Charged-Off Debt Pricing Study

Buyers of charged-off receivables bid a percent of face. Thin paper is sometimes quoted in basis points. There is no exchange print that sets the price for the next file. This study records the discussion bands the desk already uses, then explains what moves a single portfolio inside or outside the band.

The bands below are the same indicative 2026 ranges printed on what buyers pay. They are conversation ranges. They are not an appraisal, not a census of closed trades, and not an offer to buy or sell any portfolio.

Discussion bands by asset class

Asset class	Indicative band	What usually moves a file inside the band
Credit card	3–8% of face	Last-pay recency, media percent, and how many agencies have already worked the accounts
Auto deficiency	5–12% of face	Deficiency math, title status, and state mix after the collateral sale
Personal loans	3–7% of face	Origination channel, charge-off vintage, and whether the note is in the media
Medical	2–5% of face	Facility type, itemization, and how cleanly the balance can be explained
Commercial	8–15% of face	Guarantor documents and whether the balance is one note or a scattered small-ticket file
Telecom	1–3% of face	Balance size and whether the account is a handset deficiency or a service balance
Private student	5–10% of face	School type, cosigner presence, and the payment history before charge-off
Specialty / BNPL	2–6% of face	Product definition and whether the tape can separate performing residuals from charged-off accounts

A file can clear the top of a band when the media is complete, the last payment is recent, and few buyers have already seen it. The same asset class can price under the band when charge-off dates are blank, the assignment chain breaks, or the seller’s only media line is “available on request.” Face value is the denominator. It is not the bid.

How a band is built

The desk does not average a secret set of closings and publish the mean. A band starts from the ranges buyers and sellers already argue about on this asset class, then narrows when a snapshot arrives. The snapshot that matters is short: asset class, face, account count, charge-off window, last-pay mix, state concentration, prior placement, and a straight answer on media.

Two credit-card pools with the same face can sit at opposite ends of the 3–8% band. Vintage and prior placement do more of that work than the headline product name. The valuation note what actually moves price walks through those levers. The valuation guide is the short version. Seller pricing is how a seller should read a bid that comes back lower than the story they told.

What this study will not do

• It will not guarantee a percent. A guarantee is not how this market clears.
• It will not treat a discussion band as a closing price. The bid is issued after the tape and a media sample are under NDA.
• It will not invent a sample size. If we have not counted a population, we do not print a fake one.
• It will not price a named portfolio from this page. That review starts at the desk or portfolio intake.

From a band to a bid

Sellers use the band to decide whether a process is worth the packaging work. Buyers use it to see whether their model is in the same conversation as the rest of the desk. Neither side should paste the midpoint into a contract. The number in the purchase agreement is the number bid on that schedule, after exclusions, and after the cut-off date is chosen. Cut-off, closing, and funding are defined on their own page, because a price without those dates is incomplete.

For a file-specific read, email portfolios@debtmarket.net or call 561-254-6608. Send the snapshot. Keep the account-level tape for the NDA.