Yes, I'd like to put a floor to ceiling window in my shower. No I don't need to order any blinds. I live on the first floor, why?

I just heard a piece on NPR about Experian selling your credit history to collection agencies. They constantly monitor your credit activity and if you start to pay off your credit and are getting back on your feet, they notify the collection hounds and let them have at you. This sounded pretty damn wrong to me so I got on Google and found out some more about this.

As a former mortgage broker, Adryenn Ashley thought she knew what to expect when she refinanced her house in March. Yet Ashley was unprepared for one twist she encountered: a barrage of phone calls and e-mails from rival lenders vying to sell her a better mortgage.

Some of the callers apparently knew just how much money she was borrowing. Others made such misleading come-ons such as "We need to update your information" or "We need to complete your application," Ashley recalls.

"I have privacy concerns over that," she said from her home in Petaluma. "My information should be confidential."

These days, mortgage shoppers like Ashley are supreme telemarketing targets, thanks to "trigger leads" that the credit reporting bureaus sell to lenders the instant a consumer's credit file is pulled by a loan officer. So when Ashley's lender checked her credit to prepare her loan, dozens of other mortgage companies were tipped off. These alerts can be had for a few bucks per name if bought in bulk.

So you give the lender you are working with the authority to pull your credit report. And then Experian sells it to anyone who is willing to buy that info. Does that sound like an invasion of privacy?

Yes.

Heard of credit triggers? You should. [Daily Kos]