Asta Funding Inc.

From Englewood Cliffs NJ Asta Funding Inc., has been publicly traded company since 1995 and has been in business for over 40 years. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) it is one of the nine largest debt collection agencies that collect around 75% of the purchased and traded debt in the US. It generates its’ revenues by buying, selling, servicing unpaid credit card and consumer loans. They boast a net worth of $100 million and offer expertise in the purchase of any size of debt portfolio. They have purchased over $10 billion in receivable balances. They mostly deal with unpaid credit card debts such as MasterCard, Visa and other private label credit card accounts but also consider consumer loans.


They buy delinquent accounts directly from credit granting companies as well as through indirect means such as auctions and brokers. According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) ASTA Funding has a BBB rating of B-. With a rating level between A+ (the best rating) and F (the lowest or worst) a score B- is considered to be in the OK range. The BBB website gives the reason for this rating as it “does not have sufficient background information on this business”. According to the BBB there have been 4 complaints regarding ASTA Funding, all of which have been resolved.


Also operating as Palisades Collection Agency the company is not without its problems. Recent reports on ComplaintsBoard.com shows that one consumer had, after 5 years of reporting a debt as paid and removing it from the account, started to report it unpaid and tried to collect on it, again. Other posts conclude that consumers have been subject to similar instances of previously paid items being mysteriously reported as unpaid.


One irate consumer thinks that the company is going on a “fishing expedition” hoping to find people who have poor records or who are unwilling to question the debt. These consumers will often pay up and line the pockets of the collection agency.


As with most collection agencies, Asta Funding Company buys bad debt for pennies on the dollar from companies who have already tried and failed to collect money from their customers. The collections agency then pursue for repayment on the debts. When companies are not successful with the collections, they often resell it to a new buyer. Some debts can be bought and sold several times over a period of years to different collection agencies in an effort to collect. This is why there are, sometimes, several agencies contacting consumers for their debt.