Eli5 how does buying debt work? And why can’t someone just purchase their own debt for a fraction of the cost then cancel it for themselves?

Question

I’ve seen stories of individuals buying up a bunch of debt for cents on the dollar then just forgiving it. Why can’t this been done on an individual scale?

In: 4529

Answer 1

Can I buy a random block of debt and get the people to do community work to get it written off?

Maybe pay them a little bit that they would pay me back with (lowering the outstanding value by more than face value of the work/money repaid?)