Would you offer your soul as collateral for a loan? In Latvia, people are lining up to do just that.

Latvian Viktor Mirosiichenko has started his own loan company, asking that individuals sign an agreement stating that the company is obliged to the client’s “immortal soul” should they fail to pay back the money owed.

Mirosiichenko said his company would not employ debt collectors to get its money back if people refused to repay, and promised no physical violence. Signatories only have to give their first name and do not show any documents.

“If they don’t give it back, what can you do? They won’t have a soul, that’s all,” [Mirosiichenko] told Reuters in a basement office, with one desk, a computer and three chairs.

Will this type of loan agreement appeal to residents of the EU country hardest hit by the recession? Well, so far, the company has given out some 200 loans valued at up to 250 lats ($500) for between one and ninety days, complete with a substantial interest rate.

From his tiny office, Mirosiichenko is betting on the moral goodness of his fellow Latvians — a risky bet in an even riskier economic times.

In Riga, Latvia, one man is trying to use souls for collateral.