This is a pretty interesting idea, economically speaking. Does anyone know what is necessary in order to become a debt broker? Being able to buy your own debt (by proxy) for pennies on the dollar might have pretty broad implications.
I think you just need to get a debt collector's license and that's not difficult. I'd ask my wife (used to be a collector), but she's asleep ATM.
We did discuss starting a collection business years ago so I could learn the business and write software for it (apparently the tools they use are a royal pain), but she wasn't interested in getting back in the field and I lost interest.
Bear in mind, though that to buy debt at pennies on the dollar, the debt is going to be very old (5+ years old at least probably) and the seller is only selling it because they're convinced they will never be able to collect. You're also looking at buying large blocks of it.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it: you buy $10,000 of, say, phone bill receivables, with the average in the $250 range, for $500 from the debt collection company which previously worked them for a year and got nothing. You use a commercial database and are able to identify phone numbers for half of the debtor. The "fun" now begins. You begin getting told that the debtor is deceased, told that the debtor ran out on her three years ago, told that the debtor owes $300,000 due to uninsured medical expenses, told that the debtor did not authorize the debt and that was in fact his ex-wife's cell phone, told that the debtor has to choose between paying for Christmas and paying this bill, etc etc etc. This is of the 10% of debtors who will speak to you and not just curse loudly into the telephone.
Some of those debtors are actually telling the truth, by the way.
