Welcome to Debt Collection Guide
Debt Collection Calls Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
Dealing with Skip Tracers and Debt Collection
from:One of the biggest problems that debt collectors face is locating their debtors. When a debtor moves to another house in another state, the collection agency often has no clue how to locate him. So, how do collection agencies track runaway debtors? The solution is easy – they hire skip tracers.
Skip tracers are people whose sole mission is to locate debtors who moved without giving their new contact details to the collection agencies. Sometimes, skip tracers are employed to help legal collectors find the addresses of assets that are to be repossessed.
You may wonder how skip tracers locate people. The process is actually rather straightforward. The easiest way is to use the debtors’ social security numbers. They run the social security numbers through various credit bureaus. What they get are header files from the debtors’ credit files or credit reports. A header file only has basic information like the name, address and in some cases, the place of employment. As little as this information may be, it’s all that the skip tracers need to help debt collectors find their debtors.
If the skip tracer cannot find the debtor through the social security number, he can do a national identifier search. Simply put, this is an old school system that uses the debtor’s last known residence as well as his name to find his new location.
The skip tracer may look through these sources:
Phone book
Online directories and search engines – The debtor may have accounts in various websites, like myspace, livejournal or facebook. If not, there may be people on the internet who may have written entries about him or posted his pictures.
The Department of Motor Vehicles
If the debtor drives or has a license, it is likely that the DMV has recent information about his whereabouts.
Employers
If you know the debtor’s last place of employment, the skip tracer can approach his boss and inquire about his current employment status. Even if the debtor has moved to a different job, the employer may still have information that can help the skip tracer locate him.
Associations and other groups
If the debtor has a specialized occupation, like Engineering or Medicine, he must have membership in certain organizations. The skip tracer will try to search through these groups to find the debtor.
Former contacts
The skip tracer may visit old neighbors, friends and relatives to get some information about the debtor’s current location.
When trying to get information about a certain debtor, a skip tracer faces a lot of potential legal troubles. In order to prevent these, the skip tracer should not falsely represent himself as a member of law enforcement or a detective. Also, the skip tracer may experience legal troubles if he tries to get the cell phone numbers of the debtors.
Debt Collection Calls News
Scam Alert: Fake Debt Collectors Calling - KMPH Fox 26
Scam Alert: Fake Debt Collectors Calling KMPH Fox 26 By Erik Rosales - email The Federal Trade Commission is looking into a fake debt collection scam that's now made its way to the valley. Scammers tried to get Visalia resident Tim McNabb to send in hundreds of dollars. Last year McNabb took out a ... |
Debt collector may not call you at work - Victoria Advocate
 SunHerald.com | Debt collector may not call you at work Victoria Advocate By Richard Alderman I have a debt collector calling me at work. I have told him that my employer prohibits such calls, and I could lose my job. His answer was, "Then you better pay me, because I am not going to stop calling you. When debt collectors call, know what your rights are |
Winston-Salem among N.C. cities competing for debt-collection call center - Winston-Salem Journal
Winston-Salem among N.C. cities competing for debt-collection call center Winston-Salem Journal An unusually public economic project has the Triad's largest cities competing with each other and Charlotte for a debt-collection call center that could have 500 employees when it opens. Oklahoma businessman Bill Bartmann visited the Madison Park ... |
Dealing With Debt Collectors: Be Their Friends - Huffington Post
Dealing With Debt Collectors: Be Their Friends Huffington Post It's frustrating when you're receiving multiple phone calls a day from debt collection agencies. It doesn't have to be that way. Debt collection agencies are used to being yelled and cursed at, so why not take the opposite approach and try to be their ... Tips for handling debt collectors |
Brenda Shanahan: Four types of debt problems - Montreal Gazette
Brenda Shanahan: Four types of debt problems Montreal Gazette You do have income and the collection agency calls have only just started coming. At this stage, you can work with a credit counsellor or even figure out yourself how to track your expenses, reduce excess spending, make an inventory of your debt and ... |