Episode 5 Cash Britain

The UK may be reeling from the credit crunch,

but families and friends will do whatever it takes to help each other out.

I want him to have the good education that I never had.

For those without cash...

It's just a nightmare, to be quite honest.

..Giving isn't easy.

Insurances to pay, phone bills to pay, it's very stressful.

And that's where pawnbrokers make their money.

You could use that as an anchor chain for the Titanic, you know.

Traditionally, the festive season is the busiest time of year.

I'd have every counter full with people.

But in this recession, times are lean for everyone.

It's been the quietest Saturday I've known on record.

Pawnbroking may be a last resort,

but their services don't come cheap.

I made it. I didn't think I was going to, but we made it through.

Welcome to Cash Britain.

Meet Helen. She works full time in a care home.

Maggie's been her best friend

since moving into the same street 15 years ago.

It's been a, a good road, hasn't it? I was glad I met up with you.

-I'd had a big operation, do you remember it?

-I do.

And Maggie made me laugh and split a stitch.

THEY LAUGH

I'm not saying we don't have our ups and down days.

-We do. When she goes on a strop, she can...

-Oh, OK, yeah.

Today, Helen has money in her pocket

and she and Maggie are going shopping.

-Good morning.

-Hello!

-Hello.

What can we do for you today?

Right, I'm after a gentleman's chain. It's a gold one.

-Oh, you're talking about the rollerball one.

-Yeah.

-Well, do you like him a lot?

-That's lovely, that.

Cos you'll need to really like him to buy this one.

Right, it's 136.5 grams.

And what's that in cash?

Do you want a chair to sit down on?

-About 2,300.

-No...

-Ah, but it's worth it, isn't it?

-It looks like a handmade rollerball to me as well.

-Oh, that's beautiful.

-It's engraved in the middle.

-I can't afford that one.

-No, I know, but it's a lovely, lovely chain, though, isn't it?

-It is beautiful, yes.

-Handmade.

'Neither of them have the cash for that kind of present.

'Helen has a steady income,

'but Maggie relies on benefits of £63 a week.'

It's just a nightmare, to be quite honest.

If I hadn't have took ill,

I probably would have been out working,

but I actually had a breakdown.

Helen sort of, like, give me that push, you know, come on.

"Don't let it beat you."

Six months ago,

Helen helped Maggie by lending her jewellery to pawn for cash.

She had a couple of rings and, like, her chains.

She took her earrings off, bless her.

And then, she said, "Just get them out when you can."

She'd helped me in the past

and I'd got this gold that was sitting in a box.

I knew I wasn't going to use it for a while

and I couldn't see her go without, so I lent it her.

Nobody's ever did that

and I thought it was so nice of her, you know,

to actually take her gold off and say,

"Here, you can put this in."

Have you got any of our tickets left?

Good man.

Now Helen's redeeming the jewellery and clearing Maggie's debt.

Oh, God, I forgot I had that bracelet still in there.

-That's lovely, that is.

-Oh, yeah.

-That's very unusual, darling.

That was brought from Egypt.

Yes, I knew that was from abroad. Aye, aye.

-How much is that to get out?

-210.

-210, I'll take that.

-210, there you are.

Two, four, six, seven, eight, ten, thanks a lot.

At least you've got it back and we've kept it for you.

Right, thank you for your time.

Take care, ladies, take care.

-She's a good sort, isn't she?

-She pawns her gold for other people.

Other people say to her, "I'm a bit short,"

so she gives them a bit of gold, they bring it in, like there.

It really did mean a lot to me, it really did and...

you know, I feel that's what you call a friend.

Helen has her jewellery back,

but she won't be keeping it for long.

This pawnbroking family have seen 30 Christmases in Birmingham.

The new member of the family.

And it's always been the busiest time of the year.

Christmas is, you know, when you've got lots of people coming in

and the money's coming in and it's just nice.

I'd have every counter full with people.

A bit like Scrooge's Christmas spirit, you know.

Got to make a penny or two, ha-ha!

There's just one problem.

This year, there are no customers...

..In any of their shops.

Traditionally, the shop was a lot busier when the gold price was lower

because, obviously, they could afford to buy stuff.

Yeah, because gold is just a luxury

and it's something that you don't really need.

Very nice to look at, but it won't fill your belly.

This year, families are struggling with the essentials.

But Pauline has to find £150 for presents.

There's PS3s, Xboxes...

How expensive they are is ridiculous.

And the kids, of course, they want to keep up with their friends,

cos if they don't get what they want, they're disappointed,

so that just puts a dampener on the Christmas itself.

Hello, there.

-Hi, can I have a loan on these, please?

-Thank you.

I suppose you need the money for shopping and things like that

-this time of year.

-Yeah, definitely.

Buy the little ones some little Christmas stocking fillers.

I says to them, not one of them is going to have the BlackBerry first, cos they was all complaining.

You've got to get me one anyway, cos you promised me.

I said, "Right, you'll all get one at Christmas

"and that's it", no complaining that "I had mine first" and all this.

OK, so that's your wedding ring

and this is just a little double-linked bracelet.

A little gold ring.

Is, is that a maple leaf in there?

I think it might be. And a dress ring.

-No, it's a...

-No.

-What is it?

Oh, oh... I know, yeah.

THEY CHUCKLE

I'll just weigh them.

So, will they get their 150 quid?

Well, we can do 170 on those, will that be all right?

Yeah, that's brilliant.

OK.

After six months of a loan,

it's going to cost me like £262 to get out,

but I know I can come every week and put a bit towards it.

The only other way to be able to get money is, like, sell things

from out of the home and that, just to get a little extra money.

10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70.

There you go.

-That's my money.

-No, it's my money, give it back.

-Give it to your mum.

-Cheers.

-Have a nice Christmas.

That's all I want, just the kids to be happy with what they get and that,

and just have a good Christmas.

-How's it going, guv?

-I'm fine, how are you?

-Not too bad, not too bad, not too bad.

-It's the ring we're getting out, isn't it? Yeah?

-Yeah.

Ron is one parent who doesn't believe

in borrowing big for Christmas.

1,770, that one to get out, my man.

There you go, man.

And he disagrees with the way some people indulge their kids.

HE WHISTLES

Come on, come on.

Some of the parents, they seem as though they have to be always giving to the kids.

Christmas is coming and I bet you parents who ain't even got the money

are going to be spending X amount because,

"Oh, look at the smile on their face."

But what about telling your kids you love 'em?

It's all about materialistic matters, crazy.

Nowadays, right, they must have a mobile phone,

it's got to be £200 plus.

It don't work like that. What about love and affection?

What about knowing that your parents love you?

Come here.

Elaine wants the very best for her kids,

but she's not splashing out on Christmas.

Not too bad, thank you.

Can I have a few, a little bit more today?

Yeah, we can.

Her son is halfway through his law degree,

but this year's money has already run out.

I mean, the student loans now just, they don't last.

He usually borrows from one student loan to the next student loan to the next student loan

and it literally...continuous circle of borrowing,

because it's, the student loans are not enough.

With his student loan not due until the New Year,

he needs cash now to tide him over.

-It's all the books as well, isn't it?

-I know. Oh! Do you know what?

It's £100,

I think there was two books, £100,

and I had to get 'em.

You know, probably half the people, three quarters of the people that pawn

are pawning for their kids as well.

-Is it?

-Yeah, yeah, we get loads of people.

-I'm not unusual.

-Yeah, yeah.

What can I do? I'm not rich and he's so clever,

but I want him to have a good education that I never had.

It's such a shame that we're just short of money that...

because he could go so far.

Elaine has a lifeline, from her own mum.

Years ago, before she died,

she was buying and buying and I thought,

"Why does she need any more gold?"

She says, "One day, you'll be grateful I got this gold, one day,

"cos it's all yours when I die."

So I thought, "Yeah, oh, I wouldn't, I don't want it,

"I don't want all this gold. Well, I wouldn't wear it."

Now, I'm so grateful that she bought it.

She left her legacy with the gold and she helped me, she's helping me

and she's not helping me, she's helping my son and my daughter.

Funny, that is, how a little bit of gold

has helped my son and my daughter's future.

-How much are you looking for, you got?

-500.

Well... We have got...

I can just about, I can stretch it up to there.

-Yeah, we can do that for you.

-Oh, thank you.

Yeah, we can do it there for you.

-It works out a little bit under, but we can stretch it out.

-Oh, cheers.

See, if you didn't have kids, you'd be rich, wouldn't you?

-(HE CHUCKLES)

-All that money.

Thing is, in the long run, he's going to come out and get a decent job.

When he's a solicitor, he'll look after me, hopefully.

-Well, this is it, isn't it, yeah?

-Yeah, right.

-There you are, my love.

-Oh, look at this.

Elaine will get her rings back

when the next student loan is paid in the New Year.

-Oh, thank you.

-Pop that away in there.

-See you in January.

-Yeah, I shall be here.

-Ta-ra!

-Ta-ra, my lovely, take care.

Don't know if her mother ever thought she'd end up in a pawnbroker's with it.

I don't know, but I think the nice part is

that her mum gave it to her and said, at the time,

"You use it, it's my gold."

And now, she's using it to look after her, you know, her kids.

He's passed his HND in law. He's got two more years,

and he'll be a solicitor.

I mean, it's worth it, isn't it?

Nirosha is another parent

who's making sacrifices for her kids' education.

-How are you?

-I'm fine, thank you.

What can I do for you?

I need to know how much I need to pay for all the things.

She pawned her wedding jewellery

so her son could go on a school trip to the USA.

A lot of children go in same class and he can learn, you know,

he can see, you know, the many, many different places he can learn.

Well, does he go to a local school round here, does he, or...?

-Oh no, he is going grammar school.

-Grammar school? He must be very bright.

The trip cost is altogether 1,500,

but I think I want to give him extra money for, for him.

That's very, that's very good of you, that is, isn't it?

And I, I'm having trouble now.

SHE LAUGHS

Over a year, Nirosha borrowed £1,800

but on benefits, she's made no repayments.

To take all the items out at the present moment,

at today's date,

would be a grand total of £3,235.25.

It's a lot of money, isn't it?

Four tickets.

One's extremely over the date, the other one's over the date

and the other one has just gone over the date.

Thank you.

That's nice, nice woven bracelet, isn't it?

Obviously, that would be the one you should sort out first cos it's well over the date.

What do you want me to do?

-Tomorrow, I can pay £300.

-OK.

-Yeah.

-Thank you, thanks.

-I'll put them back in the safe for you.

-OK, yeah.

I bet you're pleased you're off school then, aren't you?

-My boy can't wait to get off school.

-Why?

Cos he's looking forward to Santa Claus coming next week.

-Bye!

-OK, you take care.

Bye, bye!

If Nirosha can't make a payment tomorrow,

she can wave her gold goodbye.

Not many people want to lose their wedding jewellery.

But then, when time goes on and they don't come back for them items,

I have no alternative.

And I don't really like to come to that tee-off point

and have to say, "Sorry, I can do no more."

There is only so much you can do, isn't there?

Mark has no such worries about losing his jewellery.

He only borrows what he can afford to pay back, and pays it back fast.

I just try my best, really, that's all you can do, really, isn't it?

I spend a fair bit of time looking after the school runs,

activities and stuff.

With four kids, even the basics quickly add up.

Fruit, nappies.

If the oldest one's got cooking at school, I've got to get,

we've got to get the, the ingredients so she can do her cooking in school as well.

Money's been tight since Mark lost his job eight months ago.

Insurances to pay, phone bills to pay,

a load of taxes and stuff, so it's very stressful.

And, last week, Mark finally ran out of cash.

My son never had any nappies

so I had to actually get the nappies and get some wipes as well.

So I needed £20 and I knew I could go to the pawnbroker's

without no hassle, and that's what I did.

But I've had loans, I've had credit cards in the past.

The money is all fun when you've got it,

but when it's time to pay it back,

that's when it's a bit of a struggle.

I think they're traps, basically, so the pawn shops are a good way of,

a good source of getting money, if you find yourself being broke.

As long as you are willing to pay back the money

within a short period of time,

then everything will be fine.

Mark pawned a gold ring and now he's getting it back.

-Hiya!

-Hi!

-Hello.

-Hello. Are they your children?

-Yeah.

One's two, one's three.

I can't afford 'em.

Just come to get this back out.

That'll be 21.80, please.

Because he's so prompt, the interest on top is just £1.80.

Is it your wedding ring?

No, engagement ring.

Oh, engagement ring. I didn't think men had engagement rings.

-Here's your ring.

-Cheers.

-Thank you.

My partner bought it for me.

Obviously, if she had seen the ring missing,

she would have asked me, "Where's the ring?"

Every time I touched my finger there's nothing there and I was like,

"Oh, oh, no!" So, yeah, I was glad to get it back.

-Thanks again, like.

-All right, thank you.

-See you.

-See you soon, bye.

There's always a light at the end of the tunnel.

As long as you stay focused and positive, there's a way out.

Shops are quiet, Gerald.

-Are they?

-Yeah.

It's just so quiet today, honestly,

I just don't know what's going on.

-Are you normally busy this time of year?

-Sales, yeah.

Sales, no-one wants to buy,

-who's going to want to buy gold now with the price being so high, Karl?

-Exactly.

But there's still, you're going to want to buy trinkets, haven't you?

Doesn't have to be spending hundreds of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Went to see a friend yesterday, spoke to him, said, "How have you been doing in the retail?"

He hadn't sold a thing since Saturday.

What's going to happen?

I don't know.

The next day, Nirosha's back.

-Hiya.

-How are you?

You're wrapped up nice and warm today.

Yesterday, she promised to start paying off her £3,000 debt.

-Here's for you here.

-Is that for me?

-Merry Christmas.

-Oh, well, thank you.

Another card. That's nice, isn't it?

"Christmas and Happy New Year, Mr Karl."

Thank you very much, that's nice.

Nice, but no money.

However, there is a reason.

-Our problem is, my father's not well.

-OK.

Two days ago, he called me

and he had operation, heart operation in India.

-I'm sorry to hear that.

-And I...

Have you got to go back and see him or anything?

Yeah, 26th, I'm flying.

-Look, we'll put everything on hold for you.

-OK, yeah.

-And don't worry about that.

-OK.

You go and sort your dad out.

-And then, we'll see you the following week.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much for my card.

-Sorry I can't, thank you.

-It's very kind of you.

-OK.

-You take care, darling.

-Thank you, thanks, I'll see you.

I'll see you soon. Take care, darling.

Come January, she'll have a firm idea

of how much money she's actually got to use towards whichever item.

If then, when we get to that point,

she tells me she can only do one or, or even she can't do one,

then, we have to say, "Well, what are we going to do?"

If Nirosha doesn't return in the New Year,

Karl will have no alternative but to scrap the jewellery

to get his money back.

Three days before Christmas, Maggie's returned,

and she's back with her friend's jewellery.

Right.

Helen...

She wants to know how much you'll give her for them.

This time, it's Helen who's run out of cash.

Cos her wages haven't gone in yet.

She hasn't been paid for a simple reason.

I lost my job.

It was a shock.

It had got me down cos the worry and stress of it

and I asked Margaret if she'd go up and see

what we could get off the bit of gold that I had.

It was a necklace, a bracelet, ring, some earrings.

Bad enough losing my job

without having the stress of nothing for Christmas.

It's hard, cos they're sentimental

in case you can never get the money to get them back.

But when you need it, it's got to be done.

There's 110 there.

She was looking for two.

Helen needs £200 to cover Christmas.

But the gold's only worth 110.

Oh, God, she causes me trouble, that woman.

SHE CHUCKLES

Yeah, okey-doke. It is a bit more than we're meant to, but we'll...

Yeah, we'll do it for her.

-Shh, don't tell anyone.

-I won't.

It's got to be done, though, innit, cos what's she going to do?

-And this is for Christmas, then, all of it?

-Yeah.

Without that, she, you wouldn't have your turkey on Christmas Day, would you, if it wasn't for that?

No turkey leg.

-So when you cut your turkey leg off, you think, "Oh, good old Simon, you know."

-Yeah.

THEY CHUCKLE

I'll, I'll say that over the table,

"I don't know, if it wasn't for Simon."

-Have a lovely Christmas.

-Have a nice Christmas, my love, and I'll see you after.

-And give my best to Helen as well.

-We will, goodbye.

So that little lot there is her Christmas shopping and the turkey.

It's just like a cash flow situation.

You know, the money's there, but you need it there.

Obviously, I've got to get a job.

Looking for work now,

so, as soon as I get a job, I'll be able to get my jewellery,

not unless a little windfall comes and I can get it.

It's Christmas Eve.

I see very few people.

This is very, very quiet.

Where have everyone gone?

She only sleeps now and again.

We've been open all day today, it's been quite quiet today.

I think everybody's at home, you know, with their families.

The major, major pointer for me is when I start looking at the buses

and I see that there's hardly any people on the buses,

going into a main route into Birmingham town centre.

Now, that tells me, how many people are on that bus now?

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven people on a bus.

That's not good news.

Karl decides to see how things are going at the other shop.

RINGING TONE

But with business having slowed to a standstill...

-Oh!

-Well, I'll see you.

..The girls have already called time on Christmas trading.

They must be really busy with them not being able to answer the phone.

RINGING TONE

So damn quiet!

And even Karl decides the time has come

to pack up shop and call it a day.

Let's bring in 2012 with a bang.

Come on!

As New Year arrives in Birmingham,

business is picking up for the pawnbrokers.

Alongside the new customers,

they're hoping to see some regulars.

Nirosha was given a month's grace to start paying off her £3,000 loan.

We'll put everything on hold for you.

But Karl is getting impatient.

We haven't seen her.

One of the items was due back up last May.

So that's another six months on top

of the six months that she's already been given.

I think best phoning her up and just seeing what's happened

and if she's OK, and when she might be coming in to see us.

We need to know what the score is.

FLAT TONE

Unavailable.

SUCCESSION OF BEEPS

The call is not responding. So that one's cut off as well.

What I need to do is, I need to send a personal letter,

just to see that she's OK.

Because we're talking about three grand and more here

and I think we need to get some clarity

on what she might be doing or when she might be coming in to pay.

Cos there's only so many months I can actually hold these for.

With her son's student loan safely in the bank,

Elaine's back for her rings.

-Morning!

-Hello, love, you all right?

-You all right?

Yeah, not too bad.

-My son's been paid his student loan.

-How's he getting on, is he getting on all right?

-Yeah, yeah.

He's got an essay today, he's finishing this big essay today.

2,600 words. Oh, he's stressing out.

Don't even know 2,600 words.

THEY LAUGH

She borrowed £500 and pays it back with a month's interest.

Two, four, six, eight...

TELEPHONE RINGS

Oh, it's my son!

Hello?

I'm coming now.

I thought you'd got to be at uni at 12.

OK, I'm coming back.

No rest for the wicked, is there?

-See you.

-You take care, my love.

Elaine's got her jewels back,

but getting her lad through law school is another matter.

I thought he said 12, but it was ten.

If he's late with this essay in, though, he's going to get, he won't pass.

Oh, God, he's going to kill me.

Time has run out for Nirosha.

I don't want to have to do this,

but I've tried everything I possibly can.

I've phoned, I've written, I've phoned on numerous occasions

and she doesn't live that far away,

to just actually come in and tell me what, what her intentions are,

so we're going to have to try and recover our monies, unfortunately.

This is going to have to be melted.

I mean, the amount of money that I loaned her on that chain there,

there isn't the gold content in there to cover this.

I can see there being a shortfall somewhere along the line.

I've played ball. Unfortunately,

some people don't come back to you.

I wish and pray that she would come into the shop today now

and say, "I've got the money coming and let's work to them dates."

But there's, there's just no communication.

Nirosha's gold is now destined for the melting pot.

Next time...

A lawyer in need of a loan has his hopes royally dashed.

-Total is about...

-Couple of grand.

Where would you want to be if you were loaning money on this?

I reckon, £100 or £200.

Pretty harsh.

A bizarre item leaves Sammy gobsmacked.

That is one of the weirdest things I've ever had in. I have not had somebody come in with a gold tooth.

And Gez is on the fiddle.

Could be worth a fortune. If it's real,

then, it's like we've won the lottery.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd