History Main / EvilDebtCollector

* ''Anime/SpeedGrapher'': Suitengu kills a man for failing to pay his 10,000,000 yen debt in full... over a discrepancy of ''a single 1,000 yen bill''. Turns out that his kid was fiddling with the money after his father got a little too obsessive with paying the debt. [[spoiler:This is a serious hint that Suitengu does NOT worship capitalism, as he prevented a relatively reliable debt collector from doing further business]].

** {{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 transformerd 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".

* 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 avoid loosing her home.

*** 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.

* In the British comedy ''Film/SavingGrace (2000)'' The bank intends to foreclose on Grace Trevethyn's historic coastal manor house unless she can pay off the large debt she inherited from her late husband (that he built up without her knowledge). She soon discovers a solution when she helps to revive some of her gardener's (marijuana) plants and realizes they could be the solution to her money problems.

* The plot line of ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}} 2'' involves the president of Olimar's company running from debt collectors after taking a loan from the wrong bank -- the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast All-Devouring Black Hole]] {{Loan Shark}}s. He [[http://www.pikminwiki.com/Mail sends emails]] [[BlackComedy about it]].

* In the British comedy ''Film/SavingGrace (2000)'' The bank intends to foreclose on Grace Trevethyn's historic coastal manor house when she inherited a large debt from her late husband that he built without her knowledge unless she can find a way to pay it off. She soon discovers a solution when she is forced to fire her gardener and in compensation, he asks her to revive a couple of his (marijuana) plants, she soon realizes this could be the solution to both of their money problems by growing the plants in her greenhouse.

* In the British comedy ''Film/SavingGrace (2000)'' The bank intends to foreclose on Grace Trevethyn's historic coastal manor house when she inherited a large debt from her late husband that he built without her knowledge unless she can find a way to pay it off (she discovers a solution when she is forced to fire her gardener and in compensation, he asks her to revive a couple of his (marijuana) plants, she soon realizes this a could be the solution to their money problems by growing the plants in her greenhouse).

* In the 2000 British comedy ''Film/SavingGrace'' The bank intends to foreclose on Grace Trevethyn's historic coastal manor when she inherited a large debt from her late husband that he built without her knowledge unless she has to find a way to pay it off (she discovers a solution when she is forced to fire her gardener and in compensation, he asks her to revive a couple of his (marijuana) plants, she soon realizes this a could be the solution to their money problems by growing the plants in her greenhouse).

* In the 2000 British comedy ''Film/SavingGrace'' The bank intends to forclose on Grace Trevethyn's historic manor home which causes her to discover that she inherited a large debt built up by her late husband without her knowledge and she is forced to pay it off (which she decides to do by growing Marijuana in her greenhouse with her Scottish gardener Matthew).

* In the Mickey Rooney movie ''Quicksand'', the appearance of one of these accelerates the downward spiral of the hero, since he threatens to have the young fellow jailed for fraud unless he pays all the money on an installment plan watch within 24 hours.

->''"I need my money. And I will find your sister, your daughter, whoever this Miss Deborah Gordon is, and I will find her and I will find you. And I will fuck you up. Goodbye."''
-->-- '''Typical call from a "nice" debt collector'''

* Often averted in TV reality shows about debt collectors. The loveable semi-incompetents of ''Series/LizardLickTowing'' 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.

* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has a less "evil", more [[PersonOfMassDestruction "extremely destructive"]] example with [[TheJuggernaut Nautilus, the Titan of the Depths]]. Sailors in Bilgewater have a tradition of paying a tithe to the local undersea EldritchAbomination Nagakabouros. Nautilus -- [[WasOnceAMan once a man]] left for dead by a greedy captain who refused to pay the tithe -- now serves as a furious enforcer of this policy, [[LightningBruiser appearing almost out of nowhere to violently destroy your ship and your entire crew]] should you fail to pay the tithe.

* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', a villain's Stand (sort of psychic projection) has the power to "collect debts" by reading the opponent 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.

* Threatening legal action.

* 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 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).

Debt collectors are an {{Acceptable Professional Target|s}}. 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:

A trope about that [[SarcasmMode most revered and respected of all professions]], the debt collector. 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:

* Following his {{Flanderization}}, Mr. Goodman from ''WebVideo/SuperMarioLogan'' extorts Mario under the guise of mortgage payments (even though Mario got the house for free) with [[SirSwearsALot profane language]] and threatens Mario with physical harm if his demands are not met. He never gets any karma for it because [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney he always bribes the police]], and the cops [[DirtyCop take said bribes like candy]].