With over 27.8 million households in the UK and around 4.5% of that number moving house each year, many creditors can struggle to keep in contact with their B2C customers.
This can prove particularly challenging when connected to recovering unpaid invoices. When a customer moves on leaving an outstanding payment but no forwarding address, invoices are likely to remain unpaid.
Outstanding invoices or bad debts will impact the cashflow of a business and in the longer term can be seriously detrimental for the overall financial health of a company. Many businesses do not know where to start when looking to ‘reconnect’ with an account holder, or the time to spend searching for a new address. To maximise chances of reconnection with a subject or account holder, savvy businesses outsource to a specialist tracing agency.
dataTrace uk has over 30 years’ experience working with a wide range of businesses, from debt collection and enforcement agencies to utilities firms, the finance and pensions sector and local authority and government. We are trusted to provide a comprehensive, fully compliant tracing service which not only locates and verifies the subject’s whereabouts but enables the organisation to focus on the core activity of that business.
Using a blend of manual and automated tools, here is a guide to the areas that we may investigate to enable us to pinpoint where a subject is located:
Looking at a debtor’s credit report
A debtor’s credit report provides insight into credit history and credit applications – and usually the latest address which we can then move to validate against other data points.
Checking phone directories
They say the old methods are the best, and online directories are a reliable way to source to find names, addresses, and other contact information.
Looking at the electoral voter register
Electoral roles – and voter registrations - are another area which will be explored to locate an individual or business owner. address listed on their voter registration.
Bank accounts
We’ll explore financial statuses such as banking. Banks are known to have individual or company’s residency details if they move but leave their old bank account open. So, even if that bank is no longer used, in many cases this provides enough information to narrow down a trace.
Data brokers
Data brokers collect information about people, from public records, surveys, demographic data and purchase data, to later sell it to agencies. If you have ever filled a survey online or checked a license agreement on a piece of software, etc. then there’s a chance you may have agreed to have your data collected - such as your contact information. We can harness this information to get a clearer picture of where a subject is now living.
Internet searches
More than 4.6 billion people in the world have a social media account, making internet searches a reliable search point. Many people do not keep their profiles private meaning they are easily visible, as are personal details about an individual or company.
About Datatrace UK: we have been tracing individuals, businesses and companies for over thirty years. We are trusted by SMEs and not-for-profits to deliver comprehensive, reliable, and compliant information to help them reconnect with previous customers. For more information, call our team on 0151 207 4344 or email info@datatraceuk.com
