Obtaining information

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure if I'm posting this correctly, but I'm interested in finding out how collection agencies obtain personal information to report to CRAs.  I just found out that a collection agency is representing my former landscaper.  For the past two years, we have been disputing the purchase and death of several trees that the landscaper is responsible for.  He purchased and planted the trees without my consent.  I explained that I was not going to pay for something that I did not request.  The trees had some type of disease and died within a couple of months of his planting. 

Our agreement has always been cash or check bi-weekly.  I have never given him any other personal information so I am very interested in how the collection agency was able to obtain. 

Thanks for any advise.

[llecs]

It is fairly easy. If they had your name and address, there are skip tracing programs available that allows the users to track down social security numbers. CCs use them all the time. When you are added as an AU, they usually won't ask for a SSN. Another example is Target stores. Sometimes if you use a debit card they'll offer you a CC on the spot and activate it right there, without a SSN.

If they didn't have your name but only had your address, like my landscaper does, then they could have looked up the sale records on that property and pulled a name from there.

[medicgrrl]

Just an FYI, you may want to check the title of your house too and make sure he hasn't placed any type of mechanical lien against the property.  I'm not sure if a landscaper would be able to but I would imagine he could since the trees would then become a part of the real property.