Foreclosure "help" caller giving out personal info?

[econ.fail]

If this doesn't belong here please let me know where to put it and I'll gladly move it - I couldn't figure out if this board or the general mortgage board would be better.

 

First off, we are late on our mortgage(s); I'm trying to get caught up, but we aren't there yet. My mother-in-law (MIL) told me today that someone from an unnamed agency called her looking for me in order to offer "help" regarding foreclosure. She (the caller) said she got info from public records (and that's all she'd say on how she got it). I know this info is available though I'd have no idea myself how to obtain it; what bothers me is just how much personal and financial info she provided to my MIL - who had expressly told her she wasn't me (and the caller understood this because she kept referring to me as "she"). At first MIL was just trying to find out if the call was "legit" by asking questions such as how she got the number and my info; when the caller was freely forthcoming with more info than requested MIL decided to see just how much of my personal/financial information the caller would give out to someone they knew wasn't me. It was a LOT. Dates, companies, account numbers, amounts, length of time behind, and more - I just briefly spoke to MIL about it today; she said she'd tell me the rest of what was said when my kids weren't running rings around us. She did give me the phone number, but I can't do anything with it as it doesn't accept incoming calls.

 

All of that to ask: how much information can be legally divulged to someone you know isn't the mortgage holder (or has any ties to the mortgage in any way)? I know it's money I owe, and I'm striving to get it paid, but it really bothers me that someone out there is rattling off my financial info to anyone who asks for it.

 

TIA!