eli5 Debt purchaser says they bought your debt and you now owe them. How does that work?

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If A borrows from B, A now owes B

Then C shows up and pays B with the agreement that it settled A’s debt to B.

A does not know any agreement was made but the original A owes B

A goes to pay B.

B says A doesnt owe B.

C says A owes C

But A did not make an agreement that he owed C.

How does A owe C now?

It seems to me that: C gave A the gift of settling A’s debt to B.

In: Economics

12 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Whoever you owed money to doesn’t think you’ll ever pay them back; aren’t willing to harass you for it (they don’t specialize in this); and it’s probably a small amount; and so they’re happy to just get anything back for the debt (they get less than you owe.)

On the other hand: the debt collectors entire business model and skill set revolve around collecting debts as efficiently (and annoyingly) as possible. They make money because the full amount you owe is more than they paid for it.

If a debt collector ends up buying your debt you can expect far more harassment than if you owe a random company the debt. They know every trick, every way to get to you, and won’t stop until the debts paid.

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