Tracing Bad Debtors – Can you do it for free?
Firstly, no company or government organisation wants to give this data away for free, and to be fair – it is expensive to collate. I have the benefit of using advanced debtor tracing software which knows where somebody is going before they even leave! Well, not quite that good – but you get the idea.
Sadly, as a consumer, the options are fairly limited when it comes to tracing your bad debtor (s). I guess that data protection rules prevent certain information being made public. I have recently tested the only real online tool to try and find myself.
192.com
I signed up and paid £19.14 (inc Vat), which paid for ‘6 Credits’ – £3.19 per Credit. I used 2 credits, (£6.38) before realising it was going absolutely nowhere so gave up. I’ll save the other 4 Credits for another test on another day.
| Credit | Input | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ‘My name’ + ‘My village’ | 1 result, 30 miles away – not me |
| 0 | ‘My name’ + ‘Postcode’ | No result |
| 0 | ‘My name’+ ‘Previous address’ | No result |
| 0 | ‘Advanced search’ recommended | No result |
| 0 | 2 more previous address searches | No result |
| 1 | 4th Previous address | Old directorship |
192.com’s next offering
After spending £6.38 on 2 credits, for information that I could have got for free from Companies House, I was now prompted to pay for some addons.
‘Owner Verification’ – Cost 2 Credits – £6.38
This information is available for £3.00 at the government’s Land Registry for £3.00.
‘County Court Judgments’ – Cost 1 Credit – £3.19
Trust Online has much more up to date information for £6 – £10.00, depending on the level of data that you need. 192.com’s data would have likely come from the address I was at 5 years ago, so any CCJ picked up during that time would probably not be provided.
‘Insolvency Check’ – Cost 1 Credit – £3.19
This is free on the government’s website: https://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/eiir/search
‘Mortality Check’ – Cost 1 Credit – £3.19
Not really of any use to me.
192.com Verdict
Ultimately, the data needed to trace people is just not there. 192.com have tried to package up the data that they have, (electoral roll and such), and sell it to you for about the same price that you can often get it for yourself.
I had to go 5 years (and 4 houses) back to find myself, but the website still wanted me to pay for additional data. Luckily I knew that this would waste further money, or £3.19 ‘Credits’, when converted into their currency.
Lowest cost to use 192.com – £19.14
The Reverse Lookup
Another consumer offering was The Reverse Lookup: https://www.thereverselookup.com/.
First thoughts:
Great! It uses mobile data to find people!
It then indicates to have found:
- Full Name
- Date of Birth
- Current Address
- Occupation
- Contact information
And wants best part of 1 Euro from you, (I don’t know how to do the Euro sign):
Still going great! Get those card details in and sign up! Done.
Drum roll, results time:
That was a bit sad. I tried logging in and out a few times, rebooting my PC, and clearing my my browser cache, none of this worked so I have emailed the company. I will update my verdict if they get back to me.
Verdict:
After writing my original review, I did some digging and found some useful information on the company that runs The Reverse Lookup. It is owned by Eudialyte Limited, based in Cyprus, (which explains the Euro).
A little look on the internet shows many disatisfied customers who claim to have been ripped off by this company, mostly across some of their other ventures, including: My Trip Online and My Pro Travel.
Take a look for yourself: https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k14713588-o10-Avoid_My_Trip_Online-Air_Travel.html
Tracing Companies – any good?
There are lots of companies out there which offer ‘no win no fee’ tracing, or ‘no trace no fee’. I’ve tested a few over the years and found the data to be very average. Perhaps middle of the road between 192.com/TheReverseLookup and the software that I have use off.
Finding people is not just software – it also needs the human touch to piece the data together.
I’ve had a good look at some of the companies on the front pages of Google, and seen many reports that clients have sent. My honest conclusion is that many of them appear to be 1-man bands, probably working from their bedrooms!
- Be careful that any company that you chose as the correct data protection policies.
- Look for reviews.
- Ask for the turnaround time.
- If they claim to be ‘no trace no fee’, or similar – check the terms & conditions carefully because you are putting trust in the company not to just give you any old address.
Look to pay about £35-£50 plus Vat for this, or towards the £100 mark for a larger company.
Can Debt Collectors trace people?
It’s the very first thing I do when I look at a new case, even though it has already been done by the team that inputs the cases. I just don’t trust anyone else. Not only do we have instant access to addresses, we can see CCJ’s, Insolvencies, assets like mortgages – and much much more.
There are a few debt recovery companies which offer tracing services, usually around the same price as the dedicated companies.
Give me a shout…
Debt Recovery Manual
Need help with a bad debt?