Skip Tracing Made Easy Through Social Media

With personal debt increasing, there are more and more employment options for skip tracers.  Skip tracers are responsible for finding missing people.  The top reason people voluntarily go missing is because of debt.  In an effort to get away from debt, the debtor will dodge the collectors by up and leaving their debt behind.

Skip tracing used to be an impossible job.  The only way to find people used to be through word of mouth.  The skip tracer would have to go to the person’s places of employment, and even occasionally search for family members to ask if they have seen the skipper.  This is no longer the case.

Finding a debt skipper is becoming much easier with the rise of the internet and social media.  By using such websites as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, skip tracers are able to get a much better idea about the whereabouts of their prospects.  These days a skip tracer’s job can be as easy as just doing a simple Google search on the debtor.  With that being said, it’s important to note that skip tracers are NOT legally permitted to contact the debtor through social media means. 

If a debtor’s Facebook profile is found, it is typically quite simple to determine their location.  There may be clues left by looking at the status they have posted.  Even if the debtor didn’t post a status specifically pointing out their location, skip tracers can also look through recent pictures to get an idea of their location. 

Facebook has also added a feature that shows the actual city that the person was in when they posted a status.  If the debtor has this feature enabled on their Facebook, it makes the job of a skip tracer all the more easier.  Luckily we are in the technology age, and with this comes the ability to easily track down those that are indebted to us.  

Is Debt Collecting Leaving You Feeling Hopeless?

Collecting is not an easy job.  This is known.  With people dodging out of the collection agencies sight, how are we expected to manage this discouragement?  There are a few things that you should take into consideration if you are experiencing a debt collecting nightmare. 

The first, and most important, thing to remember is that debt collecting takes time.  The person didn’t acquire the debt over night, so it’s impossible to expect them to pay over night.  The most frustrating part of debt collection is the initial contact that you have to reach with the person. 

People dodge debt collectors all the time, that’s why patience is key.  Debt collection is an art. We have to find a happy medium that will both motivate the one in debt to pay, while not making them feel pressured or harassed in the mean time. 

Once you are able to make that initial contact with the prospect, set out clear guidelines and expectations.  Sometimes it helps to create a flexible payment plan so that they don’t feel overwhelmed.  Remember, a person who feels completely overwhelmed and is drowning in debt is less likely to pay than someone who feels respected and understood by the collector.  By being flexible you are helping them help you.

Another thing that gives us that ‘burnt out’ feeling while collecting debt is the fact that the government just isn’t on our side.  Most of the rules and regulations are against us, and at times it can feel like it’s impossible to collect.  Don’t get discouraged by the regulations against you.  Do all that you can that is within the law, and don’t give up on your money.  The money will eventually come as long as there is a healthy mixture of patience and perseverance.    

Debt Collecting- An Uphill Battle

Debt collecting is getting harder and harder.  The reason for this increase in the difficulty of collecting debt is related to the increase in rights that are given to the one that is in debt.  The government offers less protection on the part of the lender.  Nowadays, it is the one that is in debt that gets the most protection.   Take a look at a few regulations that make it nearly impossible to collect debt in a timely fashion. 

The word ‘harass’ is not used sparingly in the bounds of the debt collectors regulations.  Pretty much anything more than a few calls can constitute as harassment under the government’s eyes.  Debt collectors are not allowed to make repeated phone calls.  This obviously poses a problem for a collector when the person they are trying to reach is dodging them. 

Debt collectors are not allowed to call a person before 8am or after 9pm.  With that being said, they are also not allowed to call the borrower at their place of employment if you specify.  How can the debt collector reach their prospect if their work hours are the entire day?  It begins to be a cat and mouse game of making phone calls in hopes that you will get lucky enough to reach the person.  Good luck reaching them if they are expecting your call.

As if debt collecting isn’t hard enough, the person in debt can also make a request to only be contacted through mail.  Once this request is made the debt collector is no longer allowed to make phone calls.  With this method, the collector doesn’t even have the opportunity to ensure the one in debt is reading the letter or getting the message. 

With the rise of debt also comes the rise of protection against those in debt.  Debt collecting isn’t going to get easier as long as the government continues to offer maximum support to the one in debt and minimal support to the collector.  

Florida Broadens the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) gives all debtors some rights when it comes to collecting debt.  Often times, collectors only have one motive, and that is to collect the money.  The collectors or creditors don’t tend to take into consideration the damage they are causing in the process of them gaining their claim. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is provided to protect the debtors from unlawful collecting tactics that have been used in the past.

Some of the things that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act prohibits are:

·         Contacting consumers outside of  8:00 AM and 9:00 PM

·         Misrepresentation

·         Harassing the consumer with phone calls

·         Publishing the consumer’s name on a ‘bad debt’ list

·         Communicating with a consumer at their work after being asked not to

The list of protection that the FDCPA offers extends far past that, however Florida has taken those laws and broadened them.  Florida’s laws protect the consumer more.  Their laws also apply to creditors as opposed to the FDCPA whose laws only apply to collectors. 

Florida also gives legal rights to the consumer.  If a collector or creditor has been abusive, or has broken one of Florida’s guidelines, the consumer may sue in a court of law.  The compensation that would be received would be for punitive damages. 

Some of the statutes that Florida upholds include:

·         Collectors are not allowed to communicate with the debtor during inconvenient times

·         Collectors are prohibited from mailing collection requests in a clear envelope

·         Collectors are not allowed to harass the debtor’s family

When it comes to debt collectors, Florida’s laws seem to favor the consumer.  Florida takes an already strict set of guidelines and expands them further in hopes to make a fairer environment for the debtor.