970	128,364
Jewelry scrapping cost of goods sold	14,354	20,111	29,029	40,131
Consumer loan bad debt	12,106	10,876	34,156	29,064
Net revenues	142,405	149,921	286,020	301,328
Operations	100,290	101,107	203,984	206,468
Administrative	0	0	0	0
Depreciation	5,886	5,725	11,677	11,428
Amortization	437	707	927	1,427
Loss (gain) on sale or disposal of assets	257	(539)	516	(6,851)
Interest expense	6,382	5,026	14,672	8,872
Interest income	(464)	(112)	(962)	(285)
Equity in net loss (income) of unconsolidated affiliates	3,678	(492)	1,484	(1,763)
Impairment of investments		7,940		7,940
Restructuring	0		0
Other expense	1,561	364	2,176	305
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	24,378	30,195	51,546	73,787
Segments [Member] | U.S. & Canada Operations [Member]
Revenues:
Merchandise sales	92,969	89,937	183,028	178,827
Jewelry scrapping sales	17,482	24,697	34,609	50,622
Pawn service charges	52,317	52,154	109,352	109,223
Consumer loan fees and interest	37,992	42,213	80,524	87,963
Other revenues	922	1,098	1,497	1,629
Total revenues	201,682	210,099	409,010	428,264
Merchandise cost of goods sold	61,812	55,256	120,806	108,856
Jewelry scrapping cost of goods sold	13,534	18,793	26,948	37,363
Consumer loan bad debt	7,983	7,781	22,293	21,964
Net revenues	118,353	128,269	238,963	260,081
Operations	82,665	83,377	167,428	169,944
Administrative	0	0	0	0
Depreciation	4,538	4,275	8,938	8,519
Amortization	58	100	129	203
Loss (gain) on sale or disposal of assets	256	(537)	259	(6,855)
Interest expense	5	2	13	7
Interest income	(17)	(18)	(34)	(18)
Equity in net loss (income) of unconsolidated affiliates	0	0	0	0
Impairment of investments		0		0
Restructuring	0		0
Other expense	7	0	10	0
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	30,841	41,070	62,220	88,281
Segments [Member] | Latin America [Member]
Revenues:
Merchandise sales	14,883	13,517	34,463	30,214
Jewelry scrapping sales	917	1,496	2,324	3,274
Pawn service charges	7,153	7,008	15,045	14,072
Consumer loan fees and interest	16,449	12,564	32,764	22,018
Other revenues	273	447	569	1,045
Total revenues	39,675	35,032	85,165	70,623
Merchandise cost of goods sold	10,680	8,967	24,164	19,508
Jewelry scrapping cost of goods sold	820	1,318	2,081	2,768
Consumer loan bad debt	4,123	3,095	11,863	7,100
Net revenues	24,052	21,652	47,057	41,247
Operations	17,625	17,730	36,556	36,524
Administrative	0	0	0	0
Depreciation	1,348	1,450	2,739	2,909
Amortization	379	607	798	1,224
Loss (gain) on sale or disposal of assets	1	(2)	257	4
Interest expense	6,377	5,024	14,659	8,865
Interest income	(447)	(94)	(928)	(267)
Equity in net loss (income) of unconsolidated affiliates	0	0	0	0
Impairment of investments		0		0
Restructuring	0		0
Other expense	1,554	(11)	2,166	(41)
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	(2,785)	(3,052)	(9,190)	(7,971)
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	0	0	0	0
Other revenues	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	0	0	0	0
Net revenues	0	0	0	0
Operations	0	0	0	0
Administrative	0	0	0	0
Depreciation	0	0	0	0
Amortization	0	0	0	0
Loss (gain) on sale or disposal of assets	0	0	0	0
Interest expense	0	0	0	0
Interest income	0	0	0	0
Equity in net loss (income) of unconsolidated affiliates	3,678	(492)	1,484	(1,763)
Impairment of investments		7,940		7,940
Restructuring	0		0
Other expense	0	375	0	346
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	(3,678)	(7,823)	(1,484)	(6,523)
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
Other revenues	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	0	0	0	0
Net revenues	0	0	0	0
Operations	0	0	0	0
Administrative	10,849	19,996	19,201	35,720
Depreciation	1,813	1,689	3,595	3,326
Amortization	931	686	1,898	1,331
Loss (gain) on sale or disposal of assets	369	626	369	648
Interest expense	4,914	1,088	8,658	2,293
Interest income	(50)	(43)	(84)	(67)
Equity in net loss (income) of unconsolidated affiliates	0	0	0	0
Impairment of investments		0		0
Restructuring	726		726
Other expense	298	78	442	(31)
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	$ (19,850)	$ (24,120)	$ (34,805)	$ (43,220)