POLITICAL PARTIES FOR A CHANGING WORLD

Unified Creditors for the Authorization to Use Force in Debt Collection

By : Harry J. Friendly, Senior Collection Services Professional and Obligation Expert

America runs on money. Without timely payment, merchants, professionals and retailers would not get involved in business. Business enterprise drives the American economy; and when businesses fail, America fails. Money is the grease that keeps American business going, and the law ensures that money changes hands in accordance with established business practices. To ensure just payment, the law has created two classes: Creditors and debtors. Creditors have a right to receive money. Debtors have an obligation to pay it. Creditors need the money to stay in business, create jobs and drive the economy. Debtors have a responsibility to pay their creditors for value received. If they do not pay, they essentially commit theft. They take creditors’ goods; then they run off without paying for them. For years now, debtors have trampled upon creditors’ legal rights. They receive costly medical treatment, then refuse to pony up the cash to pay for it. They buy designer bags at high-end stores, but elude payment when the bill shows up. They take home huge plasma screen televisions, then skip town when the collector comes calling. Meanwhile, creditors bear financial suffering. When creditors suffer, people lose jobs. When debtors act irresponsibly, they damage the entire economy. It does not matter that creditors may not need every dollar owed. Principle matters. Legal rights matter. Responsibility matters. It is time to make responsibility an American virtue. We, Unified Creditors for the Authorization to Use Force in Debt Collection, promise to make debtors pay no matter what. We are sick and tired of watching wily deadbeats deny legal satisfaction to hospitals and physicians’ groups. We are sick and tired of laws that indulge irresponsibility. Congress must stop imposing notice requirements on us. Congress must stop regulating our behavior. Today, the law prevents us from calling irresponsible deadbeats between the hours of 9 PM and 5 AM. The law prevents us from asserting our legal rights in-person. Under current rules, we cannot visit a debtor’s home unannounced to insist on payment. We must call during daytime business hours (luckily we can call on Saturdays and Sundays), we may not use harsh language and we cannot “harass” debtors. These debtor-friendly rules grossly undermine our rights as creditors. The law must favor the creditor, not the debtor. Creditors have a right to receive money, yet the law makes it difficult for us to satisfy our rights. If anything, the law should encourage us to satisfy our rights, because when creditors are happy, so is society. When creditors get paid, people keep their jobs. When people keep their jobs, more people spend money. When more people spend money, everyone benefits. True, we creditors benefit more than the average clod. But that is irrelevant to the current analysis. What matters is respect for legal rights. Debtors have obligations. Obligations mean responsibilities. As it stands now, the law protects irresponsible debtors. It castrates creditors’ efforts to take what is rightfully theirs. We must restore respect for legal rights by equipping creditors with the tools they need to force debtors to honor their obligations.

Under the current system, debtors can easily elude creditors. Yes, we can call them 45 times a day and ask questions such as: “Don’t you know you have a responsibility to pay for that MRI exam?” But that will still not wring out the money they owe. It may transform the debtor’s life into a living hell, but that is only half the creditor’s battle. We do not merely want to shame the debtor for his irresponsibility; we also want our goddamned money—now. Shameless debtors will only respond to one thing: Violent force. We must rewrite the laws to authorize any means necessary to force debtors to pay what they owe. We must be allowed to go to debtors’ homes unannounced at any hour on any day. We must be allowed to force entry with baseball bats, tire irons, clubs, battering rams and nail-studded boards. We must be allowed to break windows or use explosives if needed. At that point, we can have a productive conversation with the debtor. No more will debtors be allowed to simply “hang up the phone.” We will force him to answer the question: “Where is the money?” If he does not give a responsible answer, we must be allowed to smash his kneecaps, bludgeon his face and break his ribcage. If he insists that he cannot pay, we must be allowed immediate access to all his other property, whether in account form or otherwise.

Debtors must learn responsibility. Current laws contribute to their irresponsibility because they suffer no consequences when they fail to make timely payment. If elected, we promise to reverse that trend. If a debtor shirks his medical bill, he will soon know that there are physical consequences for disrespecting a creditor’s legal right. Even if the debtor is ill, compassion must not prevent us from beating payment out of him. Compassion has led to today’s ugly state of affairs. Rather than having mercy on debtors, the law must brand them commercial criminals. After all, the law serves commerce, and when creditors go unpaid, commerce suffers.

Some will say that creditors have no right to break the law in order to receive payment. To this we respond that the law must change. When a creditor suffers legal injury, he obtains a privilege to act in a way that would otherwise be illegal. For example, if a debtor refuses to pay a $421.87 dental bill, a creditor may lawfully employ collection agents to seek out the debtor, break into his home, strip him naked and burn him with blowtorches until he pays. In a non-commercial setting, this conduct would amount to burglary, home invasion, trespassing and aggravated assault. But when lawful payments are at stake, this conduct becomes permissible debt collection intended to satisfy an aggrieved legal right.

We must stop indulging irresponsibility. Everyone must pay their bills. It is time to restore responsibility in American life. If you can’t afford something, don’t buy it. If you do buy it, remember your creditor. Creditors are more important to the economy than you are. We promise to protect creditors. When we ensure that creditors receive payment, we create jobs. We strengthen the economy. We spawn hope. In these dark economic times, this is exactly what America needs. For that reason, vote for increased creditor rights. Vote to stop debtors from destroying our economy. If you care about legal rights and responsibility, you will vote for Unified Creditors. If you care about jobs, you will vote for Unified Creditors. A vote against us is a vote for deadbeats. Let us all join together as a Nation and say: “This year, we will beat the deadbeats.” Vote for responsibility. Because a vote for creditors is a vote for American jobs.

“Responsibility is our policy—what’s yours?®”

(Paid for by Unified Creditors for the Authorization to Use Force in Debt Collection. This is an advertisement for a political party that intends to lawfully collect your debts. Any information we obtain will be used for that purpose. Any personal information obtained will not protected, and may be sold to third-party collection agents for debt collection purposes consistent with applicable law. If you are a debtor, pay your bills. Otherwise, be prepared for late night knocks on your door by authorized collection agents acting consistent with State and local law.)