Boom times for American pawnbrokers as rich hit hard times reads the headline .

Like most pawn shops in Los Angeles - home to not one but two failed mortgage lenders, Countrywide Financial and IndyMac Bank - it is doing a roaring trade.

With America's banks refusing to lend money even to wealthy customers there is now an overwhelming demand for an alternative. In Beverly Hills, where keeping up appearances is all-important, Collateral Lender is only too happy to help.