This is a guest post from Shilpa at Under the Rainbow. Though Shilpa claims that “she knows zilch about financial planning,” her posts always prove the opposite. In this post she explains why you really ought to be careful when you act as a reference for someone else’s financial dealings.

I learned this lesson the hard way. A colleague of mine wanted a personal loan and asked me if he could use my name and number as a reference. Having known him for a long time, I agreed. A few months later he quit the company, quit the city, and changed his mobile number. We lost contact.

And then started a slew of calls from the bank wanting to know his whereabouts. Since I had no idea, I said so but the calls didn’t stop. Even now, after more than two years, I get these calls when I am in the middle of a meeting, driving, or trying to put my baby to sleep. Each time a different person calls and I have to explain the situation all over again.

No amount of mails, scraps, and pokes have yielded any response from this colleague. I do not want to change my mobile number because of someone else’s wrong doing. Sigh! I guess I’ll just have to answer these calls until the bank marks this colleague as a defaulter and forgets him.

In this day and age, you really need to be careful about who you act as a reference for.

Awareness Fridays is my initiative to spread awareness on topics relevant to personal finance — every Friday. I urge you to take some time off and absorb this information — it’s pretty useful. And, as always, do spread the word if you find this useful.