I lost my job almost one year ago and haven't really kept in touch with anyone from there (another long story) anyways about a year before I lost my job a girl who worked there with me quit to go do another part time job so it has been roughly two years since I have really seen this girl. Anyways I would say every 8-10 months she has given me a call out of the blue just to see what has been going on in my life and the phone calls last no more then 10 minutes I would say. We are friendly towards each other but we don't hang out as friends or do anything together, even while we worked together. Anyways today I received a phone call today and looked at the caller ID and saw that it was a financial institution. Well my dh and I owe no money to anyone so I picked it up thinking what do these guys want, anyways, it was a woman and she asked if she could speak to me, well I said she was and she then said I had been listed as a reference for so and so and did I know them? And I said yes I know him, it was my ex co workers husband, and immediately thought, oh it must be for a new job, anyways, the lady said well do you think you could get a message to him to have him call such and such right away its very important and I said well I know him but I never talk to him it has probably been about two years since I have seen him and she said well could you get ahold of him or his wife perhaps it is very important?? So I agreed I would do my best to get this message through to them. Sooo after hunting around and finding her number I called her and she acted very surprised to hear from me and asked me how I had been and said fine but received a phone call here at my house for you and then proceeded to explain the phone call, anyways she just shrugged it off as if "oh well its just the car payment" now, this family has had major financial troubles, including bankruptcy, loosing their house, etc., I felt pretty awkward calling her about this phone call but my main question is, do you think its weird she would use my name for a reference without asking or telling me about it? Especially since we are not close friends by any means ... I really don't want these people calling my house and harrassing me if it comes down to it ... weird or no?

It is wrong for her to do that. Next time anyone calls for them be clear you are NOT a contact, you don't know how to reach them and you don't want any more phone calls. Otherwise, they can hound you to get to them. They cannot legally continue to call you for contact of your 'friend'

thanks JoAnn, I thought it was odd just wanted to see if anyone else thought so!

I just got a similar call yesterday from PCR. I looked it up on line and it was PIONEER CREDIT RECOVERY.
They said this person (my sister in law) had listed me as a "reference number". I told PCR that I would give her the message but I wasn't happy with her putting me as a reference and TAKE ME OFF THE LIST TO CALL. She said she would. I called my sister in law and she said she didn't have a clue what the women was talking about BUT I did some more research and it was a college loan and I know she hasn't been paying on it and owes them more than she will ever live to pay off.
I told her I wasn't happy with being listed as a reference to call and she said she has never done that. GO FIGURE.
GEEEEEEEESH.
Susie

About 6 or 7 years ago, not long after we bought our house, we got several phone calls from a mortgage company for our neighbor across the street, wanting us to give them messages about their house payments being late, getting ready to start foreclosure, etc. I told the callers that I didn't really know the neighbors very well (barely even knew their first names) and would not be relaying messages to them. You know how they got our number? It wasn't from our neighbor, but simply because we lived close to them. I'm assuming the neighbors wouldn't answer their calls, so they started calling everyone around them to "embarrass" them into paying. We've since become friends with these neighbors and we've never mentioned to them that we got those phone calls. I think it's terrible of the mortgage companies to do this and would be extremely humiliating to the people in financial trouble.

My parents never had a phone so when they got furniture at the rent-a-center, they gave my them my phone number! So of course, we get the call asking if we could give them a message. Unfortunately for the guy on the other end of the phone, he was talking to the wife of a banker, who had spent his share of time as a repo man!

I told them IF I see them, I will relay the message. He tells me that this is the number he was given to be able to leave a message. I said, "You can LEAVE as many messages as you want, but I would have to get in my car and drive to their house, JUST LIKE WHAT YOU WOULD HAVE TO DO, to deliver the message and I'm not doing your job for you. YOU want to get ahold of them, YOU drive to their house. It's what YOU get paid to do. I don't get paid to be your repo guy. They are not located that far from you." I told him I had no idea why they left MY number since I never saw them but maybe twice a year anyway and I was not informed ahead of time my number was going to be listed on their file. Had I been informed of it ahead of time, strict instructions would have been given to the contrary!!

So I say to anyone out there, do NOT fall into the trap of being the go-between for the collector-guys. Let them do their OWN dirty work!

I spent enough time dealing with the bill collectors when I was a little kid (she would hide in the bathroom and send the 10 year old to answer the door to tell them "the check's in the mail") ... I am NOT spending my adult life dealing with them on someone else's behalf!

Don't assume that this person gave them your number. We had something like that happen a few years ago with a cell phone company and my parents. The company had been a pain in the tush, my parents had canceled and there was a dispute over the bill. The company went in and got my in-law's number from their phone records and called them and then me. My parents never would have given them those numbers to call, especially MY in-laws.

And since companies aren't really supposed to go around letting other people know that others are having financial problems they're going to say that your number was given as a reference no matter how they got it.

well the company said they gave me and my number as a reference which I don't know if it's true or not, but when I told my friend that's what they said she did not deny it, and my phone number is unlisted in the phone book I pay extra each month to keep it out of there ...

I'll tell you what, sometimes its a blessing when a collector calls someone else.

My boyfriends dad recently got a call asking for my boyfriend. (They have the same name and we live in the same small city.) He called and told us Chase was looking for us, we figured it was a sales call because we do not have an account with them.

A few days later his dad calls again, but this time says Chase has put us in collections! He gives us the number and sure enough, someone took out a credit card over a year ago in my boyfriends name. They never made a payment, ran it up to over $3000. The collector told us to just pay the debt and then report it as fraud later--luckily we refused! We found out from the police that had we done that, we would have acknowledged that debt as our own and it would have permanently been on our credit report as well as we would have never gotten that money back.

Its been over a month of hassles and we are still in the middle of getting this straightened out. Had the collector not called his dad, we would have not known about it and who knows what else would have happened.

Collections people must try to neighbors regularly I have a good friend who has been asked twice to go to the neighbors and we have had the repo people show up on our doorstep flashing badges trying to get the neighbors number. As if badges cannot be faked by every Tom, Dick, and Harry with a computer. . .

just this monday i come home and there is a message for my DH to call a bail bondsman 200 miles from our home. well i call and the lady asks about my SIL . says she owes them money and she put my DH her brother down as a reference. we have seen her 1 time in 2 yrs. she is nothing but trash and not welcome here. i call MIL and tell her about this. she says they called her also but when MIL talked to her DD she said she never heard of these people and has never been bailed out of jail. come on! Duh how else did these people get everyones names and info. pissed me off. i called bondsman back and told them where to find SIL and asked them never to call here again.

I get calls all the time looking for a man with the same name as my husband. The only thing is the middle initial is different. My husband is an executive chef and I got a call from this lady wanting so an so who is a carpet installer. I told her if my husband could lay carpet my house would look alot better than it does now. One time I got a call from a priest looking for Michael and Kim who had just gotten married and owed him his money, sorry you got the wrong Michael. Unless he knows something I don't, hummmm makes me think a little bit.
I will never be someones messenger, they can do their own dirty work.
It is amazing at what some of these companies will do. Tell them a simple NO.