(FORTUNE Small Business) – I can see how some people might have problems with On Time, an increasingly popular product designed to force car owners to pay up on their loans by subjecting them to humiliation and--at best--extreme inconvenience. It upsets me too, but for a different reason: I think On Time doesn't go far enough. In the right hands, the device could make all human-to-human nagging obsolete.

At the moment On Time, sold by Payment Protection System, based in Temecula, Calif., is limited to helping car lenders ensure timely payment from borrowers who are deemed poor credit risks. A numbered keypad is wired to the car's ignition and, when payment is due, must have a fresh five-digit code punched into it before the car will start. The driver has to get that code from his lender--who gives it out only when the regular car payment has been received. And what if the check is in the mail? Before deactivating the ignition, On Time flashes a light under the dash for three days and beeps for one.

Depending on where a delinquent debtor happens to be when his car stops starting--visiting in-laws, say, or at the No Tell Motel--the device could induce actual suffering. But On Time could go so much further. If you've heard those driver-in-distress ads for GM's OnStar system, it's easy to imagine a scary rumble of a voice from nowhere (James Earl Jones, as required by law) that taunts and mocks the debtor, locking him inside until he shakily puts pen to checkbook.

But why restrict such a potent idea to car loans? Let's use On Time to go after all deadbeats. Everybody knows that recent graduates can get pokey with their college loan payments--especially if they're still sleeping till noon on Mom's couch, then slouching to the video arcade under the guise of looking for work. Why not an On Time device to fix that? Upon graduation, Junior trades in his mortarboard for a radio shock collar in his choice of this year's designer colors. No loan payment? Guess who gets zapped out of dreamland every morning at six? And sorry, there's no snooze button.

Our early riser will soon have a job and will want a mortgage. That's where On Time's Home Edition kicks in. Not only will it lock him in his house at the first sign of delinquency, but it will also be sure to do so when the rest of the family is home. Harsh, yes, but effective.

The market opportunities seem boundless. Make the dopey mistake of loaning your leaf blower to the guy next door? With the On Time Good Neighbor system--a tasteful black box attached to the garden tool in question--the man in your debt will soon find himself spritzing his rhododendrons with Agent Orange. That'll learn him.

What about your firm's slow-paying customers? Go ahead, extend credit freely. With the On Time Good Small Business Edition, those widgets you delivered will, at the right moment, emit a shriek about as subtle as an air-raid alarm.

Business consultants like to say that we live in an "experience economy," in which every transaction requires an element of theater. It's true: Simple guilt isn't enough to motivate anyone anymore. Like puppies, people need to be physically conditioned to do what's right. Back when I had a library card, I racked up astronomical fines. Despite my defense (I am a slow reader), the librarians suspended my borrowing privileges. Like an underaged drinker outside a liquor store, I was soon reduced to standing at the checkout desk, asking people I vaguely knew if they would mind taking out my books on their cards. It was painful, but that episode taught me something that I've never forgotten: People at libraries are generally much more helpful than people at liquor stores. If only On Time had existed to train me!