It is very definitely debt, but is secured by the receivables...

It is very definitely debt, but is secured by the receivables book. It isn't corporate debt in the sense of financing working capital for the company, but it will show up as part of total liabilities (and the receivables will show up in total assets). Most of the receivables book is financed by debt - it is a finance company and financing purely by equity is a pretty expensive way to do it.

I think it is pretty safe to say that the corporate debt has been extinguished and people like to separate the corporate debt from the receivables funding, so in that context, "debt free" is probably fine to say.. you just have to give it context.