Editing Debt collection (section)

==History==
{{See also | History of bankruptcy law}}
Debt collection has existed as long as there has been debt and is older than [[money]] itself, as it existed in earlier [[barter]] systems. Debt collection goes back to the [[ancient civilization]]s, starting in [[Sumer]] in 3000&nbsp;BC. In these civilizations, if a debt could not be paid back, the debtor and the debtor's spouse, children, or servants were forced into [[Debt bondage|debt slavery]] until the creditor recouped their losses through the physical labor of the enslaved. Under [[Babylonian law#Debt|Babylonian Law]], strict guidelines governed the repayment of debts, including several basic debtor protections.

In some societies debts would be carried over into subsequent generations and debt slavery would continue, but some early societies provided for periodic [[debt forgiveness]] such as a [[Jubilee (biblical)|jubilee]]s or would set a time limit on a debt.<ref>{{cite book |title=[[Debt: The First 5000 Years]] |author=David Graeber |author-link=David Graeber |date=2011}}</ref>

The [[Bible]] issues stern restrictions regarding how much interest to charge on a loan. The [[Quran]] prohibits any amount of interest on loans given and encourages direct transactions. The [[Abrahamic religions]] discouraged lending and prohibited creditors from collecting interest on debts owed. By the [[Middle Ages]], laws came into being to deal specifically with debtors. If creditors were unable to collect a debt they could take the debtor to court and obtain a judgment against the debtor. This resulted in either the [[bailiff]] of the court going to the house of debtor and collecting goods in lieu of the debt, or the debtor being remitted to [[debtor’s prison]] until the debtor's family could pay off the debt or until the creditor forgave it.

In occupied territories of the [[Roman Empire]], tax collectors were frequently associated with extortion, greed, and abuse of power.

In medieval England, a [[catchpole]], formerly a freelance tax collector, was a legal official, working for the [[bailiff]], responsible for collecting debts, using often coercive methods.<ref name=www>[https://www.worldwidewords.org World Wide Words]: Issue 825: 30 March 2013, 'Catchpole'</ref>

Once debtors prisons were abolished during the early 1800s, creditors had no solid recourse against delinquent debtors. If collateral was involved in the debt, such as with a [[mortgage]], the creditor could take the property in order to indemnify themselves. However, for [[unsecured debt]], creditors could not collect on their investments if the debtors had no money. Even if a creditor obtains a judgment against the debtor in court, collection remains dependent on the debtor's being able to repay the judgment. In a transaction involving the sale of goods, a court could potentially order the goods to be seized and returned to the seller, but many lenders and creditors had limited recourse beyond trying to verify a borrower or customer's creditworthiness before entering into a loan or transaction.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

During the [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s in the [[United States]], large financial institutions relied heavily upon [[foreclosure]] to collect outstanding mortgage debts, which gained an overwhelmingly negative public perception.