That comes from the opening paragraph of a recent story by Bob Sullivan, author of the very popular blog The Red Tape Chronicles.

I interviewed him recently about what he learned while researching this largely unknown database. He really got my attention when he started talking about how debt collectors use this information.

At Credit.com we've received numerous complaints from consumers who are being called at work by debt collectors, and this may be the way they are tracking down debtors on the job. Following is an excerpt from that interview, edited slightly for clarity.

Gerri: That's definitely an attention-getter, this database that's collecting all this information. Tell us about what it is and what consumers need to know about it.