Confessions of former debt collectors

I worked at a bank where I collected on car loans and boat loans, and when people evaded me or lied to me, I often had to resort to repossession.

One day, I went to a debtor's home to repossess a debtor's car. When I showed up at the house, someone on the porch told me the car was in the garage. I went to the garage, and I was met by a big guy with a gun.

"You ain't gonna get any car outta this garage!" he said to us. We slowly backed away. And he was right, we didn't get any car out of the garage -- until we called the Sheriff. This was only slightly more frightening than having two Doberman dogs sicced on me by another debtor.

Unlike some of the other collectors I knew, I didn't try to scare people or take advantage of peoples' ignorance by threatening things like eviction even though we weren't allowed to evict someone. But it was still tough to deal with people who are struggling so much, and it was even harder knowing that a lot of people aren't telling you the truth.

When I first started out, after someone filed for bankruptcy, I thought, "Anyone who files bankruptcy is a good-for-nothing deadbeat," and I was mad at that person. At that point, I was young and nothing very negative had happened in my life, but as I grew up, I learned that many things happen that are out of your control. And there's no point in telling a deadbeat they're a deadbeat. They already know it.

NEXT: Ryan Neuweg