The Truth of Credit

Skip-tracing is a term used to describe the process of locating a person’s whereabouts for any number of purposes. A skip-tracer is someone who performs this task, which may be the person’s primary occupation and is used frequently by debt collectors, bail bonds men and bounty hunters. The term comes from the word “skip” being used to describe the person being searched for. Similar to someone “skipping” town. In my experience this is more of an art and takes some brains to be good at.

Now, most debt collectors are aware most debtors have more than one creditor trying to find them. Therefore, usually that best skip-tracer is going to be able to get the debtor on the phone first. Here is where people-skills are the most important.  The collector must first work their way through the debtor’s Credit Bureau Report (CBR). This is certainly the best information they are going to get without going to a third party provider. Most CBR’s provide recent known numbers and many potential addresses for the person they are working on. However, if only it were that easy.

We have chronicled in numerous times on this blog about how much people hate talking to debt collectors. So most of the usual numbers dialed are screened out either by a relative or by the debtor themselves. Here is where the men are separated from the boys in collections. This will lead the collector to their “Skip-tools”. Skip-tools include third party databases i.e. LexisNexis, IDA and Superpages that categorize public information. So if you think your cell phone number is safe from collector calls, think again. These sites pull information from sources like your cable bills, utilities bills and/or mortgage. Therefore, the info is usually pretty reliable.

The TRUTH is even with all this information some people still slip through and can’t be located. Either because of lack of skill on the collector’s part or the debtor is just that slick. WARNING: Unless you’re under a rock and haven’t paid a bill in 10 years, more than likely you will be found. Getting you to pay your debt is a whole other matter, but finding you comes first.