Debt Buyers Wait to Buy Consumer Debt at Fire Sale Prices – Consumers Get Screwed Again
July 22nd, 2009. Published under Fraud, Unemployment. No Comments.
Greedy debt buyers Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc (PRAA.O), Asset Acceptance Capital Corp (AACC.O) and Encore Capital Group Inc (ECPG.O) are holding off buying consumer debts from creditors until the market gets so tight that creditors will sell it for below market prices. Of course they will either re-sell it at a profit or harass consumers into paying a premium for the debts they bought. It is greed that primarily drives the debt guying business and until original creditor hold onto the debts and try actually working with consumers this greed driven cycle will not end. The worst is yet to come for debt-laden, cash-strapped and increasingly jobless U.S. consumers. At least that is the view of major debt collectors — many of which are holding off on acquiring much in the way of troubled consumer debt from banks and other institutions, betting that it will get cheaper as the economy languishes. With unemployment and defaults on the rise, companies like Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc ( PRAA.O ), Asset Acceptance Capital Corp ( AACC.O ) and Encore Capital Group Inc ( ECPG.O ) hope to be able to grab bad debt portfolios at fire-sale prices later this year. Once they acquire debt portfolios such firms aggressively pursue at least partial repayment from troubled borrowers, badgering them via phone calls, text messages and emails.