Many of them ride a black Timex scooter or a Yamaha MT-09, run from address to address and collect bags with thousands of shekels.
They are nice at first, but may be violent later on.
Some pray in a synagogue, but seem to have no real God.
Your excuses do not interest them and if you do not pay them on time, they will also reach your grandmother at home.
Welcome to the world of debt collectors in Israel, or if you will, soldiers of senior criminals, from whom you took money after you got into trouble.
Now it's time to give back.
It's better to just give back.
Always, and especially in this case (Photo: ShutterStock)
The corona period, which put the Israeli economy in an economic spin, was a very unusual 'money time' for lenders with cut interest rates. The Israeli banking system, which slammed the door on quite a few business owners and self-employed people who were in crisis, forced tens of thousands of them to find other solutions for interim financing, including a loan from the gray market. Various recent estimates estimate that the volume of loans taken out by the public from these dubious sources has soared by tens of percent in the past year and has reached many billions of shekels.
Most often, the ones who collect the money that accompanies the gray market are soldiers, young men aged 20-30, whose job it is to go through the borrowers and collect the interest money and / or the principal every week. Of course there are cases where the lender himself is also the height, however when it comes to ‘heavy’ lenders, renowned in the gray market, they are aided by the same messengers.
We caught one of them in a crowded conversation and also talked to the playlist, Adv. Alon Bracha, who represents quite a few soldiers in crime families about the lives, risks and challenges of debt collectors in Israel.
"If I slap you you will not get up from it"
How did you get into debt?
"I dropped out of school in ninth grade. No one pushed me to continue studying. My father died and my mother could barely make a living at home, working two jobs. We always lacked money, I grew up in housing in one of the central cities and where I grew up you were sucked into crime from a very old age. a young, you do not have much choice. At 15, I was doing all sorts of errands friend working for someone. In time, I gained confidence and I was given another task. That's how, slowly, until I got to where I am.
"In the past I dealt also with drugs, some horses (the code name for the drug Ketamine - Dr.), cartons (trips), and of course marijuana, cannabis, etc.
Of course in light of the criminal record I had already amassed I was not drafted into the army, even though I really wanted to be inside me.
"Around the age of 24, after accumulating money, seniority and also some respect, I moved into the field of loans. I bought my first Timex with my money and even threw my mother about 5,000 shekels a month. Listen, because of work I have to train, my body has value - let's say "That only my appearance is threatening. I'm a little big guy. If I slap you, you do not get up from it."
Where exactly did you get to? Correct me if I am wrong and forgive you, but you end up making a living from people, from doing bad.
"I do not see it as doing bad, I do not deal with anyone, I do not deal with protection and disgusting things. Take a loan? Be a man and repay, it's money from people, who helped you when you needed. Think you would give someone a big loan, and he would not repay "Go, what would you do? But I no longer deal with small things. I don't care about less than 100,000 shekels, people trust me and I know how to bring results."
How long do you break it down?
"You live in a Pablo Escobar movie" (Photo: AP)
The guy you borrowed does not pay the money.
How long do you break it down?
(Laughs): "You live in a Pablo Escobar movie, a lot of times it doesn't get beaten up at all. "Me with stories and not paying the money, I start to explain to him in a slightly less pleasant way that he will pay the money, even if he has to sell the house. I am not interested in stories, but only something that the person will return the money he owes."
But the guy does not pay, laughs at you.
You are with all the time and pose and he smears you with excuses.
what is the next step?
"Listen, before someone gets a loan, they check on him, like in a bank, for example where he works, where he likes to hang out or drink his coffee, in extreme cases I also know where his children study, where his wife works. Where his grandmother lives. I. Know everything. So do not want to pay? No problem. I will fall for him on the street without him planning. For example, if he is praying in a synagogue, I will catch him on the way there on Friday when he is with his children, I will take him aside and let him understand, in words, of course , That he should not play with me. That he will understand that he is going to pay the money. And if that does not help, I escalate. "There is nothing in the world about motherly love. But it is really only in extreme cases."
"Do everything for it to end"
"We usually do not break arms or legs, because for example, a taxi driver who owes money, can not work with a broken leg."
Next, you came to his wife's job, you came to his mother, you came to his grandmother's house. The guy does not pay. When is the time you break your arm?
"I'll tell you the truth, if I see the person in a real problem and do not scold me I prefer to give him air, keep him close to me in my friend section, because in the end I prefer that he pays well. We usually do not break arms or legs, because for example, A taxi driver who owes money, can not work with a broken leg. "When I send you a picture of the child at the entrance to the school, believe me things will move. In the end they have two choices - either he comes back to me today on the phone and pays the money or he does not come back to me today and then pays the money to the hospital."
You sent photos. The guy does not pay. He has no where.
"Like I said, it depends if the person is in real trouble. I had a case of someone who had a stroke and he was in a hospital, so I did not talk to him for half a year. But if he tells stories and I know he has where to return and he scolds me then it's a different story : He can borrow money from his mother, his wife can take a loan from the boss, his friends can help him, he can sell his car, his watch, his wife's jewelry.
"You sit and ask questions but in the field, if you feel about your Stress - this is a different world. You do not sleep at night when we are on you, believe me you will not sleep at night. We will hurt you with dignity, I will make you a little zero. You will feel humiliated. Do everything for it to end. "
So wait, don't you break your arms and legs at all?
"Break, dude, but not so fast. At first he can get some little caress on the cheek, a squeezing hug and if I realize he's not counting me - a slap will also come to explain to him where it can go from here. After that - a lot of them straighten up but In most cases do not get hit, the pressure is enough.
"Someone forced you to take out a loan?"
(Photo: ShutterStock)
"When he wanted money he knew how to come and get it. Why, we put a gun to his head? And when you take a loan from the bank, you do not repay? They will go in to your mother for you to return the money."
What about Molotov cocktails for the home?
"Leave, you're going into corners with me and it's not appropriate."
A truck driver who took money to finance medicine for his child and has nowhere to return. Will not consider?
"When he wanted money he knew how to come and get it. Why, we put a gun to his head? And when you take a loan from the bank, you do not repay? They will go in to your mother to get the money back. The reason why he took the money - not interesting. "The debt, you can do a lot of things. The important thing is not to disappear for us because then problems start."
You live a violent life. What's the fun in that?
"I do not see it that way, there is action. I have no business with anyone. The problem today is that every kid that Daddy bought him Timex and has a few shekels in his pocket becomes a 'good guy'. Put him in Abu Kabir for two days, he cries like "Little girl. These children are hurting our profession."
Are you not afraid of the police? After all, it's a matter of time before you sit in jail. It's called 'extortion' which is an offense receiving it a few years in the face
, "I'm not a kid, I do not threaten people in public, and certainly not on the phone, to keep Klaas. Anyone who threatens it only retarded children who do not understand how to work. These - as I said "We are being destroyed, we are careful."
How Much Money Does a Debtor Make Like You?
"In my field it changes, I'm in a good place today, but as with everything, all beginnings are difficult. Thank God, I earn a base salary and also a commission from each collection. It also depends on how much money it is, how hard it is to collect the debt, and other things. If in advance "They know this is going to be a difficult collection - they will pay me more."
What does a normal day look like for you?
"Gets up around 10, puts on tefillin, goes through the list, sees who needs to pay today and calls him for coordination - builds an agenda for me and leaves. At the end of the day I get to the boss and count the money."
Are there any benefits? Chips at work?
"If you manage to collect handsome sums, or it's a difficult collection, they give you more money."
Let’s talk a little about the excuses you get from people who don’t pay.
"Wow, there's everything from everything. People will sell their mother to bring you a story. The best known method, is 'talk today evening-tomorrow morning', you call a person in the morning he tells you tonight, calls in the evening, and tells you he forgot he was at an event , And that he will meet you tomorrow morning. Or, for example, that the daughter had to go to the dentist, or that my wife underwent surgery and owed money. "A lot of people fuck their brains when they have to pay. For example, a customer who cried for me who has no money, and then I see that in the evening he celebrated somewhere - these are things that drive me crazy."
You said before that 'Blessed be God'. How is God related to the collection business?
"Yes. Thank God he sends good livelihoods. We should thank him."
Say, almost before the end, what's the matter with Timex? There are quite a few other cool scooters
"It's a tool, there are no other tools like that, which also give you a son of a bitch, both strong and a serious pose. I put an Acropovich exhaust with a Paul System, a Malusi's aerator and 14 gram weights. I stand at the traffic lights with every vehicle you put me ".
But between us, it's a scooter that no matter how you improve it, in the end it's worth a maximum of 100,000 shekels.
Is this your whole pose?
"Thank God, not missing and for the woman I also brought a bonbon car. But at work I move from place to place on this tool because it is the fastest and most convenient."
"An absurd situation has arisen in Israel in which a business owner who supplied goods to a customer who did not pay for the garden was forced to make do with crumbs obtained in the execution process" (Photo: Reuven Castro)
Adv. Amir Bracha (Photo: Yachz)
Advocate Bracha, let's you complete the picture for me - why the hell would an ordinary person put his head in the pit of a pit bull? How stupid do you have to be to get involved with the gray market?
"Many businessmen get into situations where the bank closes their door . They are required to turn to 'non-banking' entities in order to continue to circulate the blood in the business, by way of checking checks and the like in those. For example, a business that received a check for NIS 30,000 on a regular basis +90, can not tell its employee 'wait with the salary', so he goes and carries his check against his customer's check, but the problem is when the customer's check comes back Then the business owner's also has no cover, and he comes back too. This is how a snowball starts to roll. And the state also has a hand and a foot that pushes the people there.
What does that mean? How exactly is the state guilty?
"Legislation in the country prioritizes the benefit of debtors over creditors. An absurd situation has arisen in Israel in which a business owner who supplied goods to a customer who did not pay for it, was forced to settle for crumbs received in an enforcement proceeding. "The pro-socialist attitude towards debtors and the disregard for creditors' rights, seemingly create a situation of no choice, in which those who owe it, turn to those involved in the field of collection."
So I understand, are you justifying this violent conduct?
"God forbid, but I ask you to see the story through a different framing. For those businessmen or borrowers, in many cases, the only option to get economic oxygen is through the same factors. If you are looking for culprits, turn the arrow on Israeli banks that make business owners' lives miserable. "With a very problematic credit policy. You will point the finger at the Knesset, which legislates draconian laws that discriminate against creditors. The bad guy in the story is not just the same soldier who collects the money."
