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.
A charged-off data tape is the account-level file a seller delivers after the NDA. Buyers do not price the story in the email. They price the columns. A tape that names the product, the unpaid principal, the charge-off date, the last payment, the state, and whether media exists can be sampled. A tape that leaves those blank cannot.
The columns that have to be filled
| Field | What the buyer does with it |
|---|---|
| Unpaid principal at cut-off | The denominator of a percent-of-face bid. Fees mixed into “balance” get questioned. |
| Charge-off date | Places the account in a window. A 2023 card and a 2025 card are not the same paper. |
| Last payment date | Separates accounts that went quiet from accounts that paid recently and then stopped. |
| State | Matches the buyer’s box. A blank state is an account the buyer cannot accept on purpose. |
| Media flag | Says whether a contract and a charge-off statement exist. The flag is then sampled. |
| Status flags | Deceased, bankrupt, settled, or recalled. These are measured against the cut-off date. |
What “media” means in the column
Write the percent, not the word available. “Media on 71 percent” can be checked against a pull of 40 accounts. “Media available on request” cannot. The documents buyers mean are listed on the media checklist. The column list itself is the data tape page.
A tape that will be sent back
Three thousand rows, one balance column that adds interest after charge-off without saying so, charge-off dates on half the rows, and a media flag set to yes on every row. The sample opens contracts on fewer than half. The bid, if one is made, will ignore the flag and price the sample. Many buyers pass instead.
Cut-off is a column, not a slogan
Every balance on the tape should be as of one cut-off date. Payments after that date belong in a true-up. The 90-day warranty does not start on that date. On this desk it starts after closing and funding. The seller then forwards the debtors and does not keep servicing them.
Sellers who are assembling a first file can submit the snapshot before the full tape. Buyers who want the sequence around the tape should read how to buy a charged-off portfolio.
Count a forty-row pull before you talk price
Pick forty accounts spread across the balance range, not the first forty rows. Open the media the flag says exists. Write five counts: charge-off date present, last-payment date present, state present, unpaid principal that matches the statement within a few dollars, and a contract or charge-off statement that actually opens. A tape of 3,000 rows with a media flag of yes on every row, and contracts that open on 22 of the 40, is a 22-of-40 file. Put 22 of 40 in the note to the seller. The flag can be corrected. The bid uses the pull.
| Check on the 40 | What you record |
|---|---|
| Charge-off date | Rows filled, and the oldest and newest month |
| Last payment | Rows filled, and how many paid inside 90 days of charge-off |
| State | Rows filled, and any state outside the buyer’s box |
| Unpaid principal | Rows whose statement matches the tape |
| Document opens | Contracts or statements you could open, out of 40 |
Say which balance the column is
Unpaid principal at the cut-off date is the denominator of a percent-of-face bid. Interest, fees, or costs added after charge-off belong in their own columns, with the date they were added. A single “balance” that mixes those amounts will be questioned on the sample, and the rows that fail the match come out of the price. The field list lives on the data tape page. The documents behind the media flag are on the media checklist.
One cut-off date on every row
Every balance should be as of the same cut-off date. A payment that arrives after that date is a true-up item, reported with the account ID and the amount. Paid-prior and deceased status are also read against that cut-off date. The 90-day warranty on this desk starts later, after closing and funding. From funding forward, the seller forwards debtor communications to the buyer. The date rules are on cut-off, closing, and funding.