Skip Tracing

Skip tracing is the art of locating a debtor who does not want to be found.  Skip tracing is of primary importance to the collections department, which sometimes faces the task of obtaining payment from individuals who do not pay by the simple expedient of covering their tracks.  In this article, we address multiple skip tracing techniques.

Before conducting a skip trace, be sure to make a rational, hard-headed decision regarding whether this is worth your time. A really thorough skip trace can require many hours, so is it worth the effort if the amount owed by the debtor is not large?  With this issue in mind, most credit managers will initially authorize only a brief search of easily accessible databases before requiring their personal approval before proceeding further. Part of this initial search should include bankruptcy records, since a recent bankruptcy will likely force the credit manager to cancel any additional skip tracing activities.

If the decision is made to proceed, who should conduct the skip trace? This is something of an art form, and requires a different mindset from that of the collections staff.  If there is someone on staff with a natural proclivity toward skip tracing, then consider yourself lucky.  If not, it may make sense to outsource this function to a professional skip tracer.  However, do not expect to pay a few dollars for a thorough skip trace.  Though the Internet is replete with advertisements for skip traces costing $100 or less, such searches are only for perfunctory perusals of a few common databases.  For a detailed search, expect to pay a skip tracer on an hourly basis, and set a maximum number of hours for each trace.  If you are searching for a judgment debtor, then many states allow you to add collection fees to the principal amount of the judgment, which may make this a more palatable alternative.

If you still wish to conduct in-house skip tracing, then here are some location techniques:

  1. Send an empty envelope to their latest known address, with "Do Not Forward - Address Correction Requested" stamped on it.  The Post Office will return it in about a week with the target's forwarding address.
  2. Use People Search on www.411.com.  This on-line database is a simple way to locate anyone by their name who resides in the United States.  You can also enter their phone number or email address in the same site, and it will sometimes return an address.  The results are spotty, but this is worth a few minutes of your time.
  3. Use caller ID on incoming calls.  Sometimes enough inquiries will result in the target calling you, just to see what you want.  If so, have caller ID, so you identify them and store their phone number.  Then use the Reverse Phone search on www.411.com to determine their address.
  4. Conduct a search on a search engine.  Though a name search on Google may return thousands of web links, putting the name in quotes and adding a few key words about the target will rapidly reduce the number of relevant links.
  5. Conduct a search through a paid database service.  Examples are www.gov-search.org, www.intelius.com, and publicrecordfinder.com.  These sites provide access to records of inmates, births and deaths, marriages, divorces, and reverse phone records.  NetDetective goes a bit further, and includes Department of Motor Vehicle Records.  Expect to pay anywhere from $7.50 for a simple record search to $50 for a thorough analysis.
  6. Contact friends, co-workers, relatives, and neighbors.  Though time-consuming, this can be an extremely effective approach.  The target usually slips and lets someone know their new address, so persistence pays.  An especially effective approach is to contact the former landlord, who may have the target's credit application on file.  If so, this may contain all kinds of useful tracing information.

Whatever method you use, keep a formal log of your results that includes the target's key personal information that you've accumulated, as well as the results of every type of search listed above.  This consolidates your records and ensures that you do not duplicate steps.

And what do I use? I start with a 411 search and then start calling anyone who knows the target.  My all-time favorite search was tracking down an individual who moved from Massachusetts to Texas, and who was late on child support payments.  Through a convoluted series of links through friends and neighbors, I tracked down his favorite bartender in a Dallas pub, who gave me all of the target's contact information over the phone.