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Before you begin this section, please
familiarize yourself with the Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act. Learn what you can, and cannot, do
in the collection of a debt. Laws vary depending
on whether you are a collection agency (a for hire
collector) or the proprietor or an employee of an
establishment which grants credit. YOU
are responsible to the authorities for
your actions. If you violate the law, you are no
better than the person you are looking for.
Please use discernment, for your
own sake. The business we are in can be dangerous
enough without adding irresponsible behavior to
the mix. |
Tracking Down The
Deadbeat!
Well, you
did everything right from the beginning, and still Joe
Blow has taken off without paying you. You have an idea
where to look, but how do you put your finger on
him?
CREDIT
AGENCIES
As more and
more municipalities and utility companies begin to check
the credit history of new applicants, these reporting
agencies take on a bigger role in skiptracing. TRW and
Equifax are my favorites. You can look up a lot of
information for just a couple of dollars (My boss told
me it costs him $2.00 for each search). My favorite
search is the "address update" through TRW. Why? If you
don't have a Social Security Number (SSN), you can
probably find it here.
"Wait a
minute, I don't have their SSN, so how can I use TRW to
locate Joe? Don't you have to have that number to even
attempt an update?"
Thank
goodness, the answer is NO. Before I started working at
my current employer, they did not collect SSN's and
DOB's (Date Of Birth) most new customers. When I started
using TRW to track skips, one of the secretaries who
used to help the previous collector told me that if I
didn't have a SSN I should just leave the machine alone.
What she, and many others, failed to realize is that TRW
uses more than just your SSN to identify you in a credit
report. The person who does a credit check MUST include
a current address. I mean, who would finance something
to a person who did not have a home address? If you have
even one address that you know was used by the skip
(like the one they used on their application), you can
probably get more information than you ever thought
possible. Two or more addresses almost guarantee success
in getting info you can use --- like their SSN and DOB,
their spouse, an employer, and probably their new
address! . TRW will link matches where the address you
list and the name you use are the same. If the customer
has used this address before, there will also be a
Social Security Number linked to it.
Remember,
you are not doing a credit check. Someone else has
already checked Joe's credit. You are only taking
advantage of the available information!
COPERNIC
Why use
another internet search engine? Well, because this one
works! You put in your information once, and it searches
up to 17 other search engines at the same time. You can
search by interests, newsgroups, and more. I have found
many skips through online obituaries in local newspapers
(More on these later). Copernic finds these and more
because of its sophisticated search
capabilities.
Copernic has
so many ways to search, if your subject has been
mentioned anywhere on the internet you'll
probably find them. You can download a free / ad
sponsored version which is almost as good as the pro
version.
ARGALI
Like
Copernic, this neat little tool makes internet searching
a lot easier. You put in the name you're looking for and
it searches all the major directories for you. You can
do reverse searches, email searches and more. Argali
even keeps a record of your recent searches. It's free
at Argali.com
but there are advertisements.
OBITUARIES
The Obits
are a great source of information when searching for a
skip. If you know of a relative of Joe's who has
recently died, they are probably listed in the
obituaries archives of your local newspaper. What makes
these such good sources is NAMES OF RELATIVES. Joe's
Uncle Charlie died two years ago, you know this because
your co worker who took the payment made a note of it
when Joe called to say his payment would be late because
he had to go to a funeral. "JOE PH P/P 4/3 (Funeral -
Uncle Joe) Send sympathy card"
No one is
happy that Uncle Joe died, but his obituary is probably
listed in his home town paper. And now that so many
small town newspapers have their own online archives, it
should be easy to look at the obit from 2 years ago and
see who was listed as relatives and friends. Along with
these names there are usually listed the towns they are
from. Each one of these persons is a potential source of
information about where Joe went.
Many of
these obits are also recorded and archived at the
various genealogy sites (ancestry, rootsweb, etc.). If
you are careful, and a little bit familiar with the
names of some of Joe's family members, you may be able
to spoof the genealogist into thinking you area lost
part of Joe's family trying to find relatives, or your
favorite cousin Joe Blow! These people have made a hobby
of looking for persons with less information than you
have about Joe. They are generally kind, helpful, and
SMART. If you are not sure about who's who, be careful.
I am not sure how that would be affected by The Fair
Debt Collection Practices Act if you were caught.
Also,
check the National Obituary Archives.
RENT-TO-OWN
STORES
I know that
it makes some retail furniture dealers' skin crawl to
mention it, but RTO stores are a great source of
information! Why?
I think the
rental business deals with some of the best people in
the world --- working people who are trying to get nice
things for their family, provide for their need for
appliances, furnishings, and entertainment. Then why do
they rent instead of buy (finance)? Quite simply their
credit is not acceptable by most finance company
standards. They may have had to deal with some sort of
financial setback, or may not be able to manage their
own money. RTO's have "account managers" which help many
of these persons manage their money and eventually own
the property they are renting. Most finance companies
call these persons "bill collectors", "repo men", or
worse. However, these persons walk a fine line and
really do provide a valuable service to their customers.
Theirs is a service business, and we know how the word
service scares some retailers!
Over the
years, the rental industry has realized that not
everyone is or even tries to be honest. There are
persons who would rather climb a tree to steal from you
than stand on the ground and accept the same piece of
merchandise as a gift. It is just their nature. Other
persons fall on hard times and have to move . . . they
really do intend to pay, but somehow payment to the RTO
store gets passed over. As a result, these merchants
have devised means to protect their property from theft.
They mark it with stock numbers, their name, etc. But
what I like the most is the Rental Application! By
calling it a "RENTAL ORDER" they put most of their
customers at ease when they complete the form. I can't
speak for all managers, but I always required at least 5
contact persons with working telephone numbers, two of
which had to be blood relatives (and if one was out of
state -- but not both -- that made it even better!).
Next, I called EVERY person on the rental order and
verified the order. I had a "points system" which
required a minimum score of 70 out of 100 to qualify to
rent from me. That's probably why I was fired, but I did
not lose one piece of merchandise to a skip in my two
years there! Yes, I had several skips. However, every
single one was located and every single piece of
merchandise was recovered!
"Ok, great.
But how does that help me?"
Whereas you
have no way of knowing the information in a credit
header is entirely accurate (did Joe give a false
address to the furniture store in his new town?),
usually all of the information on a rental order has
been verified for accuracy. Joe only gave you one
relative on his credit application, his brother.
Unfortunately Jack moved away a year and a half ago. Did
you know that Joe's mother lived in Dayton, TX? Well,
great! That explains why every time you run his last
name through argali, everyone listed lives within 100
miles of Houston, Texas! (I had a skip with an unusual
last name which appears dozens of times in southeast
Texas -- with a total of 2 exceptions listed in other
parts of the entire United States!)
You would be
surprised to learn that sometimes these persons move to
another location and keep the same merchandise, but
simply make their payment to another store in their new
home town! Since the merchandise must be transferred
from the inventory of one store to the inventory of
another store, there are actually records not only of
what was transferred, where it was transferred, and when
--- but the customer's new address is also available as
well as their new phone number, new employer, and
more!
PAWN
SHOPS
Pawn Shops
usually are uncooperative. If you had given $75.00 for a
used television to someone who you knew you would never
see again, would you want to give that television to a
stranger? I sure wouldn't! Of course the law comes into
play here, but my opinion is you can catch more flies
with honey than you can with vinegar. Some of the local
pawn shop owners in my area know me well. I make money
for them too. How is that? In Arkansas, the pawn shops
sometimes charge an APR of OVER 300% on loans. What
would you rather do: Hold on to a TV for a couple of
months and get your money back with interest, or take
your chances of getting in trouble for accepting stolen
merchandise?
My strategy
is this: If the pawnbroker will hold the TV for 2 months
I can usually get his money back -- with interest.
I tell the pawn broker this up front. When I locate the
skip, I explain that they have broken the law by pawning
an item which either does not belong to them (rental) or
has a lien against it (financed). Since the property is
at the pawn shop, they can pay the pawn broker ALL that
they owe him, or we will ALL (me, the pawn broker, and
Johnny Law) see him in court. You would not believe how
fast these people can locate the Western Union in their
new town! What we have here is a win/win/win situation.
You get the television, the pawn broker gets his money
back (with interest), and the skip stays out of jail.
Also, since pawning something which has a lien on it is
illegal, just the fact that the pawn broker was paid
back does not always get Joe off the hook with the
authorities. Make sure he knows that! Now you'll get
your money. I have a really nice boot knife which was
given to me by an appreciative pawn broker because of
the money I made for him.
A word of
caution here: If you make the above deal, don't be a
butthole and still turn in the pawnbroker if you don't
locate your skip. KEEP YOUR WORD! This transaction
requires the pawnbroker to have faith in you. Yes, you
could lose the television this time. On the other hand,
think about this: What kind of people hang around in
pawn shops?
I can think
of at least 3 good reasons to keep your word to the
pawnbroker:
-
If you
don't, next time he'll do a better job of hiding the
stolen property.
-
Pawnbrokers talk to other pawnbrokers. No one
else in the area will ever deal with you after
that.
-
One of his
"customers" may pay you a visit and break your legs,
or worse.
DON'T BE
STUPID!!!
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