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.
Chain of title is the stack of documents that shows who owned the accounts at each step, from the originator to the seller in front of you. Buyers are not buying a spreadsheet. They are buying the right to the receivables the spreadsheet describes. If the assignments skip a holder, the buyer cannot see how the seller has the right to sell.
The minimum stack
| Document | What it should show |
|---|---|
| Origination | The creditor that opened the account, named as a legal entity. |
| Each sale in between | Buyer, seller, date, and a way to tie the accounts to that agreement. |
| The sale you are bidding | The entity on the tape is the entity that will sign the purchase agreement. |
What a gap looks like
The tape says the seller is Northwind Card LLC. The only assignment in the file is from a bank to a different LLC, dated three years ago, with no schedule that includes these account numbers. The current seller’s name never appears. That file does not have a small documentation issue. It has no visible path from the originator to the person asking you to wire funds.
Sample the schedule, not just the signature page. An assignment of “all accounts described on Exhibit A” is only as good as Exhibit A. If Exhibit A is missing, treat the assignment as unfinished.
How this desk uses it
Title is discussed before a bid is treated as final. The bill of sale is where the representations sit for the sale this desk is brokering. A buyer who intends to collect, sue, or furnish credit reporting needs the stack their counsel will ask for. Ask that question before the NDA expires, not after the wire.
More on the same problem is the chain of title page.
Match the schedule to the account IDs
A bill of sale that names “certain accounts” still needs a schedule. The schedule has to carry the same account IDs as the tape the buyer is pricing. Pull ten IDs from the tape and find them on the schedule. Pull ten IDs from the schedule and find them on the tape. If the IDs are in different formats, ask for the crosswalk before anyone treats the chain as closed. A chain that cannot survive that pull is a gap, even when every signature page is present.
| Document | What it has to identify |
|---|---|
| Bill of sale or assignment | Seller, buyer, and the date title was intended to pass |
| Account schedule | The IDs on this tape, or a crosswalk to them |
| Prior assignments | Each sale between the originator and the current seller |
| Affidavit, when one is offered | The person, the records they reviewed, and the sale they describe |
An affidavit sits beside the bill of sale
An affidavit can identify who pulled the records and which sale they describe. It does not replace the schedule. If the affidavit says the accounts were sold on a date, and the bill of sale is undated or names a different buyer, stop and ask which document controls. Buyers who intend to pass the paper on later need a chain they can hand to the next buyer. The resale problem is the same gap, one sale further down. Sellers assembling a first package can compare their stack with the media checklist.