AND WE WONDER WHY WE HAVE A BAD IMAGE

By The Patriot Ledger

A frightening incident last week and the arraignment of a pair of Brockton brothers has brought an ugly and little-regulated underbelly of credit collection to the forefront.

We wonder what possessed the Simeone brothers of Brockton to apparently think they were in a Martin Scorcese film. Had they watched too many episodes of ‘‘Dog the Bounty Hunter?’’

Jumping on the hood of a car, terrorizing a young mother with a 5-year-old in the backseat, allegedly assaulting the woman, all in the name of repossessing a seven-year-old Ford Focus when the owner fell three weeks to a month behind on her car payments?

Sara Bradley of Rockland admits she could not make her weekly $85 car payment to Crown Auto Sales after she lost her job as an accounting clerk. She said she notified the dealer but never heard back.

James Stuart, Crown’s general manager, said he unleashed the repo men, Robert J. Simeone Jr., 21, and his teenage brother Michael, after Bradley went into default last month.

The Simeones were apparently doing work for their dad, Robert Simeone of South Shore Auto. Riding with four teenage friends, they spotted Bradley in East Bridgewater, allegedly tried to reach in and yank her or the keys out, and gave chase through three towns before Robert Simeone Jr. jumped on the hood of her car and she drove into the Abington police station’s parking lot with the man still attached to her hood.

Bradley, understandably, said she thought she was being carjacked. While Stuart claimed the whole process was legal, Massachusetts general laws may take issue with that.

One of the statutes outlining repossession, Chapter 255, section 13J ( we looked it up so we assume others can as well), says a creditor can reclaim collateral on a defaulted loan ‘‘only if possession can be obtained without use of force, (and) without a breach of peace.’’

The brothers were hit with an array of charges including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in East Bridgewater and Abington and held.

‘‘Any semblance of common sense was completely lost as emotions escalated, putting a 5-year-old through that type of scare as her mother was confronted,’’ Abington Police Chief David Majenski said after the incident.

No one is saying people should be allowed to stop paying their bills. You are granted credit and with it comes responsibilities and consequences when you can’t hold up your end of the bargain. There are, however, regulations on how that delinquency should be handled and they include rights for the buyer.

When a teenager and someone barely above the legal drinking age act as unlicensed bounty hunters, it’s time to rethink the system.

Officials at the Executive Office of Consumer Affairs, the Executive Office of Public Safety and the Attorney General’s office said there are no statutes governing repossession companies or their employees save for a few requirements like not using force, not entering someone’s home and notifying police within one hour of taking possession of property.

They are unlicensed, unregulated and untrained yet they are empowered to recover collateral for a price. We regulate and license people to cut your hair, massage your back and put on your makeup but anyone with a scary physique and questionable background can be employed to take away someone’s car without warning.

The Legislature needs to look at these retail installment agreements but foremost, lawmakers have to put the lasso around these repo cowboys who have little regard or even knowledge of responsible collection actions.