Asta Funding Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, is a leading consumer receivable asset management company that is focused on purchasing, managing, and liquating performing as well as non-performing consumer receivables. The Company generates revenues mainly by purchasing and collecting consumer receivables that have been either charged-off by the credit grantors or not considered to be prime receivables.

The non-conforming and distressed consumer receivable market is continually expanding because of the rising levels of consumer debt. Even with the good economic conditions of the late 1990s, credit card and other consumer receivable charge-offs increased. To bring some numbers into perspective, Americans had aggregate indebtedness of more than $2.3 trillion in July 2006, and the size of the revolving credit market in the United States was in excess of $841 billion, which is up from $700 billion in December 2001.

Originating institutions have limited credit losses in the past by offering recovery services in-house, outsourcing recovery activities to third-party collection agencies and selling their charged-off receivables for immediate cash. Selling receivables prior to or after charge-off is highly desired by the institutions as it yields immediate cash proceeds and requires very little time compared to traditional collection and recovery efforts.

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