How does a company get my checking information without my consent?

Read the fine print at the bottom of a lot of those "secure" websites, and you'll find that they reserve the right to sell your information to other companies that they think you may be interested in making purchases from.

It could be a number of things: It could be an affilliate of a company that you bought something from, or signed up for a free trail that plans to charge you once the trial is over, or it could be that someone hacked into your computer. This is basically like stolen identity except they are alerting you of this by being stupid enough to contact you. Either way it is totally illegal and you need to call them back and find out where they got your info and turn them in to your state police and also the FTC.

Even a secure site can be hacked into. I have had companies withdraw from my account without my consent and had to close the account. I would contact a lawyer. This could be the beginning signs of identity theft.

There are so many people that do not pay bills that companies have to take security precautions to prevent this.

In case you are listed as someone with a bad credit history (as this is called in the U.S. Companies have the right to much more information.

I hope you know that a bad credit record means you have a criminal record (as we call it in europe).

The same thing happened to me! I'm still not sure what exactly happened, but I think my bank may have had some connection to the "grant" company. You might want to talk to your branch manager about their involvement. If they are not involved he/she still might be able to steer you in the right direction as I"m sure it's not the first time your bank has seen that happen.