My parents have received 2 or 3 calls from this company over the past 2 weeks, and each time, it's a recorded call that asks for me by name, and then proceeds to state that I need to call them regarding an account (and it states the dollar amount owed).

This is illegal. FDCPA protects consumers from this sort of violation of privacy. It is against the FDCPA to contact anyone other than the consumer and give them specific information about the consumer's debt (like the amount owed) unless they can confirm that they are speaking to the consumer in question, or they have written permission to speak to someone else, or if the consumer has confirmed it is acceptable to leave a detailed message at the number they called.

I called the creditor in question, confirmed that I did indeed forget to pay off an old bill (a book club account, my fault for forgetting about the bill, and I accept responsibility for it), and I made payment arrangements with the original creditor - NOT with Penn Credit. I then called Penn Credit, and advised them of the arrangement, and asked them to note it in my account. Now get this - the rep from Penn Credit said, "ok, no problem" and was going to hang up - HE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE MY CONTACT INFO, ACCOUNT NUMBER OR ANYTHING ELSE WITH WHICH TO NOTE THIS INFO ON MY ACCOUNT!! They would have turned right around and called again tomorrow - and probably will anyway - even though I gave them my info to note this on my account. I'm sure the one I spoke to didn't write it down or anything - he sounded like he was just acting like he took my info to appease me. This company is shady, shady, shady - don't fall for their tricks. Call your original creditor and deal with them directly - you don't have to deal with these yahoos.