As Featured on Taking Care of Business on www.wcwp.org 88.1 FM and www.TCBRadio.com out of Brookville, Long Island, NY with Richard A Solomon "If you are not sure of what to do, or where to turn, or would simply like to learn new or more advanced methods of skip tracing, you will acquire the knowledge of what actions to take and a responsible direction for your efforts with innovative lessons and priceless tips" -Stuart R. Blatt Attorney at Law and DBA Debt Buyers Association Past President "I know the private Investigator business and this is an amazingly valuable resource for seasoned investigators, any person considering a career as a private investigator and those who seek advice on how to do it themselves" -Jimmie Mesis - Publisher PI Magazine Every chapter of this book mentions skip tracing secrets that have been put to a practical test by thousands of skip tracers nationwide. Discover the tricks of the trade, from an expert who knows things and is not afraid to share them. Get a sneak peak at skip tracing's finer points and discover the skip tracer's magic tricks. Pick up secrets for your bag of tricks. Learn to skip trace like a pro by using techniques like: suggestion and autosuggestion; tradecraft and trickcraft; misdirection & logical thinking; roping and deductive reasoning; the invisible web and operation card shop. For every action there's an equal and opposite reaction and in a world of duality, where's there's pleasure, there's pain. Creativity is not always organized, so you'll learn to work smart and not hard. Your only limits are your acting abilities. Keep might and right on your side because innovation is driving success. If you are ready to put these secrets to use, you will recognize them. I wish I could tell you how you will know if you are ready, but that would deprive you of much of the benefit you will receive when you make the discovery on your own. Bank on it!

Skip Tracing Basics & Beyond

A Complete Step-by-Step Guide for Locating Hidden Assets Second EditionBy Susan Nash

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Susan Nash
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-5756-3

Contents

Author's Note.....................................................ixIntroduction......................................................xiiiChapter 1 Skip Tracing 101........................................1Chapter 2 Nabbing Debtor Skips....................................19Chapter 3 Collecting the Debts....................................45Chapter 4 Staying Legal...........................................73Chapter 5 Basic Intelligence Gathering............................97Chapter 6 Gems in the Dumpster....................................127Chapter 7 Real Estate Skips.......................................147Chapter 8 Internet Search Strategies..............................171Chapter 9 Links You Can Use.......................................203Chapter 10 Tracking Social Security Numbers.......................286Appendix A My Services............................................293Appendix B Postjudgment Interest Rates............................297Appendix C Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.....................303Appendix D Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act.....................339Acknowledgments...................................................377Index.............................................................381

Chapter One

Skip Tracing 101

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. —Confucius

Let's start with the basics and work from there. We'll define the nature of skip tracing and what it takes to be a successful skip tracer. Then we'll take a look at the various types of skips, and at the art of tracking skips down. In the collection and investigative industries, any debtor whose current address and place of employment is unknown is referred to as a skip. The term skip is applied to a debtor who cannot be readily located by usual, routine methods. A skip is someone who you have no way of reaching, either by phone or by mail. The term comes from the idiomatic expression "to skip town," meaning to depart, perhaps in a rush, and leave no clues behind for anyone to trace the skip to a place. Skip tracing is the art of obtaining information about someone who doesn't want to be found.

Successful Skip Tracers Share Common Traits

Skip tracing is an art and not a science. There is no black or white. There is no magic formula or set of procedures. One important characteristic is to be quick-thinking and ready for anything, because after we place a call, we never know who will pick up on the other side. Unlock the creative powers of your mind. Use your intuition and insight. Remember to use common sense and to be original.

Skip tracing as an art can be compared with mind-set and sport. Do you have what it takes to be a successful skip tracer? Do you have the right personality for the skip tracing profession? It requires strength and perseverance. Some characteristics and traits of a successful skip tracer include intelligence, common sense, patience, friendly personality, persistence, detail orientation, assertiveness, persuasion, creativity, competitiveness, and goal orientation.

While there is no degree given to a skip tracer, many states do have educational requirements and those vary from state to state. Some states require a private investigator's license, and some states require that you go to school and then pass a state exam. Some states like New York do not require that you attend school, but in order to be a private investigator, the state requires that you work as an apprentice under someone else's license for a period of at least three years before you can go out and practice on your own. Many colleges around the country teach skip tracing classes as part of a criminal college curriculum and degree. But there is no degree that is given for the sole purpose of skip tracing. Many states also have a continuing education requirement for private investigators, but that also varies from state to state. There are no federal guidelines as of yet because these are regulated at the state level.

People often get set in their ways, and this book is meant to help you expand your mind. Think about a horse running on a racetrack. One piece of equipment the horse has to help him is his blinders. They are designed to make the horse look straight ahead and not be distracted by anything outside of the course and his line of vision. Now if we take his blinders off, we have expanded his line of vision because he can look all around. Take off your blinders and look at the bigger picture. This concept is called expanding your parameters.

Expanding Your Parameters Allows You to See the Big Picture

Avoiding tunnel vision is essential in successful skip tracing. Tunnel vision is a condition in which a person lacks any peripheral vision. It is caused by, among other things, information being presented in small fragments not related to their context. This results in a constricted, circular, tunnel-like field of vision, similar to looking through a peephole. Sometimes when we are skip tracing, instead of opening our eyes and minds, we get stuck in a certain perspective and cannot react fast enough. Sometimes we might get stuck and not see clearly. This might cause us to see things in a warped or twisted way, and we want to make sure we always focus on the bigger picture. Try to see things as if you were an outsider looking in. I sometimes like to think of myself as a bird flying around above the territory where my skip should be, and then I try to look from above and see a different view. Almost as if the bird were hunting a victim for food. It is mind over matter.

While many refer to skip tracing as an art, a mind-set, and a sport, you must not lose sight of your ultimate goal, which is to find that someone who doesn't want to be found. You will make your living ferreting out sneaks and creeps who would rather not be found. One approach that is often used is to step into the shoes of that skip and think like that person would think. The skip will most likely try to mislead you. Try to stay one or two steps ahead of them; many of them are masters of deception.

Skip tracing is the ability to think through and analyze the circumstances of each situation individually in order to reach our goals. Good organizational skills play a fundamental part in maximizing our time and resources in order to improve our performance. Time management and deadlines are factors that will affect our effectiveness, so having a strategy will prove most efficient. Tactics are the specific actions, sequences of actions, and schedules you use to fulfill your strategy. If you have more than one strategy, you will have different tactics for each. Plan for attaining a particular goal by having detailed maneuvers to achieve your objectives set by strategy—just like a game of chess.

Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease. All the hard work and practice that goes into them, including the clever tricks, must be hidden. When you act, act effortlessly, as if you do much more. Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work—it only raises questions. Keep your tricks sealed in your bag of tricks and tap into the fantasies that people flock to. Keep all your statistical forecasts and probability ratios stored away so that when you need to use a trick, you can just look inside your...