Spain's collection agents practice public humiliation

Debtors may be visited by collectors disguised as monks, bagpipe players, bullfighters, or even Zorro.

from the April 30, 2007 edition

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In many cases, the agency will reach a "friendly agreement" with the debtor; in some business cases, it will pressure a company's suppliers to stop delivery.

The monks are reserved for a certain profile – either the "professional debtor" or the person whose public image makes him or her especially vulnerable. Like many of its competitors, the Monastery sends out its agents in cars emblazoned with the company logo. The costumed agent will show up at the debtor's home or place of work and sometimes follow him on his daily rounds. In some cases he may carry a sign identifying the "person in front of me" as a debtor, or he may speak to – or shout at – the debtor. "A good collector can't be very easily embarrassed," explains Romero, of El Zorro Cobrador, which nearly lost its caped agent to the rifle-toting farmer.

In one notorious case, the owner of the Erreka restaurant in the Basque town of Irun was subject to a visit from a collector dressed in a tux. At first, he didn't notice when the specially marked car ("Tuxedo Collection Agency") parked outside his door. But when the costumed agent entered the restaurant and loudly demanded payment, there was no missing it.

"Everyone eating in the restaurant knew he was in debt," says Pablo Camacho, a lawyer who defends victims of what he calls "attacks" from collectors.

The agencies count on the power of that sort of humiliation.

"Personal honor, your public image, is still very important in Spain," says Zorro's Romero. "If one of our agents shows up at an apartment, everyone in the building is going to know there's a debtor there." Sometimes, the agent doesn't even have to say a word – the briefcases and cars emblazoned with the words "debt collectors" do the work for him. "If a guy goes into a restaurant and four 'monks' come in after him and sit down at the next table," says González, "everyone is going to know he owes money."

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