Skip Tracing in Debt Collection: Techniques and Best Practices
Skip Tracing Guide: Little Known Tricks to Help You Find ANY
Skip tracing is a debt collection tactic that involves the search for missing or hard-to-find persons or corporate dealings. When other methods such as phone calls, mailings, and credit reporting agencies fail to locate someone, skip tracing comes into play. The skip tracer's primary objective is to locate and contact individuals who owe money. In this blog post, we will discuss how skip tracing works, its benefits, and how you can use it to your advantage.
What is Skip Tracing for Debt Collection?
Skip tracing is a process used by creditors, loan companies, property developers, and private investigators to locate individuals who have skipped town or have disappeared without leaving any trace. The name "skippy" refers to the phrase "skipping cities," which means tracking down someone who has left town.
Debt collection agencies use skip tracing to locate non-paying customers and help collect unpaid debts. For instance, if a car is purchased on loan, and the buyer fails to pay, the bank may employ a skip tracer to track down the person.
Why do I need skip tracing?
Skip tracing can be beneficial in locating people who don't want to be found. Individuals might change their address or job or even relocate to avoid being served with legal notices. As a result, locating them can become a challenging task.
Suppose you need to serve legal documents to a friend or relative whom you cannot find, using a process server that employs skip tracing techniques can be useful.
How does skip tracing work?
Skip tracing is not as easy as it might seem at first glance. It is not just a matter of googling someone's name or searching for them on social media. Skip tracers employ various techniques to locate individuals, including:
- Conducting interviews with family and friends of the subject.
- Engaging in surveillance.
- Accessing public records and databases such as Pipl, Fast People Search, and credit reports.
- Using specialized software and databases not accessible to the general public.
While it might be tempting to try and conduct a skip trace on your own, hiring an experienced process server and skip tracer can save you time, money, and energy. Professionals have access to sophisticated technologies, insider information, and cutting-edge surveillance techniques, making them more likely to succeed in locating the person you're looking for.
Is it legal to practice skip tracing?
Skip tracing is legal, as long as the process does not involve breaking the law or accessing private information without permission. It is essential to be honest about your intentions when conducting a skip trace, and to check local laws and business guidelines to ensure that you are not doing anything illegal.
How long does it take to complete a skip trace?
The time required to complete a skip trace depends on the availability of the information being sought. While some services can be completed in as little as 48 hours, others might take up to 10-14 days.
What is the skip tracer process like?
The skip tracing process begins with the skip tracer verifying the information provided by the client and correcting any misinformation. The next step involves familiarizing themselves with the subject using public resources such as social media, credit reports, friends and family, free public records databases like Pipl and Fast People Search, loan applications, criminal background checks, job applications, court records, and utility bills.
Skip tracers can also use specialized software and databases such as IDI, TLO, Enformion, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, MicroBilt, DRN Digital Recognition Network, and VeriFacts, Inc. Skip tracers used to manually look for information by calling the subject's references and scouring public records at libraries. Nowadays, the abundance of free internet-based databases has made the process much easier for skip tracers, who can access all the information they need online.
Unfortunately, with the abundance of free internet-based databases like LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters, it has become increasingly challenging to find people who skip town. This is where hiring a third-party collection agency can be more cost-effective than hiring an independent skip tracer. Working through one company can result in lower costs due to bulk discounts or referral incentives. Access to other functions such as collections and credit reporting can also make the job easier by removing some leg work from your process while still allowing you to get results quickly.
How do I hire a Skip Tracer?
If you're looking to hire a skip tracer, it's essential to reach out to the right professionals. You can ask for recommendations from colleagues or look for reviews online. At Jeffrey Hartman, we provide valuable tips and insights on how to succeed in the credit and collections industry. We can also recommend the best skip tracers in the industry at the industry's lowest rate.
Conclusion
In conclusion, skip tracing is a valuable tool in the debt collection industry. It is a process that involves locating individuals who have disappeared or are difficult to locate. Skip tracing can be used by anyone who needs to locate a person or company, including creditors, loan companies, property developers, private investigators, and process servers.
The skip tracing process can be complicated and time-consuming, which is why it is often best to hire a professional skip tracer. Hiring a third-party collection agency can also be cost-effective and result in faster results. Remember to always check the local laws and business guidelines to ensure that you are not breaking any laws when conducting a skip trace.
FAQs
- What is skip tracing? Skip tracing is a debt collection tactic that involves the search for missing or hard-to-find persons or corporate dealings.
- Who uses skip tracing? Skip tracing is used by creditors, loan companies, property developers, private investigators, and process servers.
- How does skip tracing work? Skip tracers employ various techniques to locate individuals, including conducting interviews with family and friends of the subject, engaging in surveillance, accessing public records and databases, and using specialized software and databases not accessible to the general public.
- Is it legal to practice skip tracing? Skip tracing is legal, as long as the process does not involve breaking the law or accessing private information without permission.
How do I hire a skip tracer? You can ask for recommendations from colleagues or look for reviews online. At Jeffrey Hartman, we provide valuable tips and insights on how to succeed in the credit and collections industry and can recommend the best skip tracers in the industry at the industry's lowest rate.