You have debt to collect on. Like every well-intentioned business owner, you attempted to collect by in-house means. You sent letters, you made phone calls, you exhausted your patience and all practical means. You’re considering choosing a collection agency, but you have a big concern.
As you, I mean your office manager, I mean your spouse, attempted to collect, it became clear that the consumer, now a “skip”, skipped, leaving you and your bottom line !@#$%. Now you’re letting the account age further, convinced an agency would have no chance to collect on your vagabond, former client. It’s a vicious cycle, we know. It’s a vicious cycle, we know. It’s a . . .
Have a seat. The Debt Doctor is in, and he wants to let you in on a cure all for that woe of yours. It’s called skip tracing, or, using super cool techie stuff (like the skip tracing radar watch to your right – sorry, bad joke) to search every warehouse, out house, farm house, hen house . . . for your consumer, Richard Kimball. OK, too much Tommy Lee Jones there, but when will I ever get the chance again.
Ever heard of the term “skip town”? Your consumer is the skip. You are entitled to be paid, so the skip has to be “traced”, not outlined, but followed, found and diplomatically held accountable.
Skip tracing really comes down to three main methods:
- Out of Pocket – Difficult to locate, but not intentionally hiding, usually because of a job change, divorce or relocation. Generally strapped for cash, they react surprised when found.
- Intentional Skip – Cat and mouse situation here. This consumer is often hiding from more than just debt, maybe family, police and the courts too. They do not want to be found and will go to great lengths to remain hidden.
- Fraud Account – No intention to pay from the beginning, used fraudulent information, made a payment or two, if you’re lucky, and got out of Dodge, or is living next door. This is the hardest skip to locate.
Joshua Fluegel, in the same issue of Collection Advisor (page 20), summarizes the top five skip tracing solutions in 2012 that agencies such as Optio Solutions might employ for skip tracing:
- Columbia Ultimate – automated, customizable, makes best practices suggestions to lessen the learning curve.
- Master Files – aggregated data, updated 3 x’s a day, multiple data retrieval, sort and highlight capabilities.
- Merlin Data – helps users gauge how much resources to assign by “VPOE” and “In-Depth POE” – Verified Place of Employment.
- TLO – customizable, batch solutions, linking algorithms to ensure you are speaking to the right consumer.
- US Tracers – daily, updated POE, banking, home address, wireless and land line phones, and more.
I’m not giving away the secret recipe, but suffice it to say, the best collection agencies use good, old-fashioned detective work, and marry it to the best technology available. Their hope? To produce a bunch of hyper-intuitive, data wielding, super collectors.
You built the business, you ran it, maybe you still run it. Either way, you deserve the benefits and you’re ready to stop chasing your tail.
Here’s a test. Fill out the form on this page with your accurate information, and I bet someone will contact you. I know . . . it’s like magic!
