Weird thing just happened- legality ?

[ErinGoBragh]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

I just got a phone call today from a debt collections company. It wasn't for me though- it was for a distant cousin of mine who I'd never met and only know through the fact that he's friended me on facebook (family last name is very rare, so we're all pretty much friends on there).

The woman proceeded to explain to me that my distant cousin was under threat of litigation and needed to get in touch with the company, and could I please provide them with an updated phone number or pass the message on.

I asked them how they got my phone number. It's not published any place- it's a cell number, and not even billed to my name as I piggyback on a family member's plan- and the woman proceeded to explain to me that she went "out of the box" and started pulling credit reports on people in the area with the same last name to try and get in touch with someone who might know him.

I have never been affiliated, as a debtor or otherwise, with the company involved. Is it legal for them to just pull my credit report and call me?

Something seems fishy. Granted, I'm glad I wasn't the one they were looking for, but I was under the assumption that you have to grant someone permission to pull your credit report?

Who would I complain to about this if it was out of line?

Thanks much.

 

[ErinGoBragh]

P.S.- Sorry if this is the wrong area of the forum, I figured I'd start here since it deals pretty directly with debt collection privacy laws.

 

[longsally111]

I dont know if it is legal to pull credit.....but some companies do and it doesnt show on your report, I would just have said that I dont know this person and that you couldnt help them.

 

[dfromnyli]

They did a soft pull on your credit report, they probably shouldn't have because they are supposed to have a permissible purpose to do so. Maybe this falls under the scope of that rule but I'm not positive either way.

As far as them contacting you, yes they are allowed to do that for location purposes. I mean if they do not know where he lives he is not technically at this moment under the threat of litigation if they are calling you to find him.

Once they find his address though all bets are off.

 

[ErinGoBragh]

I dont know if it is legal to pull credit.....but some companies do and it doesnt show on your report, I would just have said that I dont know this person and that you couldnt help them.

I did ultimately tell them that I couldn't help them, and never said that I even knew distant cousin.

I pretty much picked up the phone, she asked if I was xxx (myself), and when I confirmed, went into her little spiel, which then prompted my question of, "How did you get my number?" and her revelation about pulling the credit report.

My beef is that they pulled my credit report to begin with, without my permission, before they ever even picked up the phone to call me (which would have saved me the call to begin with). It just doesn't strike me as legal, which is why I'm looking for confirmation of whether or not it was and if not, who I can report it to. I am less than happy about the whole situation.

 

[ErinGoBragh]

They did a soft pull on your credit report, they probably shouldn't have because they are supposed to have a permissible purpose to do so. Maybe this falls under the scope of that rule but I'm not positive either way.

As far as them contacting you, yes they are allowed to do that for location purposes. I mean if they do not know where he lives he is not technically at this moment under the threat of litigation if they are calling you to find him.

Once they find his address though all bets are off.

I could care less about him. I've never even met the guy.

Soft pull means it doesn't affect my credit, correct? That's a little bit better, but I'd still like to know if I can/should lodge a complaint somewhere. I think it's really inappropriate that they would use a method like that to try to contact him, considering that I feel that the method invaded my privacy. Maybe I'm just particularly grumpy today or overreacting because I'm sick, but it's just off IMO, and I'm not so sure I'll feel differently about it tomorrow...

 

[ErinGoBragh]

Oh, and thanks for the replies so far, BTW. Rest assured, my grumpiness is not directed at y'all

 

[TigerD]

I don't think they pulled the OPs credit. They ran the debtor through the database and worked every angle they could to find him. I'm willing to bet the person she spoke to said "file" or "records" not credit report.

Skip tracing works like this:
The debtor is worked by contacting every address and listed phone number associated until he is found.

Somewhere the OP is associated with the debtor -- as she stated, he is a relative. There are databases that give family connections. They are very good for finding people.

As for the phone number - if you have ever ordered pizza, taken your car in for service or given it to anybody -- it is in a database somewhere.

DC

PS: There would be no permissable purpose for pulling the OPs credit report.

 

[ErinGoBragh]

Thanks DC- I got a good part of my answer there. She definitely said "credit report", that was what weirded me out so much.