Saw it on the news, it is so easy for someone to open up a legit debt collection agency and guess what all that personal information, name, social security number, address, dob, etc., of ours is up for sale to the highest bidder.

Question, would anyone know what companies sell this information?

There are a number of different companies that do, I don't know specifically. I do know that they are suppose to have permission to disclose information to anyone other than company affliates.

I did a quick google search, here is what I came up with...

http://www.ospirg.org/consumer-resources/tips-to-prevent-id-theft/3.-tell-companies-not-to-sell-or-share-your-data

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/alpha-consumer/2007/12/27/credit-card-companies-share-personal-information.html

http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/privacy/

any company that has your information can sell sometimes companies make you aware that they won't sell your info

Just the fact that personal information is so freely sold and exchanged (not excusing anyone's debts) is rather alarming.

The more I read into it the more it alarms me, if Company A buys a debt, they have your information, they sell to Company B, guess what they too have your info, they in turn sell it to Company C, again your info is shared, and so on and so on.

As hard as I try to safeguard my personal information, this makes me wonder is it of any use?

It is and it isn't. As far as ss# etc, supposedly any company that buys, say, debt is supposed to be licensed, bonded, insured etc. This SHOULD be a protection but as we all know, is not always the case. The only real protection you have is the obvious, keep an extra careful watch on all your accounts. Report and question any and all suspicious activity AT ONCE. I check my bank account, credit cards, etc at least 4 times a week. I've had a couple charges which I thought were off that I called about, turns out they were just stuff I'd forgotten about but still, glad I called. The sooner you report, the sooner you can minimize damage done. The horror stories you hear usually come from people who rarely if ever check account activity and if they do notice something not right, ignore it or put it off. By the time the problem becomes so serious that it requires immediate attention, it's usually too late.

Fran I was just watching a hacking and keylogger newstory just doing a google search can lead a hacker into your infomation they've put bugs on ebay and all sorts of other sites theres a virus set to hit on April fools Day nothing is safe these days

Suz, that's my fear. That everyone's personal info is just being shuffled from one place to another.

All it takes is for one person to write down the info, hold onto it and use on a whim.

I know that sucks big time.

Yeah, and it does happen. But, you know where the most common occurrence of that is? Your local grocery store, gas station, pet store, etc. The place within your own community that you know and trust. Sad, no?

We had an incident like that a couple of years ago at a local pizzeria. The cashier would pretend to be using her cell phone will ringing people's orders and take pictures of their credit cards. Then go to the local mall on a shopping spree with c/c info from pictures.

Unfortunately with our information, we are at the whim of the person on the other end. My parent's cc information was stole years ago, and it took forever to get everything straight. It turned the phone operator that took my parents call to order a product took their information and was using it. Along with other people's information. As far as I know he was caught eventually.

keep hoping someone will steal my identity. They could only make my credit go up

Are you guys new online? This sort of thing has been going on for quite some time. Lot's of information on it, bogus and otherwise, one even has to be careful of those who say they are out to protect you.

Quiet - send me your info, maybe I can help you out

Boo - no not new to any of this, just saw it on the news. A felon and his partner, are now privy to private personal information as they opened a collection agency.

Just another thing that made me go hmmmmm

Ah ok. Hard to keep up with the new felon's out there these days.

dayummm can't remember the company name