– BACKGROUND

Finding delinquent debtors in an ocean of information requires search tools with pinpoint precision. No one knows that better than debt collection firm, Central Atlantic Legal Group PLLC, which struggled with a tangle of flawed search tools such as run-of-the-mill search engines like Spokeo and Westlaw before discovering the accuracy, efficiency and all-in-one convenience of Tracers.

The challenges facing Central Atlantic Legal Group PLLC are multi-faceted:

No debtor contact information. The internet is filled with information but, when it comes to finding a debtor, there is a serious lack of Up-to-date and up-to-date contact information. And, if a debt collector cannot locate a debtor, they cannot recover the debt. Debtors move and sometimes they move often, especially if they are financially unstable. This means that the contact information on the original debt may be out of date. If the search tool does not regularly update its databases, it will not have the latest contact information available. Since Central Atlantic Legal Group PLLC updated their databases, it was necessary to run multiple searches across multiple platforms and they were still finding it difficult to get up-to-date information.

Identifying and locating the right debtor. Many search tools have no easy way to cross-reference data to make certain the contact information provided belongs to the right debtor. For debt collection firms like Central Atlantic Legal Group PLLC, contacting the wrong debtor is costly, especially if they do not realize the error until weeks or months after efforts to collect a debt has begun. Ms. Briggs finds Tracers consistently provides the most up-to-date and updated information when compared to other search tools such as Westlaw.

Old debtor contact information. Just as menacing as finding no contact information is finding old contact information. Sometimes a search tool delivers out-of-date contact information that was up-to-date months or weeks ago. This creates many false positives and sends the firm down the wrong road searching for a debtor. This is not only costly and time-wasting, it can remain as there is often no signal the address is out of date other than the law firm receiving no response.

Unavailable employment information. A debt collector may need to locate where a debtor works, but that information is not readily available through cursory searches. To access this type of high value information, debt collection firms may be forced to spend a lot of time combing through volumes of data from various search tools, which may or may not deliver the up-to-date information they need.

“Generally, what I am finding is the information you get from most of these other sources is very old,” Karen said. “So, I’ll think, ‘oh, there’s a different address, let me look at that.’ And then I look at my Tracers report and realize, ‘Yes, that address is from five years ago. And there have been two or three addresses since then.’”

Benefit: Accurate Information

Karen finds using Tracers allows her to easily identify the most up-to-date information about debtors—their contact information, judgments against them and whether they are still living. The ability to use Tracers as a primary and secondary search source helps her quickly and cost effectively get the most up-to-date information on the debtors she is attempting to locate.

“Whether they are dead or alive, or if there are judgments against them, you can see it all in the Tracers report,” Karen said. “And, if you need more information, you just click on it and it will take you to additional details.”

Benefit: Data Timeliness

Previously, Central Atlantic Legal Group PLLC used other search tools that had somewhat up-to-date information, but Ms. Briggs found much of the information to be seriously out of date and less than helpful in her search for debtors. Now, using Tracers, she is confident the information is the most current data. That is a huge relief and makes her job easier.

Benefit: User Friendly

The Tracers user-friendly interface makes it easy for anyone at Central Atlantic Legal Group PLLC to use the system. Ms. Briggs deeply appreciated how quickly she was able to learn the Tracers system, and how easy it is to conduct searches. This is especially important since Karen has taken on more responsibility for locating debtors.

The ease of use, data accuracy and timeliness keeps Ms. Briggs using Tracers for all her firm’s public records search needs.

“I personally only really started using Tracers more in the last year,” Karen said. “We merged with another firm and decided to use Tracers. I think it is well laid out and very clear where you need to go to do a people search or request whatever data you need. You fill in the information you have and click ‘Go’ and there is your report. Then it is easy to print it or save it. It is super user-friendly”

– Karen Briggs, Office Manager, Central Atlantic Legal Group PLLC