By Anne Rosso

In the credit and collection industry, there are as many ways to approach skiptracing as there are vendors to sell you their services.

Some agencies have in–house skiptracing departments responsible solely for tracking down current consumer information through public databases and online services, while others expect their collectors to perform basic skiptracing duties. Some agencies hand over their portfolios to a vendor that runs each account through a myriad of proprietary databases to produce up–to–date consumer information, while others rely on private investigation firms to track down their most difficult accounts. But for the most part, agencies rely on a combination of these approaches to successfully locate consumers.

“Skiptracing can be one of the most time–consuming functions of a collector,” said David Simione, retail collections manager at Vengroff Williams & Associates (VWA) in Sarasota, Fla. “Obviously, it’s most cost–effective to get a consumer on the phone on the first attempt, but to do that you have to have good contact information.”

How do you find the right skiptracing vendor for your company? With the wide variety of skiptracing solutions available today, from advanced scoring tools designed to identify the likelihood of payment down to basic public records that provide court case information and telephone numbers, the options can be confusing. The trick is to evaluate both the prospective vendor and the realistic needs of your agency. A one–size–fits–all skiptracing solution does not exist. Skiptracing service vendors generally offer an extensive set of approaches for agencies depending on the type of search needed as well as the agency’s budget and timeline.

According to LexisNexis, half of all accounts received for collection require some form of skiptracing. Up–to–date data in an account will increase the percentage of right–party contacts and, in turn, an agency’s overall collection rate.

Some agencies dismiss professional skiptracing firms, protesting that they’re too expensive or take too long to return the accounts. Many consider their in–house efforts to be just as accurate as what they could get from an outside service. But more often than not, there comes a time when every agency needs some outside help, whether it’s to locate information on particularly difficult accounts or just to get through a busy period.

“Skiptracing vendors enable us to wrap up the basic skiptracing steps, especially when we’re faced with a large volume of placements,” Simione said. “If we’ve been provided insufficient information, we can outsource the skiptracing, merge the data into our system within 24 to 28 hours and enable our collectors to dive right in with more accurate and up–to–date information. It helps tighten up that initial contact period instead of us doing investigative work for a week and then making contact.”

Download entire article in PDF form