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 debt buyer is a company that purchases receivables the creditor has already charged off, takes title when the sale funds, and then collects, places, or resells according to its own program. The purchase is a sale of accounts. It is not a commission placement, and it is not a consumer product.
What the buyer owns
After funding, the buyer owns the accounts described in the agreement, subject to the exclusions and the warranty. On this desk the warranty starts after closing and funding and lasts 90 days. The seller forwards the debtors to the buyer. The seller does not keep working, collecting, or servicing those accounts.
What the law calls the company
Whether the buyer is a “debt collector” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act depends on the facts. Henson v. Santander Consumer USA Inc., 582 U.S. 79 (2017), held that collecting debts you own is not enough, by itself, to make you a debt collector under the part of the definition aimed at debts owed to someone else. A firm whose principal purpose is debt collection can still be covered. So can the collector the buyer hires. Read FDCPA and Regulation F before you design consumer contact.
How this desk uses the word
An applicant is an operating company with a box: product, states, and size. RMAI certification and ACA International membership are pluses. They are not the definition of a buyer. The application is the buyer page. Consumers looking up one personal account will not find a way to pay it here.
Buyer, broker, and collector are three roles
The buyer takes title. The broker, on this site Triton through DebtMarket, introduces the file and does not collect. A collector may work the accounts for the buyer after funding, under the buyer’s instructions and the collector’s own legal duties. Putting all three words on one vendor does not describe the contract you are signing. Read which role the agreement gives you.
Title passes at funding
A charged-off debt buyer is the company that purchases the receivables and takes title. On this desk, title passes at closing and funding. The cut-off date is earlier. It is the date balances, paid-prior accounts, and deceased status are measured against. After funding, the seller forwards debtor communications to the buyer. The buyer, or a collector the buyer hires, does the work. The seller does not keep a servicing role.
Owning the debt leaves a second legal question open
Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, collecting a debt you own is outside the “owed or due another” definition, which is the holding in Henson v. Santander Consumer USA Inc., 582 U.S. 79 (2017). A separate definition covers a business whose principal purpose is the collection of debts. A buyer whose principal business is collection can still be examined under that definition. The longer note, including Regulation F and the Third Circuit’s Barbato decision, is FDCPA and Regulation F for companies that buy portfolios.
Three roles, three contracts
The buyer takes title and pays the purchase price. The broker introduces the file. Triton, through DebtMarket, is the broker on this desk and does not collect. A collector may work the accounts after funding under the buyer’s instructions and under the collector’s own legal duties. An operating company can hold more than one of those roles in its wider business. The contract for this file should say which role it is signing. Companies that want to receive files start at buyers. The purchase sequence is how to buy a charged-off portfolio.