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Additional Digging

Exploring available data sources can further improve your skiptracing efforts By Ron L. Brown, IFCCE
Published: July 30, 2007

Professional skiptracers cultivate data sources and use them when needed.

In the June 2007 issue of Collector, the article 'Digging for Clues'
revealed two tools for locating consumers and/or their assets when
skiptracing: Creating a skiptracing persona by using a 'skiptracer name' and developing a network of information sources based on people you meet in your daily routine.

Let\'s take a look at a few more tools that can assist you with your skiptracing endeavors. Professional skiptracers trace people through the three things essential to existence in today\'s world: shelter, food and transportation. Skiptracers can match each of those essentials with sources of information available within their company's policies and procedures.

Examples of shelter sources include:
Property records.
Tax records.
Utility records.
Insurance records and claims.
Credit reports based on your company's policies and procedures.

Examples of food sources include:
Utility records.
Welfare assistance records.

Examples of transportation sources include:
Auto registration records.
Traffic violation records.
Accident records.
Auto insurance information.
Warranty data. The majority of this data is unprotected proprietary data, available legally through developed, closed sources of information. Professional skiptracers cultivate these sources and use them when needed.

Skiptracers also rely on functional flow charts to categorize the data they collect. A flow chart allows a skiptracer to gather and view data in an organized structure, analyze the value of the data, and put the pieces of the puzzle together in a coherent and productive order. A flow chart, when used properly, is a road map skiptracers can follow from start to finish. The map helps guide skiptracers to their ultimate destination-locating the 'skip.'

The final tool in a skiptracer's toolbox involves the assimilation of 'directories.' People typically think of directories as telephone directories, criss-cross directories or Polk-type directories. But a professional skiptracer gets outside the box, does a paradigm shift and gathers directories that contain a treasure trove of personal data to locate a skip. Church directories and homeowner association directories are just two of the many directories professional skiptracers use to trace and locate consumers and their assets. Have you ever looked at all the information in these types of directories?

They contain names, addresses, employment, spousal information and much more.

Using these tools and following your company's policies and procedures can help you dig for clues to locate consumers and their assets.

Ron L. Brown, IFCCE, is president of Collection Services International in Oklahoma City.

For additional educational opportunities, attend Campus ACA's new Credit and Collection Compliance Officer (CCCO) workshop. This workshop is a comprehensive educational solution designed to support the development of your compliance efforts. Through lecture, discussion and activities, you'll learn how to mitigate your organization's risk by developing successful compliance roles and practices that can keep your business growing and profitable