Solve your debt in 5 days or less!

Unsecured creditor: Creditor who has no collateral covering 
their financial exposure.  Almost all credit or charge cards 
fit into this category.  The weakest position to be in 
during tough financial times, unsecured creditors are the 
largest employers of third-party debt collectors. 
Vito: Name used to describe any individual in the debt 
collection industry who may use techniques that are not 
endorsed by the American Collectors Association or deemed 
legal by the federal government under the Fair Debt 
Collections Practices Act. 
Vocational school: Non-traditional institution of higher 
learning designed to train students in job skills as opposed 
to educational degree plans in specific areas of study.  
Vocational schools can graduate students in 6- to 24-month 
course studies as opposed to 48 months in traditional 
colleges/university programs.  This type of school is coming 
under increasing scrutiny by the Department of Education. 
Wage-earner plan: Alternate term used to describe a Chapter 
13 bankruptcy.  This plan allows consumers to pay off 
creditors over a period not to exceed five years. 

 
SkipTracing

The debt collector is very good at using all the information 
at their disposal to intimidate you.  These intimidation 
techniques generate collections, and in turn big 
commissions, to the debt collector. Skiptracing is the term 
used to track down debtors who have dropped out of sight or 
have unlisted their phone number and become difficult to 
communicate with.  The debt collection industry classifies 
these "skips," placing them into one of four categories: 
Unintentional skips
Skips resulting from marital difficulties
Intentional skips
Skips with criminal intent
The "skips with criminal intent' are a very small 
percentage.  Most people go "underground" for one of the 
other three reasons, and I'd like to add a fifth category.  
How about skips afraid of the size of the medical bills 
they're buried under?  Let's not forget, medical bills have 
become the #1 reason Americans have been filing for 
bankruptcy in recent years. 
Here are some facts that collection agencies don't want you 
to know, courtesy of that seminar I attended a few years 
ago: 
1)  One out of every five people move to a new address every 
year. 
2)  Up to 50% of all accounts collected by collection 
agencies require some form of skiptracing. 
3)  Skiptracing helps reduce/decrease bad debt losses.
4)  Skiptracing helps the collection agency:
	a)  Locate the debtor in hopes of collecting.
	b)  Determine if the debtor is able to pay up.
c)  Determine if other creditors are pursuing the same 
debtor. 
d)  Determine what the debtor's paying habits are.
	e)  Determine the stability of the debtor's employment.
5)	Here's the magic question: Should the creditor or debt 
collector pursue the skip?  These are a few guidelines they 
follow in making that decision: 
	a)  Use good judgment (sometimes a rare commodity in this 
profession) and follow all state and  federal laws.  
b)  Virtually every debtor can be located with sufficient 
time and expenditure of money.  
c)  Creditors must limit the amount of time and money spent 
in order to keep skiptracing costs in line with the size of 
the debt. 
d)  Keep potential recovery in mind.
e)  Skiptrace in order to locate someone who will pay the 
account, not just to gather information. 
Re-read items 5 c-e!  These are extremely important points 
of the collection equation to remember.  Creditors and debt 
collectors are NOT going to throw good money after bad.  
These people are not going to waste their time chasing and 
harassing someone if they think their chance of recovery is 
slim to none.  Their time is money, too! 
How They Found You?
Computers have sure made the debt collector's job easier, 
and made them more effective.  But even with the assistance 
of computers and massive consumer data bases, the typical 
debt collector has a predictable pattern they follow to 
track down "skips.  " 
Here are the techniques the debt collection community uses 
to find anyone and everyone. 
Location Information:
a)  The debtor's last place of residence.
b)  The last telephone number at that place of residence.
c)  The debtor's last place of employment.
Information To Be Developed/Co D On Steps
a) The debtor's name, including the correct and complete 
spelling of the debtor's full name, middle initial, junior 
or senior, etc. 
b)  The debtor's correct address, including correct street 
name, number and zip code (9-digit preferred). 
c)  The debtor's previous address. 
d) The debtor's place of employment, including their 
occupation (remember, debtors usually stay within their 
trade or occupation). 
e)	Debtors who are members of trade unions, schoolteachers, 
nurses, etc. are relatively easy to find if you can figure 
out where they may have moved to.  
f)  Obtain information about debtor's position, length of 
employment, earnings, usual paydays, etc.  
g)  If you are dealing with a former employer, quiz them in 
order to obtain any references or find out if anyone else 
has made any inquiries since the debtor has left.  Posing as 
a friend from "back home," high school or college is an 
effective ruse, as is posing as a relative. 
h)	Find out if the debtor rents, leases or owns property.
i)	If the debtor does own any real estate, check public 
records (courthouse or tax rolls) for the name of the 
mortgagor. 
j)	Once you find out the mortgagor, you may be able to find 
out by contacting them directly who carries the insurance on 
the property-another potential wealth of information and 
leads. 
k)	If the debtor rents, find out the landlord or property, 
management company's name, address and telephone number 
on-site property managers will talk in many cases. 
l)	 Check to see if debtor owns an automobile or motorcycle 
through department of motor vehicle records. Obtain name, 
address and telephone number of company that financed or 
currently has a lien on the automobile. 
n)	Get out the crisscross directory.  Former neighbors are 
usually a pretty good source of information.  See next 
category for line of questioning.  
o) Current neighbors: A terrific source of information!  
When does the debtor go to work?  What time do they come 
home?  What type of car do they drive?  Can you get a