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Data on Debt Purchasing

(For an executive summary of Kaulkin Ginsberg's Global Debt Buying Report, click here)

U.S. Debt Buying Market – Credit Card Debt

• Following the collapse of Creditrust and Commercial Financial Services in the late 1990s, the credit card sector of the U.S. debt buying market enjoyed a period of rapid expansion between 2000 and 2005.
• U.S. debt buyers are now active in the purchase of an estimated $100 billion in face value of delinquent credit card debt, taking into account primary sales from credit issuers as well as subsequent reselling on the secondary market.

U.S. Debt Buying Market – Non-Credit CardDebts

• Larger and specialized debt buyers in the U.S. have begun to search for alternative debts that allow them to diversify their portfolios and purchase delinquent debt in less competitive environments.
• Debt buyers bought an estimated $3 billion in bankruptcy receivables in 2005, given the steady cash flows afforded by bankruptcy paper and revisions to the U.S. bankruptcy laws.
• An estimated $5 billion in telecommunications receivables was sold in 2005, although the higher volume and lower account balances associated with this paper have challenged new entrants.
• Auto deficiency paper saw an estimated $2 billion traded in the U.S. in 2005.
• Healthcare debt is considered by many to be the ‘big prize’ of the debt buying market, given its enormous and largely untapped market. The purchase and sale of healthcare debt is highly unique.

Debt Buying Markets throughout the World
Debt buying is a worldwide phenomenon. This table summarizes an estimated face value
of consumer debts exchanged in markets around the world in 2005.

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