Skip tracing is a service performed
to find the whereabouts of a certain person or people. This is usually done by
debt collectors, process servers, bail bond enforcers, repossession agents,
private investigators, attorneys, police detectives, and journalists. People
who skip payments or are avoiding contact often give false contact information
or abandon their life to go into hiding.
The goal of skip tracing is to
collect as much information about the subject as possible. The information
about the missing person is analyzed, reduced, and verified. The missing person
may have their whereabouts included in the data, usually obscured by the amount
of information.
Skip tracing is more than simple
research. It is a method handled by professionals who skip trace for a living.
They employ methods of social engineering, down to calling or visiting
neighbors, employers, and other known contacts to ask about the subject. Public
and private databases cross-reference skip tracing information with people the
missing person may have been within the past.
There are many resources a skip
tracer can use to locate a missing person. These include phone number
databases, credit reports, loan applications, credit card applications, job
application information, criminal background checks, any utility bills, social
security, disability, and public tax information.
There are three different types of
skip persons. The first is unintentional, meaning they are not trying to hide
from anyone but simply missed a responsibility. The second is intentional, when
a person is trying to hide from a specific agency. The third is fraud, where
the missing person is trying to hide from everyone.
There are certain qualities for each
of these types of missing people. Unintentional skips most likely relocated for
a job or are unemployed and living with friends or relatives. They may be
unaware of their debt, unsure of their options, and possibly low on cash.
Intentional skips are aware they
have debt and cannot or will not pay it. This type of person most likely has
excessive debts in other places. Friends and relatives are most likely helping
them hide from skip tracing. Their problems may be bigger than debt.
Fraudulent skips often never have
any intention of paying their debt. They could be hiding from law enforcement
or avoiding child support payments. Friends and relatives most likely have lost
contact with this person. Collection from these people requires a harder
approach.
There are many different tools to
access when skip tracing. All previous applications for loans, credit, rentals,
and jobs are helpful. Previous utility bills, phone numbers, addresses,
personal contacts, and criminal backgrounds will also be beneficial in tracking
a person. Their social security number and public tax information goes a long
way.
The internet, believe it or not, can
be the answer to skip tracing. Popular search engines, phone and address
directories, and free tracking websites are all available. Public records can
also be found on the internet, including marriages, divorces, civil actions,
criminal actions, and foreclosures.
An all-in-one solution for skip
tracing is to go through a credit bureau. A credit bureau's basic search can
provide their name, age, date of birth, social security number, current
address, phone number, historical addresses, aliases, and date of death. All
that is needed for a credit bureau search is a social security number.
A trace detail report can be
requested from a credit bureau report to provide detailed information on
relatives and neighbors. It is a secondary search accessed from a basic search.
It can provide additional phone and contact information for relatives and
neighbors.
A credit bureau offers all kinds of
different skip tracing services that allow the missing person to be found, no
matter what problem is causing them to go into hiding. Most offer a driver's
license search, business search, phone and address lookups, identity
verifications, criminal and court searches, assets and financial data, and
identity and credit protection packages.
