Is the phone really collateral in these financing agreements? They just want the guaranteed revenue stream from forcing you to stick with them for 2 years. I

Is the phone really collateral in these financing agreements? They just want the guaranteed revenue stream from forcing you to stick with them for 2 years. I imagine it would be quite expensive to go retrieve the phone from someone's house after they stop paying, and they could do that even if it wasn't locked to a particular carrier. I think the threshold for repossession of collateral is somewhere around cars; stop paying your car lease, they'll take the car; stop paying for your house, they'll kick you out of your house. But I don't think it's worth it for phones.