A better option would be to buy the debt and do nothing with it ever. Just hold it until the person chooses to "redeem" it. i.e. pay the face value of the debt

A better option would be to buy the debt and do nothing with it ever. Just hold it until the person chooses to "redeem" it. i.e. pay the face value of the debt and can afford the taxes on it. Just send them a message like: "Hey we're a non-profit founded by Occupy Wallstreeters that bought your debt dirt cheap for X dollars directly from the last debt collection agency to hold your debt. You don't need to do anything now, we'll hold onto it forever if need be. However, if it turns out you need to "check back into the credit economy", we'll sell it to you at cost. Be aware, that doing so will create "income" for you in the eyes of the IRS, so only choose to buy this back if you can also afford to pay them as well in the same fiscal year. You can visit this link and put in your current income to calculate approximately how much you would owe the IRS if we were to opt for us to forgive this debt. Again, you don't have to do anything and we're never going to call you and pester at work like credit collections do."