An online platform is facilitating creditors wanting to sell IOUs they hold to debt collectors at discounts. Photo: Screenshot of a Chinese second-hand debt transfer platform

An online platform is facilitating creditors wanting to sell IOUs they hold to debt collectors at big discounts, but it appears few are taking up the offer.

"Selling an IOU worth 3.2 million yuan ($470,793), give me 30 percent, the rest is all yours," reads an advertisement that was posted on a Chinese second-hand debt transfer platform that was attempting to sell a debt.

Selling the debt with documents purported to by an official IOU is common on the platform, the Beijing Youth Daily reported on Tuesday.

Some IOUs are handwritten documents said to contain the debtor's signature and fingerprints. 

Some sellers also post a civil judgment or conciliation statement awarding the seller the right to collect the debt, saying the documents will protect the debt buyers' rights.

Most sellers of debt had similar reasons for wanting to sell their IOUs at a discount. They mostly cited a lack of energy or interest in pursuing the debtor, or they urgently needed money and couldn't wait to be repaid by debtor.

It appears few IOUs have been sold on the platform, with many users suggesting the debts are likely impossible to collect. Others said the documents and debts could very likely be fake.

The law requires a debtor to be notified their debt has been reassigned to another debt collector, otherwise the sale of the debt would be invalid, a lawyer told the Beijing Youth Daily.  

Beijing Youth Daily