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.
Sellers sometimes add a credit score to a charged-off tape. The common consumer scores in the United States are FICO and VantageScore. A bid can use a score column when the header names the score, the version if you have it, and the date the score was pulled. A column of bare numbers, with no name and no date, is a figure the buyer cannot place in time. Origination-day scores and charge-off-day scores answer different questions. The header has to say which one the column is.
The score sits beside the other fields
Charge-off date, last payment, state, unpaid principal, originator, and the media flag still have to be on the row. The score is another column. It does not identify the person for skip work, and it does not prove a contract exists. A high score at origination on an account that charged off three years ago tells you something about the application, not about the documents in the file today. Buyers who publish recovery rates by score band are publishing their own model. This desk does not publish one. There is no score table that converts to a percent of face.
| If the column shows | The bid can |
|---|---|
| Score name and pull date | Use it as one sort, next to the charge-off window |
| Numbers only | Ask for the name and the date, or ignore the column |
| A score and a blank charge-off date | Treat the row as missing its window. The score does not fill the date |
| No score at all | Price from the dates, the media pull, the states, and the chain of title |
Where the score fits in a sample
Sort is optional. The sample is not. Open the same 25 or 40 accounts you would open on a file with no scores, spread across the balance range. Record whether the statement matches unpaid principal. Then, if the score column is real, see whether the rows that failed the document pull cluster anywhere. A cluster is a question for the seller. It is not a reason to skip the pull on the other rows. The columns that have to be filled either way are on the data tape page. How the rest of the facts move a conversation is what moves the price.
How a score shows up in a bid email
If the header says “VantageScore, pulled at charge-off,” you may mention that you sorted on it. You still lead with the counts that decide the file: charge-off window, last-payment fill rate, media pull, states, and whether the seller is the originator. A sentence such as “we weighted the bid to the top score quartile” is a description of your model. It is not a fact the seller has to accept, and it is not a reason to skip the 40-account pull. If the quartile you favored fails the statement match at the same rate as the rest of the file, the score did not change the document test.
Leave the score off the first email to a creditor panel. The snapshot is product, count, unpaid principal, window, media percent, states, and cut-off. Scores, if they are real, travel with the tape after the NDA, next to the other columns on the data tape page.