History Main / EvilDebtCollector

They have a proud reputation for being nasty, lazy thugs who think the law is a suggestion and will stoop to any low, including making {{Harassing Phone Call}}s, in order to shake some money out of their "customers." Their stereotypical nature is often the butt of many jokes. Note that for the sake of examples, tax collectors are also included. Some collectors in RealLife have even tried to get their targets arrested or imprisoned, even in areas where this is technically highly illegal. Threatening criminal charges is actually a great way to get a collection agency sued, as is threatening a lawsuit when you have no intent to file one any time soon. In fact, at least in the US (as of 1977), under the Fair Debt Collections Act, there are certain types of conduct that, while associated with this trope, are ''strictly'' prohibited. (Other countries may have similar laws and regulations.) These behaviors include:

[[quoteright:260:[[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/07ac28597b8767c905f8c764da30893f.jpg]]]]

** The story starts with Liam dying from being worked to death paying off debts his ex-wife forced on him partly from a MamasBabyPapasMaybe situation and having been harassed by these. [[ReincarnateInAnotherWorld In his next life]], this motivates Liam’s subsequent hatred of SpacePirates and LeaveNoSurvivors policy against them because he sees the debt collectors when he looks at them.
** Rosetta is from an ImpoverishedPatrician noble household that has been harassed for millennia simply for backing the wrong side in a succession dispute, with said ancient organization forcing her to take on more and more debt and delighting in her suffering before Liam’s allies kill them.

* Contacting third parties other than the debt-holder's (current) spouse or attorney. They ''can'', however, inquire to friends, relatives, exes, neighbors, and employers about your whereabouts or contact information if they are unsure of it or have been unable to reach you, but they cannot disclose information (such as how much you owe or to whom you owe it) to any of them.

* In ''Manga/PoorPoorLips'', this is played with. [[spoiler: Nako's uncle has saddled her with her parents' alleged debt for a car accident to pay his own debts. He claims to have loaned her the money to pay that back, but it's all TheCon worked on a young girl. Ren is absolutely ''furious'' when she learns about it, and calls on her mother to unleash the lawyers.]]

* The film ''Film/NinetyNineHomes'' deals with a man who gets his family house foreclosed and then starts working as one of these for the real-estate broker who evicted him.

* Dean and Manny from ''Film/BackstreetDreams'' do this for a living, threatening and beating up anyone who can't or won't pay the crime lord Luca. Dean is torn between his loyalty towards Manny and his desire to go straight.

* ''Series/LasVegas'': Subverted in an episode where Sam Marquez is teamed up with a debt collector to track down several gamblers who are evading their debts to the casino. She asks him if he's gonna hurt anyone to force them to pay up, but he points out that this would quickly land him in jail if the debtor decides to call the authorities; according to him it's more about appearance and intimidation than ''actually'' roughing people up. This doesn't stop Sam from playing the "violent collector" part herself later on.

* ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'' once did [[https://youtu.be/hxUAntt1z2c an episode on debt buyers who specialized in debt past the]] StatuteOfLimitations (thus, not collectable through the courts). Part of the episode focused on the debt collectors they use, which often are virtually unregulated and use tactics such as harassment, threats and name-calling. When they do so legally (or pseudo-legally), they use subterfuges like making silent phone calls then using the "yes" that people normally use to greet others in phone calls as an actual acceptance of consent to pay the debt, convincing people to pay just a part of the debt by telling them they forgive the rest then suing to collect it, or (actually legally) suing and expecting people not to contest (which they normally don't).

*** In those days, it wasn't uncommon for them to [[CorruptBureaucrat demand more than was really owed, and skim off the top]]. John the Baptist even calls out the tax collectors for this very practice, saying they should collect no more than they are legally entitled to collect. This was officially sanctioned, as their only pay was that surplus, but there were no limits on what tax collectors could collect, and they took full advantage of that.

* Inverted in 1990, when the ''[[Wrestling/BigBossman Big Boss Man]]'' (Ray Traylor) refused to reposess Ted [=DiBiase=]'s Million Dollar Belt because he wouldn't take a pay-off.

* A handful of side quests in ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs'' involve Wei taking on some work as a collector, until he becomes thoroughly disgusted with the job after [[spoiler:a debtor commits suicide in public, and Wei's boss just shrugs and says to move on to the dead man's wife instead]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Cuphead}}'' you become one of these to the Devil himself! In order to pay for a gambling debt where the protagonists bet their souls, they have to run around Inkwell Isle to find the Devil's runaway debtors and recover the Soul Contracts out of them. Of course, they are not happy to see you and thus you have to fight them. [[spoiler: It can be subverted at the end, however, if you chose to fight the devil and beat him, Cuphead and Mugman will proceed to burn the soul contracts, freeing the bosses from their debts and they will throw a party in your honor]].

[[caption-width-right:260:Fear me if you dare! [[note]]Also, ducks have teeth?[[/note]]]]

Related to LoanShark and MorallyBankruptBanker. OlderThanFeudalism. A form of AcceptableProfessionalTargets. Using one of these is a good way for someone trying to KillTheCreditor to be written as [[SympatheticMurderer sympathetic]]. Expect this character (especially if they are played for exaggeration) to try to get their money back through a RidiculousRepossession.

* Averted in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. Tom works as a debt collector but is generally a very nice and laid-back guy. He hires Shizuo as his bodyguard and enforcer, but he would rather just use Shizuo's fearsome reputation to scare debtors into paying on time and only uses violence as a last resort. Unfortunately, [[TooDumbToLive there are still idiots who provoke Shizuo]].

** Also from ''Paperinik New Adventures'', there's aliens who will ''start wars'' over unpaid debts-a merchant coalition went to war against a planet because they wouldn't pay their debts for too long (then again, they wouldn't pay the PrivateMilitaryContractors they hired to defend themselves, so the merchants may have a point), and in the second series the builders of an industrial planet replied to the commissioning mining company refusing to pay when they went overbudget not by suing them but by hiring a mercenary army to take it back.

* ComicStrip/HagarTheHorrible often gets visits from the friendly tax collector... and his [[GiantMook burly enforcer.]]

* The South Korean movie ''Pietà'' is about a debt collector who maims and injures debtors so that they can collect insurance to pay off their loans, at the cost of living out their lives crippled or disfigured.

* Dutch movie ''Karakter'' is about a debt collector battling with his illegitimate son. Although the debt collector is hated by all his 'customers' his side of the story is that he is simply following the law and making sure freeloaders get their due. He seems to legitimately love his son and want him to succeed but also believes in tough love, very tough love [[spoiler: the debt collector commits suicide at the end of the movie, but throughout the movie, the viewer was led to believe his son had killed him]].

They have a proud reputation for being nasty, lazy thugs who think the law is a suggestion and will stoop to any low in order to shake some money out of their "customers." Their stereotypical nature is often the butt of many jokes. Note that for the sake of examples, tax collectors are also included. Prone to making the HarassingPhoneCall, as mentioned above. Some collectors in RealLife have even tried to get their targets arrested or imprisoned, even in areas where this is technically highly illegal. Threatening criminal charges is actually a great way to get a collection agency sued, as is threatening a lawsuit when you have no intent to file one any time soon. In fact, at least in the US (as of 1977), under the Fair Debt Collections Act, there are certain types of conduct that, while associated with this trope, are ''strictly'' prohibited. (Other countries may have similar laws and regulations.) These behaviors include:

* Contacting the person by phone if s/he has requested that all communications going forward take place in writing.

* Putting the debt on the person's credit report if s/he has filed a dispute.

* The prime reason that Allen Walker of ''Manga/DGrayMan'' became so good at cheating at cards was to deal with constant harrasment by debt collectors as the result of being stuck with General Cross' gambling debts.

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean'', Miraschon's [[FightingSpirit Stand]] is Marylin Manson, also known as [[RedBaron "The Debt Collector"]]. It has the power to "collect debts" by reading the opponent's minds to know where they keep any money or valuables. If nothing else is available, it will remove organs to sell on the black market. While collecting, it's invulnerable; you can only get rid of it by beating its master.

* Averted in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. Tom works as a debt collector but is generally a very nice and laid back guy. He hires Shizuo as his bodyguard and enforcer, but he would rather just use Shizuo's fearsome reputation to scare debtors into paying on time and only uses violence as a last resort. Unfortunately, [[TooDumbToLive there are still idiots who provoke Shizuo]].

** {{Invoked}} in ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'' by Xadhoom: she has [[PhysicalGod godlike powers]], and, in her own words, the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Evronians]], having conquered and razed her homeworld and transformed her people into [[SlaveMook Coolflames]] while she conduced the experiment that gave her the powers, owe her her homeworld and people... So she took the name Xadhoom, meaning "Creditor" in her language, and started exterminating the Evronians. A virtual cookie if you can guess what has just happened when she finally declares "Closed accounts".
** Also from ''Paperinik New Adventures'', there's aliens who will ''start wars'' over unpaid debts-a merchant coalition went at war against a planet because they wouldn't pay their debts for too long (then again, they wouldn't pay the PrivateMilitaryContractors they hired to defend themselves, so the merchants may have a point), and in the second series the builders of an industrial planet replied to the commissioning mining company refusing to pay when they went overbudget not by suing them but by hiring a mercenary army to take it back.
* Franchise/{{Batman}} villain the Tally Man is this trope turned full on psychotic.

* The film ''Film/NinetyNineHomes'' deals with a man who gets his family house foreclosed and then starts working as one of these for the real-state broker who evicted him.

* Dutch movie ''Karakter'' is about a debt collector battling with his illegitimate son. Although the debt collector is hated by all his 'customers' his side of the story is that he is simply following the law and making sure freeloaders get their due. He seems to legitimately love his son and want him to succeed but also believes in though love, very tough love [[spoiler: the debt collector commits suicide at the end of the movie, but throughout the movie the viewer was led to believe his son had killed him]].

* In the British comedy ''Film/SavingGrace (2000)'' The bank intends to foreclose on Grace Trevethyn's historic coastal Manor House, forcing her to grow marijuana in her greenhouse with her gardener in order to pay off her debt to the bank and avoid loosing her home.

** The Rodian bounty hunter Greedo in ''Film/ANewHope'' is an EvilDebtCollector in the employ of criminal kingpin[=/=]LoanShark Jabba the Hutt. He's not above pulling a gun on a recalcitrant debtor like Han Solo, which leads to his KarmicDeath when Han shoots him first. Of course, in the Special Edition, George Lucas felt the need to give Han even more obvious moral high ground (possibly to maintain the movie's PG rating), so this scene was edited to have [[AdaptationalSelfDefense Greedo fire at Han first]].

* The trucker brothers in ''Film/ThinkBig'' has to be on constant lookout on the repo man Sweeney, who tries to steal their truck, which is one payment away from being completely theirs. [[spoiler:He succeeds near the end, but gets his karmic comeuppance by getting poisoned from the toxic waste shipment that brothers were hauling]].
* A variant in ''{{Film/Furie}}''. The merciless debt collector Hai Phuong is the protagonist, and it's evident that her ruthless methods have made her despised around the village. That said, she's barely out of poverty herself, and is most concerned with providing for her young daughter Mai, who resents her mom's career because it attracts bullies in school eager to punish Mai for her mother's deeds.

* The villain of ''Litature/TheRedNecklace'', Count Kalliovski, lets people borrow large sums of money from him so when they fail to pay him back, he gains control over them.

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E4TheSunMakers The Sun Makers]]", far-future Pluto is governed by a monstrous tax collector (literally: [[spoiler: he turns into some kind of fungus at the end]]) and his greedy lackies, who subjugate the human colonists through providing them with access to an artificial sun -- for which they are taxed into poverty and starvation.

* In ''Series/{{Justified}}'' a bookie employed a part time debt collector to collect from gamblers who failed to pay the money they owed. The debt collector's regular job was as a gardener so he liked to threaten to cut of people's toes with garden shears if they did not pay up. However, the bookie was a relatively nice guy so the debt collector was not supposed to actually seriously hurt people. This changed when one of the gamblers makes a business suggestion to the collector and they embark on ASimplePlan of kidnapping the bookie and stealing all of his money. We then see that the debt collector really was a tad AxeCrazy and he decides to shoot it out in a duel with US Marshal Raylan Givens.

* A ''Series/CSIMiami'' episode (Season 5, Episode 4: "Bang, Bang, Your Debt") involved a web of debauchery, murder and suicide which revolved around a spectacularly {{Jerkass}} bundle of these (whose preferred way to create "''customers''" was by swindling college kids into a DarkerAndEdgier CreditCardPlot). The VictimOfTheWeek was a girl that was dragged into debt bad enough to be kicked out of college, had to do sexual favours to the collectors' leader try to reduce the debt (and him deciding to not do anything after having his way with her), and who decided to commit suicide alongside a friend of hers that was on the same wagon (and when he managed to survive, he decided to [[KillTheCreditor kill the collector in revenge]]).

* Often averted in TV reality shows about debt collectors. The loveable semi-incompetents of ''Series/LizardLickTowing'' and ''Series/OperationRepo'' are hard to take seriously, although the serious nature of their job is clearly illustrated. Meanwhile, British reality shows such as ''Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away!'' which follow court bailiffs and debt collectors about their work, portray thoughtful, intelligent, men who will pursue a deliberate defaulter without mercy. People capable of payment get short shrift. But the bailiffs can often bend over backwards to help somebody who is in hardship or genuinely struggling, and view actual eviction or distraint as an absolutely last resort.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjpmT5noto Another episode]], on [[TheTroubleWithTickets local fine penalties]], talks in part about the "private probation companies" cash-strapped local governments use to collect those fines. They tack on extra charges (which represent the cost of charging those fines), so that debtors will end perpetually on debt.

* Inverted in 1990, when the ''[[Wrestling/BigBossman Big Boss Man]]'' (Ray Traylor) refused to reposess Ted [=DiBiase=]'s Million Dollar Belt, because he wouldn't take a pay-off.

** This happens to O'aka, after he ends up heavily in debt to some Al Bhed. Yuna and the Gullwings can help him by buying enough of his merchandise so he has the money to pay off his loans. Alternatively, you can turn him over to them.

* In the ''Dragonborn'' DLC for ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', if you find a new steward for the Telvanni mage-lord Neloth, an Orc loan shark (complete with an intimidating/[[MuggingTheMonster "intimidating"]] bodyguard) will use InsaneTrollLogic to justify trying to collect the steward's debt from you . Your options are: pay the debt, negotiate and pay a reduced amount, intimidating him into forgiving the debt, or [[KillTheCreditor make him permanently unable to collect on the debt]]. All are viable, but violence in the presence of the guards get you in trouble with the law. If you ignore him, he'll start following you, [[TooDumbToLive even if it's into the ash wastes where there's no guards to hear him scream...]]

* In ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'', Arthur can act as a debt collector for the gang's resident loan shark Leopold Strauss, which typically involve collecting from destitute individuals who cannot possibly pay their debts back. However, during the final collections Arthur is given the option to absolve the debt or even give the debtors some money out of his own pocket, [[spoiler:eventually running Strauss out of the gang in frustration over having to deal with soul-crushing dirty work as well as contracting tuberculosis via one of the earlier jobs]].

* ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'': WordOfGod reveals that [[spoiler:it was Lord Gordain who created the original [[DeadlyGame Nonary Game]] as away of both getting rid of his debtors in a ridiculously brutal manner and [[PassThePopcorn to provide entertainment to other billionaires]]]].

* In ''Webcomic/TheWordWeary'', Stan Becks is a debt collector with a fictional company. He calls Elly and tells her (wrongly) she has pay beck her recently deceased mother's credit card debt, crippling her financially. This trope is played with in that Stan himself doesn't really appear to be evil, just forced into it to save his job.

** Played for laughs in the episode "Who Gives a Buck", after Rocko gets carried away with his new credit card. He picks up the phone and receives the standard angry collection call.
** In "Junk Junkies", Rocko ends up owing $500 to a pizza place. Their debt collection practices start off with phone calls, but quickly escalate to breaking windows and dropping ''flaming pizza bombs'' from a plane. Their final method involves a visit from a massive thug named Wallace.

* Even Scrooge [=McDuck=] isn't immune to this trope. "[[Recap/DuckTalesS1E5NothingToFear Nothing to Fear]]" from ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' had the protagonists suffering from their worst nightmares. Scrooge's worst fear is debt collectors taking away everything he owns, even to the point of trying to take away Huey, Dewey and Louie.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2271 SCP-2271]]-1 imposes an impossible-to-pay debt on each victim, then drives them mad with visual hallucinations of shadowy figures and a violent desire to pay off the debt by any means necessary, including emptying monetary accounts and selling off possessions, their loved ones, and their own body parts. When the debtor [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption inevitably fails to pay up a second time]], they vanish as the consequence of the outstanding debt.

* In ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'', the Sheriff of Nottingham plays this trope by collecting harsh, unnecessary taxes for the greedy Prince John. Despite saying [[JustDoingMyJob he is just doing his duty]], the crooked lawman crosses several lines by taking money that is hidden in the cast of a man's broken leg (even beating on it to get the last coin out), stealing a child's farthing birthday gift (which was the lowest denomination in existence in that time period), robbing a blind beggar (who is really the title hero in disguise), and even taking the only coin from the church's poor box. The last one crosses the line from cruel to outright illegal when you consider the fact that the crown didn't have the authority to tax the church at all at that point in history, being a major political hot topic for centuries. [[FridgeBrilliance That may explain why]] Friar Tuck [[BerserkButton loses his cool and proceeds to give the Sheriff a thumping before he is arrested]] (something that Sheriffs at that point in history didn't have the legal authority to do either).

* Turned UpToEleven in ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors''. WordOfGod reveals that [[spoiler:it was Lord Gordain who created the original [[DeadlyGame Nonary Game]] as away of both getting rid of his debtors in a ridiculously brutal manner and [[PassThePopcorn to provide entertainment to other billionaires]]]].

* In ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'', Fatui Agents are EliteMooks that are tasked with settling debts owned to the Fatui, a duty they carry out with [[ProfessionalKiller lethal efficiency]]. This covers not only the collection of actual monetary debts but also claiming dues of a more figurative kind by exacting revenge on those who cross the Fatui.

* In ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'', Pyro Agents are EliteMooks that are tasked with settling debts owned to the Fatui, a duty they carry out with [[ProfessionalKiller lethal efficiency]]. This covers not only the collection of actual monetary debts but also claiming dues of a more figurative kind by exacting revenge on those who cross the Fatui.

** This happens to O'aka in , after he ends up heavily in debt to some Al Bhed. Yuna and the Gullwings can help him by buying enough of his merchandise so he has the money to pay off his loans. Alternatively, you can turn him over to them.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* For the longest time, Spain and Portugal's debt collection industries were dominated by "costumed debt collectors" who'd regularly publicly humiliate debtors into paying up. This is to the point where a law firm, El Defensor Del Moroso, was set up by a former employee of one costumed debt collection agency to handle legal cases against the costumed debt collection companies (as well as regular debt collection companies).
[[/folder]]

* The Vreedle Brothers are Repo Men on ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'', sent to get Ship.

* A ''Series/CSIMiami'' episode (Season 5, Episode 4: "Bang, Bang, Your Debt") involved a web of debauchery, murder and suicide which revolved around a spectacularly {{Jerkass}} bundle of these (who's preferred way to create "''customers''" was by swindling college kids into a DarkerAndEdgier CreditCardPlot). The VictimOfTheWeek was a girl that was dragged into debt bad enough to be kicked out of college, had to do sexual favours to the collectors' leader try to reduce the debt (and him deciding to not do anything after having his way with her), and who decided to commit suicide alongside a friend of hers that was on the same wagon (and when he managed to survive, he decided to [[KillTheCreditor kill the collector in revenge]]).

* [[RobinHood The Sheriff of Nottingham]] is considered by most to be the TropeCodifier.

* In the Disney version of ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'', the Sheriff of Nottingham plays this trope by collecting harsh, unnecessary taxes for the greedy Prince John. Despite saying [[JustDoingMyJob he is just doing his duty]], the crooked lawman crosses several lines by taking money that is hidden in the cast of a man's broken leg (even beating on it to get the last coin out), stealing a child's farthing birthday gift (which was the lowest denomination in existence in that time period), robbing a blind beggar (who is really the title hero in disguise), and even taking the only coin from the church's poor box. The last one crosses the line from cruel to outright illegal when you consider the fact that the crown didn't have the authority to tax the church at all at that point in history, being a major political hot topic for centuries. [[FridgeBrilliance That may explain why]] Friar Tuck [[BerserkButton loses his cool and proceeds to give the Sheriff a thumping before he is arrested]] (something that Sheriffs at that point in history didn't have the legal authority to do either).
-->'''Friar Tuck: ''GET OUTTA MY CHURCH!!!!'''''

Related to LoanShark and MorallyBankruptBanker. OlderThanFeudalism. A form of AcceptableProfessionalTargets. Using one of these is a good way for someone trying to KillTheCreditor to be written as [[SympatheticMurderer sympathetic]].

** Adding in for the Bible entry, it would seem that being a Debt Collector is the AlwaysChaoticEvil and DesignatedVillain version of jobs, as Jesus often uses them as the bad guys in the metaphors (and then subverts that these bad guys still pale in the faces of the haughty).

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' has sometimes had Vetinari note that tax-collecting used to be a matter of holding people upside down and shaking them until they dropped either coins or teeth.