Ask HN: What's stopping me from buying my own debt?

2 points by kminehart 5 years ago | 2 comments

Let's say I owe a hospital a $10,000 debt, and they've sold it to a debt collector for $9,000. Now, that debt collector is looking for a buyer for that debt, as they tend to make the rounds if they don't think they don't think they're able to collect from the debtor. Sometimes they'll go through several debt collectors.

What's stopping the debtor in this scenario from purchasing their debt at the "debt market" value?

gostsamo 5 years ago |

You must find your debt and you must make them believe that they can't take the full value from you. Plus, if many people start doing it, the market will up its prices.

warent 5 years ago |

Nothing is stopping you, except that individual accounts are not sold. It's anonymized bundles. Basically you may as well just buy scratch cards or play the lottery