Figures from the New York Fed are balances outstanding, not sale prices. Bands cited from DebtMarket’s pricing study are conversation ranges, not offers. This note is education for operating companies and creditors. It is not legal advice.
Credit card charge-offs are the unsecured product most creditors know how to sell, and the product most buyers have a box for. They are still not one market. A portfolio that leaves the issuer at charge-off, a portfolio that has already been placed with an agency, and a monthly forward flow are priced differently because the work left in the accounts is different.
For scale, use the New York Fed, not a marketplace’s advertisement. In the second quarter of 2026 the Fed’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit put total U.S. household debt at $18.8 trillion and credit card balances at $1.26 trillion. Those are balances people still owe, including accounts that pay every month. They are not the face amount sold to buyers, and they are not a price.
Three shapes of card paper
| Shape | What the buyer is underwriting |
|---|---|
| Issuer charge-off, not yet placed | Recent charge-off, the issuer’s own media, no prior agency history. |
| After a placement | The same product, with a record of calls, letters, and payments that already happened. |
| Forward flow | Future charge-offs on a schedule, with eligibility rules written in advance. |
Where a bid starts
On this desk the credit-card conversation range is 3 to 8 percent of unpaid principal. That is a discussion band published in the pricing study, not a bid. A 2025 charge-off with contracts and statements on most rows sits higher in the band than a 2022 charge-off that has already been worked. Mixing both vintages into one asking price is how a file gets passed.
What the issuer should separate
Keep products apart. Bankcards are not private-label cards, and neither is a fintech installment loan. Name the legal entity that originated the account. If an assignment already happened, the chain of title has to show it. The cut-off date freezes the balances. The 90-day warranty starts later, after closing and funding.
Creditors comparing a sale with leaving the paper at an agency should read debt for sale and the forward-flow note.
Describe one month as its own file
An issuer sale is easiest to read when it is one product and one charge-off month. A workable description is the account count, the unpaid principal, the charge-off month, the share of rows with a contract and a statement, and the state count. “4,200 bankcard accounts, $6.1 million unpaid principal, charged off in March 2026, statements on about 80 percent, 18 states” is a file a buyer can sample. That sentence is a shape, not a market average and not an offer. Mixing 2022 placements with 2026 issuer charge-offs in the same asking price asks the buyer to underwrite two files at once.
The New York Fed’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit for the second quarter of 2026 put credit card balances at $1.26 trillion, inside $18.8 trillion of household debt, with 4.7 percent of outstanding debt in some stage of delinquency. Those are balances people still owe. They are not the price of a charged-off sale. The sale file is the slice a creditor chooses to sell after charge-off. The press release is dated August 11, 2026.
Paper the issuer still owns, and paper a buyer already bought
If the seller charged the accounts off and still holds them, the chain is short: the issuer, a bill of sale, and a schedule of these account IDs. If another company bought the accounts and is selling them again, add every assignment in between and a schedule that still ties to these IDs. Buyers price the second file only after that chain is in the room. The document test is chain of title.
Keep bankcard, retail card, and private label apart
A general-purpose bankcard, a store card, and a private-label card can share a processor and still be different products. Separate them on the tape by product code before you ask for one price. On this desk the credit-card conversation range is 3 to 8 percent of unpaid principal, published in the pricing study as a discussion band. It is not a bid. A file-specific read is a valuation review.