Asset Acceptance Opens Books for Investors at Conference

Debt buyer and collector Asset Acceptance Capital Corp. gave investors an in-depth look at its numbers Thursday in a presentation at the Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Diversified Financials Conference in New York.

Warren, Mich.-based Asset Acceptance (Nasdaq: AACC) gave a presentation that was primarily a recap of financial performance in 2007. But the company revealed some specific numbers regarding the portfolios it purchases for the conference.

The company revealed that 48.8 percent of the $32.1 billion in debt it has bought since 1998 is Discover, MasterCard or Visa credit card debt. Another 12.9 percent is private label credit card debt. The remaining debt comprises many other asset classes including telecom/utility, auto and health club. The company said that 13.9 percent of the debt it buys falls into an “other” category, which includes health care, student loans and other debt types.

Asset Acceptance also said that it principally focuses on older debt in the portfolios it purchases. More than 46 percent of the debt it has bought was in a tertiary placement level, with 19.5 percent being secondary debt. Fresh and primary paper comprises a combined 20.3 percent of the debt it has purchased, with 13.6 percent classified as “other.”

In 2007, Asset Acceptance bought $5.2 billion in face value consumer debt.

The company emphasized its recent expansion of the legal collection channel, noting that in 2007 cash collections from the legal channel increased 10.4 percent to $148 million. The legal collections channel now accounts for 39.9 percent of all cash collections, compared to the 46.2 percent from call center collections.

Asset Acceptance said that the increase in legal collections is continuing in 2008, with that channel bringing in 6.4 percent more in the first quarter of this year when compared to the first quarter of 2007.