 In 2005, debt buyers ranged in size from very small private businesses to multimillion-dollar publicly traded companies.According to a 2005 article in "The Washington Post", there were four publicly traded debt buyers.Debt buyers may be classified as "active"—those who attempt to collect on the accounts they purchase, or "passive"—those who invest in the debt and then outsource the collection activities to a separate collection agency or collection law firm.