Episode 2 Cash Britain

The world economy is in crisis,

with banks failing and currencies crumbling.

But there is one asset that's booming - gold.

20 grand of odd earrings, unfashionable bracelets

and broken items.

The value of gold has rocketed,

so more and more people are cashing in to cover their bills.

There's no money out there for nobody and a lot of people are selling their gold.

-Comes up to about five and a half.

-5,500?

-Yeah.

At the frontline of this new gold rush are pawnbrokers.

-Can I pawn this one, please?

-Sure.

Go to the banks, you have to give them your house.

Come to us, you give us your jewellery.

For six months, we filmed the pawn business in Birmingham,

following customers in control...

The pawn shops are a good source of getting money

as long as you're willing to pay back the money within a short period of time.

-..and those in despair.

-451, that one.

I'm here every month paying interest, like it's become a vicious circle.

Welcome to Cash Britain.

As winter arrives in Birmingham,

the heating bills leave a lot of people feeling the chill...

-Hello, baby.

-Hello, Mum, you all right?

..and grandmother Faye and her family are no exception.

'I've got four daughters, ten grandchildren.

'They themselves are struggling

'because two of my daughters is not working at the moment,'

and I don't work because of health issues.

I expect the washing-up to be done tonight, Caroline.

I can be a lady of leisure after.

My mum does all the cooking so we have to do the cleaning, definitely.

'It's about, even though my financial situation is not very good,

'I always make sure that somehow, you know, I get some money to them,'

if I've got money, which I very rarely have,

but no matter what it is, whether it's a £10 or a £20, I will give.

'But, you know, I do like to help them out because'

that's what families is about, that's what mothers is about.

With her daughter Fiona needing to top up the gas meter,

Faye wants to turn some of her jewellery into cash.

So she's off to the pawnbrokers.

Everyone's going through a really difficult time. It is hard.

You can barely make ends meet, the money that you live on.

I live on incapacity benefit

and that's a very small amount of money.

You know, just the clocking for the gas alone

'eats away half of that per week.'

-Hello.

-How can I help you?

I've got some bits here. I wanted to know if you'd buy them.

-I need to go to see my daughter and give her some money to help her out.

-Right.

She's a bit low on finance at the moment so she's going to need something for gas.

Faye's hoping to raise 30 quid but it's not looking good.

That just comes from Marks & Spencer's, it's got M&S inside.

-OK.

-So unfortunately that isn't of any value.

-OK.

That's another one from M&S, so that isn't of any value either, I'm afraid.

Wow!

It's a right rip-off, that one, isn't it?

And just as she's losing heart...

But that looks like a little ingot.

That's gold, and they are, I can tell these are.

Yeah, I bought those myself.

The hallmark is across the centre, so yes, they are.

OK, there's 11.7 there, then.

Well, it's 117 so I could go to 120.

-Are you satisfied with that?

-I'll settle for that.

'I was shocked.'

I thought if I get £30 or £50, that's fine.

'I am quite reserved so I didn't really want to show it outwardly

'so, quietly, I was blown away,'

I was dancing inside.

20, 40, 60, 80, a hundred, 10, 20. There you go.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

This has made my day.

Voila!

'So that gives me a little bit more cash.

'Now I can actually put petrol in the car,'

drive down to my daughter in Quinton,

give her some money that she can have gas in the house,

so when her daughter comes from school the house is warm.

So you're her guardian angel today, then, when you go to visit her.

-I wouldn't go that far!

-"Oh, Mum I've got..."

-I wouldn't go that far!

30 years ago, Gerry Senior established his pawnbroking empire.

Now two of his sons have taken up the reins,

helping Brummies turn their gold into cash.

All right, darling? That's nine carat gold.

I'd lend £500 on that now.

The most fantastic thing about gold is that

that was created during the dying seconds of a star gone supernova.

Can you stop that?

-Ooh!

-BEEP

-You're having me a nervous blooming wreck, I tell ya.

-How much do you need?

-We want about a thousand dollars.

Well, forget it.

What can we do for you?

Pawnbrokers don't just buy or pawn gold, they sell it, too.

And Simon has a few tricks to tempt punters through the door.

Normally it's the same bits that go in every day.

But if you change 'em round and put 'em in different places,

people come in and say, "Oh I haven't seen that before,"

and I think, "Well, it's been in the window for three months."

Mother-of-five Jeanette has her eye on something in the window.

-You all right, my love?

-I'm the lady that's just phoned you up about the chain.

-Oh, the chain.

-Yeah.

She's after a birthday present for her son.

-It's his birthday today, then, or...?

-No, it was three years ago!

-Yeah?

-It was for his 21st.

-His 21st?

He's 23 now! He was 21 when he...

SHE LAUGHS

Oh! Well, bit late, but we'll get there.

He had a ring but he builds sheds, and he's caught it.

So Jeanette wants to replace the broken ring with a gold chain,

but it's going to cost.

That's 380 quid. It's ridiculous, the prices.

They've shot up so much.

Have you got something in the range of 200?

That's 230, something like that, but they are quite pricey at the moment.

Let me have a look at that again.

Yeah. I'll take that.

He'll like that. He's a lucky lad.

He's my baby. Oh, I can't wait.

-I hope he enjoys it, then.

-Thank you.

-Ta-da, my love.

-Thanks.

Despite emptying her savings account,

money is the least of her worries.

I've got no money now in the Post Office,

so I can't go and get a drink.

I'm an alcoholic.

It's painful.

Very painful.

All night, last night in bed, I knew my money was in the Post Office...

..and I thought I've gotta do it, cos if I didn't do it,

I'd be going up the road every five minutes for a bottle of sherry, you know.

I'm proud of myself, even though I say it myself.

It's not drink, I ain't bought a drink.

What matters now to Jeanette is the look on her son's face

when she finally hands over his present.

That is absolutely fantastic.

My little lad.

21, but he's 23!

Oh, I can't wait to see him Friday, I can't wait.

While Jeanette waits for Friday,

Faye's already arrived at her daughter's.

-Nanny, Nanny, Nanny!

-Hello!

Hello, are you all right?

-Everything OK?

-Yeah.

-I've got £120.

-Wow, that's good.

So those lovely £20 smackers, lovely smackeroos!

Thank you. I'll be definitely using that.

And my price was between 30 to £50,

so when I was told it's 120 I could get for it, it's like my heart,

my liver, my lungs and everything was dancing inside of me.

Oh, you're funny!

And without money, you can't do anything.

You know, it is hard. We just do what we have to do.

But the only problem with that is that survival is short-lived,

because the money runs out within a couple of days.

Last weekend, I was cooking,

had some gas in there, the emergency was on, I was cooking my meats,

within time I was ready to do the rice, the gas was gone.

You know, it's hard for a lot of people out there.

But thanks to Grandma's gold, the meter is up and running again.

Nanny's being good.

So she will have gold and silver and red and green.

And it's all for what?

-Being good!

-OK.

My favourite, favourite lovely Nan.

Yeah! Thank you.

Back at the shop, Karl's mum Mavis is holding the fort.

I don't really like to be on my own because if I'm not sure of anything,

then, you know, I start to panic a little bit. I like to be sure.

-BELL RINGS

-Ooh!

Hello. What can I do for you?

Er, I want to sell my...

-You want to sell it?

-Yeah.

-OK, let's have a look.

Have you pawned with us before or anything?

Dhan has run short of cash and needs to sell his gold wedding ring.

For the time being, I'm not working.

No money in my pocket, so I sell the ring.

It is my country ring,

-Mauritius.

-Mauritius?

-Yeah.

Well, you get 120 for that.

Better sell it.

OK. Well, you need some ID, so I'd like you to come back.

-OK.

-Bye-bye, then.

Dhan moved to the UK nine years ago,

but since losing his job, he's been struggling to make ends meet.

Selling the ring will help, but there's a big problem.

He's not told the missus.

I don't want to tell her because she will be angry.

Truly said, she will be angry.

She will not say to me anything because I don't rob her.

It's my ring.

Karl, this gentleman just came in.

-His ring is from Mauritius, so he tells me, 18 carat.

-Yeah.

He wants to sell it, so have you weighed it up?

Yeah. Can't remember what I told him! Oh, God, I'm going funny!

-Right, 7.8.

-18, I did.

Did ya? Well, you've offered him top money.

What you've gotta do is, really, take the onyx price out of there.

-Right.

-Cos that onyx is not 18 carat gold,

so what you've actually done is offer him the full amount on the weight.

Well, here he is anyway. You see to him.

Mavis is having a bad day and can't remember offering Dhan 120 quid.

How much did I say to you?

-110?

-110! Oh, my God.

Luckily for her, neither can he.

God, this is a good start, isn't it?

We'll do it at 110 for you, then, OK?

She's made a complete shemozzle about everything.

But she's able to do that cos she's 62.

-Oh.

-I'm 61!

She's only learning. She's only been with me since 1988,

so I have to show her the ropes.

She has to learn the ropes, she doesn't know it very good, you know.

I have no idea what she's doing here, really.

You're joking me!

4, 6, 8, 100, 110.

Thank you very much.

If money come in, maybe I'll buy another ring,

more better, better ring, yeah? You never know.

Good luck with the wife on that one, Dhan(!)

More and more of us are selling gold

and, as the family's golden boy,

there's not a lot Karl doesn't know about this precious metal.

When anybody's selling gold, there's a few things to remember.

Firstly, clean the item.

Put it in some Fairy Liquid, a little toothbrush, clean it up,

making the item look more appealing.

Secondary, know what carat gold you've got,

by looking for the hallmark.

If it's nine carat, it will be stamped 375.

If it's 18 carat, it'll be stamped 750.

If it's 22 carat, it will be stamped 916.

And if it's 24 carat, which is nearer pure,

it'll be stamped point 999.

Once then you know exactly how much that weighs,

and what carat gold it is, you can then research,

go on the internet, find out how gold's trading before you actually sell it.

It's a pleasure doing business with you.

You take care.

But Karl's not the only gold expert.

Meet Steve.

When he inherited some money as a teenager, he put it all in gold.

Now, rather than have a bank account,

he prefers to wear his savings.

I've always, like, imagined a nice big cross and chain,

and a nice big chunky bangle and a nice big ring.

And, you know, my wish has come true. I've got what I want.

I think bank's a waste of time. You don't get no interest or nothing on it.

You could have thousands and thousands.

And when he wants to check the value of his investments,

Steve gets them weighed at the pawnbrokers.

OK, mate, just find out what I get for this if I sold it, my big chain.

-The big boy.

-Yeah.

That's the big one I had off ya.

Feels like an anchor chain for the Titanic, you know!

On scrap, what, £3,300?

The gold's going up all the time,

so if I wait another couple more years,

it might go through the roof, I might get more.

I might get double, I might get treble.

And what about these bangles cos I've never had these priced up here? Give us a price on them.

-About £2,600 there.

-That's about right, yeah.

-Just don't go swimming in 'em, Steve.

-I know, I'll probably sink.

It's like that magician's trick there with the three rings, innit?

A recent back injury has left Steve relying on benefits, so he now needs a spot of extra dosh.

I've done my deals and that's it, that's how I make my money.

A lot of people owe me a few quid here and there.

Let's see what I get for these.

-Couple of little boxing gloves.

-Yeah, the ones I've had...

-I remember those.

-..for years, I know.

About 220 there.

-Er, go on, then, I'll take it, then.

-Do you want to do it?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Will they get melted down if you don't sell them?

-Unfortunately, they probably would, yeah.

With the recession, there's no money out there for nobody and a lot of people are selling gold.

I had to sell him two boxing gloves today and, obviously,

it's really hurt me but times are hard and money goes on bills, mainly gas and electric.

But I think I'm a bit better off compared to other people, cos I've got my gold.

Okey-dokey, then. See you a bit later, mate.

All right, mate.

I'd rather see him coming in buying stuff of us. He's going through hard times at the moment.

£10 pound on that one, please. £14 on that, please, mate.

-£14, yeah?

-£5 TV license. £7.13, please, mate.

-Anything else, Steve?

-That's it, mate.

Life's hard out there at the moment so maybe, maybe he'll come in and

he'll be a bit happier next time, you never know.

It's peaks and troughs, innit?

We tend to see the people at the bottom.

People will cash in just about anything to make ends meet,

and for many there's a stigma attached to using pawnbrokers.

But there may be a solution.

Gez is entering a world in which he's an expert...

online pawn.

This is the future of pawnbroking.

So long as I can get my hands on it, then I'll do a loan with them.

Instead of bringing your goods in person,

you send them in for a valuation,

and the cash can be in your account by the end of the day,

Like this 1978 Gibson Les Paul...

Ah!

..whose owner thinks it's worth three grand.

HE PLAYS BADLY

No, that's, that's wrong.

It's, it's been a few years since I've played the guitar.

Before Gez can do the pawn, he needs an expert opinion.

-Nice. TV yellow.

-Yeah.

-In good condition for '78, really.

-OK.

It was called TV yellow because,

in the '50s when Gibson started making these guitars,

it showed up really well on the first black and white TV.

Very popular in the '70s with rock bands

because they were relatively cheap compared to other guitars.

Show-off! GEZ LAUGHS

So it works.

It works really well, yeah. Plays good, too, sounds good, plays nice,

Everything does what it should do. Great guitar, really.

What kind of value do you think you'd put on there?

With its original case,

you're probably looking at round about 1,500 to 1,800 maximum,

I would think.

It's like music to my ears, really.

IMITATES GUITAR

What he was doing with his guitar was fantastic, wasn't it?

Oh, I'd love to be able to play the guitar like that. Maybe one day.

HE SIGHS

Well, thanks for sending us your guitar.

We received it this morning.

Your idea of how much it was worth at £3,000 I think was

a little bit, a little bit more than it actually is.

It's actually worth around about £1,500 to £1,800.

No offence, I thought it was worth a little bit more than that.

You know, it's not as if it's been passed around.

I've got to go off the value that I've just been given.

Based on that, I'd be able to lend you about £1,200.

Right. I'm...I'm more than happy for the price you've offered me, anyway.

OK, I can get the money into your account first thing in the morning, yeah?

-OK, then. Thank you very much, then, Gerry.

-OK, bye-bye.

So there you go. He seems like a happy customer.

Birmingham is one of the most vibrant multicultural cities in the country,

with the Asian community making up a fifth of the population,

and the pawnbrokers are seeing more and more Asian gold crossing their counters.

Lots of gold there, isn't there? Let's have a little weigh up for you.

And Asian gold is particularly valuable.

-Comes out to about five and a half.

-5,500?

-Yeah.

-That'll pay a few bills off, won't it?

-Yeah, definitely.

What sets it apart is that it's nearly always made from 22 carat gold.

Makes my bracelet look a bit pale, insignificant,

when you look at the difference between the nine carat and a 22 carat.

It makes that... The nine carat doesn't even look as if it's gold.

Traditionally, Asian jewellery is given as a marriage gift.

Two years ago, Tariq had to pawn his wedding gold

so his wife could return to Pakistan to care for her sick mother.

We've been given this jewellery by our family, by my parents,

by my wife's parents.

And it is very important,

because that's one of the main things of our marriage.

It's more important to us than money or anything else.

Despite a job in the car industry, Tariq is struggling to keep up the payments on the pawned jewellery.

I've lost one or two pieces,

and I'm in a situation where I'm still paying for it,

and I still haven't got it back.

'I'm trying to work as much as I can.

'Sometimes I'm doing seven nights a week to make ends meet,

'but even that is not enough.'

SHE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

She's constantly thinking about what's going to happen next,

where it will put us in a worser situation,

cos if anything else does come on top,

we don't know what we're going to do.

This is Tariq's gold. There's four different pawns here.

If you put all the loans together, it's just over £2,200.

Scrap value at the moment is probably about £5,500.

If Tariq sold some of his gold, he could clear all of his debt,

but he won't part with any of it.

What did you want to do, did you want to take 'em out or...?

Um, how much is this one here to renew?

To renew, this one here... 451, that one.

For now, Tariq can only afford to pay off the interest.

I've just paid £451 to renew that for another six months,

but I've got another item which I've got to renew next month again.

And the third item is in February, and I've got one in March.

It's put me in a cycle where I'm here every month,

paying interest on each item,

and it's like it's become a vicious circle.

I've already paid £4,000 in two years.

I only take home 1,200 a month.

It kills you, man. It's just a heart-breaker.

It's a heart-breaker cos you can't get it back, you know what I mean?

Sometimes I've said to people, "You're paying the interest, are you ever going to get it back?

"If not, you might as well bite the bullet and say, 'Let it go.' "

That was a gift for my wedding and when you lose something like that,

you are going to replace it, that ain't a problem, but it's not the same thing.

It's sentimental value that matters at the end of the day.

It's not about the money, you know what I mean?

Tariq may not be selling but, these days, plenty of the punters are,

and the pawnbrokers need to keep the cash coming in themselves.

The only option is to liquidate their assets.

Yeah, some of it's pawn stuff that was taken off of pawn,

and the rest of it is purchases and stuff like that.

But all that glitters is not gold.

It's the 'Puff Daddy look'.

They all want the white gold with the bling stones in,

and the problem is there's more stones in it than what there is gold.

Yeah, there we go.

That'll do. I'm sweating a bit now!

It's the hardest work I've had to do all day.

There's about 1,500 grams there, one and a half kilos of nine carat.

Looks scary when you look at it sometimes.

There's 20 grand there.

-Yep. 20 grand of odd earrings...

-Yeah.

-..unfashionable bracelets and broken items.

-Yeah.

Most of the country's gold goes through Birmingham.

At the heart of the city's precious metal trade,

is the historic Jewellery Quarter.

And after looting all his shops for gold,

Karl's come here to oversee it being melted down,

back into cold, hard cash.

Doing the honours is bullion room head honcho, Eamonn.

So what have we got, then? We got three kilos, 33.

-Yep.

-Lovely.

Have you got it nice and hot, John?

It's smoking!

To be honest, that smoke there, a lot of that will just be from human hair,

the oils out of your skin and that kind of stuff.

That's why you get a weight loss because a lot of that gets burned off on the...

Certainly on the older gear, like that looks to be.

And it is quite hot. It's about 1,200 degrees at the minute.

Whoa, that is hot!

So, you been doing plenty of melts today?

Flat out. I mean, the volume that's coming through is just phenomenal.

And how many kilos have you done today, then?

240 kilos.

We're currently running anywhere between 1.2, 1.5 tonnes a week.

That's 20 million pounds of melted gold every week.

Gold at the moment is valued higher than it's ever been,

simply because it's used as a hedge against economic instability.

People have lost faith in the banks,

so they are looking for alternative investments

and demand for the gold in electronics is increasing as well.

That's nice.

Into that bar is all that scrap that we got.

-Yep, it doesn't look like 40 grand, does it?

-Nope.

But this is just the nine carat cheap stuff.

We'll split that metal down into fine gold.

We sell fine gold in fine gold bullion bars,

so there's a small example there which is worth £1,040.

The price is ridiculous for something that is just over the size of a pound coin.

That's the full circle.

Yes, on one hand, shame that we're melting it.

On the other hand, I've gotta get my money back some time or other.

It's been a week since Jeanette bought her son a £230 gold chain

as a 21st birthday present.

Oh, I can't wait.

Today, with Paul and his brother Danny coming to visit, she can finally hand over the gift.

What's this, Bon? What's this? Are you going to give this to Paul?

Mother. Good to see you.

Hiya, Paulie. God, she always smacks my...

Hello, Bonnie, girl, hello.

Give us a banger!

Love you.

All right, you look nice.

-Happy birthday, son.

-Thank you.

It's 'I spy with my little eye'. You've gotta find it.

Go on.

Is it that box on the shelf that isn't usually there?

-Is this it, then?

-Yeah.

I'm wonder if I can see from the size of the box.

-Cheers, Mum.

-I love you, son.

I love you, too.

-So you like that?

-Mum, I love it. Seriously.

-Happy birthday.

-Thank you, Mum.

-Love you.

-Thanks.

I wonder what I'm going to get.

I would never expect her to pay for a necklace for me, but that's exactly what I wanted.

'She doesn't earn much money herself. She was struggling to get by on her own.'

That she put it together and got it me as a surprise...

I'll never forget it. It's my 21st.

'I'll always have it, keep it, that's it.'

'I can feel it in me heart how happy he is.'

It was in here, truly,

and money can't buy that.

Every time he sees that necklace, it's me and him.

Next time, one punter pins his hopes of a glittering business career

on some very bling jewellery...

You are the last alternative. I've tried everything, man -

the banks, government. No help, no help.

..an unpaid loan puts Karl and Gez on the ropes.

-I hope to God we can get our money back on these.

-I'm nervous now.

..and a job loss leaves one couple on the verge of losing it all.

It's just all the hassle and everything you have to go through.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd