1 Do More With Less: Techniques for Effective and Efficient Skip Tracing Presenters: Erin Collins, LexisNexis Roland Girulat, Experian

2 Objectives Understand the best skip trace techniques. Identify the best skip trace tools. As a result, be more effective and efficient with the use of time and money.

3 Agenda Skip tracing 101: What it is and what we are looking for. Techniques for successful skip tracing. Tools for skip tracers –Free Tools –Fee Based Tools The quest for efficiency – automation and monitoring.

4 What Is Skip Tracing? A Skip: A person who’s current address, phone number, or place of employment is unknown. A Trace: The act of looking for the skip by tracing the clues left behind.

5 What Are We After? Address Phone numbers Assets Place of employment Health insurance provider Professional license Judgments or settlements Anything and everything that may provide a new lead.

6 How Do We Get There? By utilizing the best skip tracing techniques in conjunction with the right data sources.

7 Techniques For Effective Skip Tracing The Techniques

8 Techniques - Think Sideways Using 4 straight lines, connect all 9 dots without breaking the line (i.e. don’t lift your pen off the paper). You’ve got 5 minutes. Hint: Don’t think of the dots as starting and stopping points for your line, they are just points along the way. Prize: The first 2 people to solve this puzzle receive a $15 gift card.

9 Techniques – Think Sideways 1.Find patters where others only see chaos. 2.Make intuitive leaps. 3.Find missing links.

10 Techniques - Filter First 1.Death 2.Incarceration 3.Bankruptcy

11 Techniques – Collect, Collect, Collect 1.Collect all the data you can find. 2.Keep diligent records of the data and tasks completed. -Mail Sent - Phone Calls Made - Interviews

12 Techniques – Recognize a Lead When You See One 1.SSN Decoding: -First 3 = State of origin -First 5 = State plus the date of issuance. 2.Citations/ Tickets: Identify area of residence. I 3.Foreclosures: Provide excellent real estate contacts.

13 Techniques – Look Beyond the Obvious: Use Your Powers of Deduction The list below gives you everything you need to know to identify how these people are related to Erin Collins – Age 33.

14 Techniques – Be Aggressive 1.Dial, Dial, Dial. 2.Be inquisitive and ask lots of questions. 3.Challenge people who lie. 4.Appeal to their sense of empathy.

15 Techniques – Be Patient 1.Don’t give up after you hit your first wall. Think sideways. 2.Monitor: A new address may be just around the corner. 3.Practice makes perfect.

16 Tools For Effective Skip Tracing Free Search Tools

17 Tools - The Tools You Already Have 1. Your File: Case file and the Child Support Automated Case Management System. - Read it cover to cover. - Keep a list of all leads.

18 Tools – The Tools You Already Have 2. DMV - Monitor license renewal. - Monitor registration renewal.

19 Tools – The Tools You Already Have 3. The Custodial Parent: -Your best source of data. - Interview and re-interview. -Ask, Ask, Ask!

20 Tools - Informants Potential Informants –Relatives –Neighbors –Landlords –Former employers –Colleagues

21 Tools – Free Web Tools 1.Phone Numbers: SSN Decoding: CA Professional Licenses: ry$.startup ry$.startup

22 Tools – Free Web Tools 4. Businesses: –Secretary of State: –City’s business license database. 5. CA Court Search: By county – see county websites. 6. CA State Inmate Search: –To find out if someone is in custody call the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at (916)

23 Tools – Free Web Tools 7. Social Networking = –Facebook –MySpace –Twitter –LinkedIn

24 Tools – Free Web Tools 8. Google - Search Tips –Quotes: Searches for an exact phrase. EX: “High End Auto Repair” = requires that all 3 words appear in the document. –OR: Allows for either word to appear in the document. Ex: “High End Auto Repair” Sacramento or Fresno = provides results where either city appears in the document.

25 Tools – Free Web Tools Google Search Tips Continued –+ Symbol: Requires all words appear in the document. “High End Auto Repair” +Sacramento = requires that the phrase and the word “Sacramento” appear in all documents. –- Symbol: Excludes words from the document. “High End Auto Repair” +Sacramento -Guide = is the same result as above except the word “guide” must also be excluded from all documents.

26 Tools For Effective Skip Tracing Fee Based Search Tools

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41 Tools – Unregulated People Finders 1.Examples –Address and Phone Finders: –Relative, Birth and Death Identifiers:

42 Tools – Unregulated People Finders 2. Advantages - Fast and easy access online. - Typically no contracts. 3. Disadvantages - Limited data access: Often no private data. - Restrictions on input. Generic names are a challenge. 4. Tips - Hidden Fees: Watch out for hidden fees.

43 Tools – Regulated People Finders 1.Examples - Accurint - AutoTrack - LocatePlus

44 Tools – Regulated People Finders 2. Advantages - More Data: Private Data: Credit Header, Utility etc. Cell Phones Assets Work History Business Data Licenses and Court Data - Updates: Typically more frequently updated. - Linking and advanced search logic.

45 Tools – Regulated People Finders 3. Disadvantage - Limited Access: Permissible purpose only. - Costs: Costs are typically much higher than other search tools discussed. 4.Tips - Shop Around: Flat rate fees are typically safer/ look for hidden fees. - Pay attention to coverage. - Pay attention to update schedules.

46 Tools - News 1.Examples of Useful News Content –Marriage and engagement –Obituaries –Police blotter –Asset and business details

47 Tools - News 2.Tips - News stories are not enough. - Learn the applicable search techniques to narrow results

48 Tools For Effective Skip Tracing Tools For Efficiency

49 Tools – Batch 1.Batch Definition: Processing large volumes of data at once. Example: The caseworker submits a list of 5,000 NCP’s who are in arrears. The list includes the name and last known address. The list is returned with new addresses and phone numbers.

50 Tools – Batch Batch Requirements: –Data must be available electronically. – Must be looking to obtain the same output on all individuals or businesses.

51 Tools – Batch Batch Tips: Start with the filters first (death, bankruptcy, jail). Consider the following: –Best Address –Best Phone –Property Ownership

52 Tools – Monitoring 2. Monitoring/ Alerts/Triggers Definition: An ongoing search performed daily, weekly, or monthly, that sends an alert or to the user when the debtors data has changed. Example: The caseworker gets an when the vendor receives the following on the NCP: a new address, a new cell phone number, a change in property ownership etc.

53 Tools - Monitoring Monitoring Tips –Update Schedule: Pay attention to how often the vendor updates their data. –Data Source: Be aware of where the data is coming from so you can interpret it properly. –Closed Files: Consider using this tool on closed or inactive files

54 Do More With Less: Techniques for Effective and Efficient Skip Tracing Conclusion: Best Techniques + Best Tools = Most $$ collected or NCP’s identified with the least amount of $$ and effort expended.

55 Do More With Less: Techniques for Effective and Efficient Skip Tracing Questions ???