Let me address a common misconception that all debt collectors own the debt they're trying to collect.

Before I do that, however, I'd like to start with how my recent columns on debt collection began. I received a letter from an entrepreneur who had fallen on hard times but had recovered financially. She wanted to know if she should pay an old credit-card debt in full. She owed $24,000 but a collection agency was offering to settle it for $14,000. Something didn't sit right with her. She wanted to pay the entire debt to clear her conscience.

I said go with your conscience. And she did. She paid the $24,000.

Many people wrote to me, stunned that I would recommend such a thing. They argued that the debt collector was a third party who bought the original debt as a business investment and therefore the woman shouldn't feel obligated to repay the full amount.

There are basically two types of debt collectors: those who work on commission and get a percentage of the debt they collect, and those who purchase the debt at a discount. Debt purchasers contract to buy debt from companies typically for pennies on the dollar. It is true that a creditor who sells a portfolio of past-due accounts relinquishes all rights, title and interest to the accounts once the sale of the debt is closed. But again, that's between the creditor and the debt purchaser.

Nonetheless, the overwhelming majority of collection agencies are working on a commission and are collecting debt on behalf of the borrower's creditor.

Commission debt collectors do not own title to the debt. These agencies collect on delinquent accounts referred to them by various credit grantors, such as credit-card issuers, banks, retail stores, hospitals and other healthcare services, or by federal, state and local governments. It is true the agencies charge a hefty fee for their services. Generally, 33 percent of the original debt is considered a reasonable commission, said Rozanne M. Andersen, senior vice president of legal and government affairs for ACA International, the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals.

For the first time, in an effort to demonstrate the value of the collection industry, ACA surveyed collection agencies to find out just how much is being returned to creditors.

In the survey, conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, ACA found that of the $141 billion in bad debt charged off by private businesses in 2005, third-party debt-collection agencies recovered about $51.4 billion. Subtract out the cut to the agencies, and $39.3 billion was returned to creditors.

Most of that was collected on commission. Of the debt collected by agencies in 2005, just $2.3 billion was on purchased debt, the ACA report found.

There are without a doubt a number of agencies that have given people reason to have disdain and distrust for the debt-collection industry. Without question, the penalties, interest and fees on some debt can be monstrous and immoral. But this is more about our collective feelings about the companies charged with collecting debt.

It is none of your business what a debt purchaser paid for your debt. And it certainly is none of your business what commission a debt collector is getting to collect on money you clearly and morally owe.