SKIP TRACING: a leader's perspective

The Debt Trader.com in conjunction with Merlin Information Services presents

SKIP TRACING: a leader's perspective.

#	To	From	To#	Message
1	Audience	Mike Dores		Hello, Iâm Mike Dores, founder and President of Merlin Information Services. I am licensed as a private investigator in the state of California. From 1981 to 1994, I specialized as a wholesale skiptracer for investigators and process servers. In 1991, I started Merlin Information Services which provides public record information on CD-ROM and the Internet. I will be glad to answer general questions about skiptracing or specific questions regarding Merlinâs services.
2	Attendies	The Debt Trader		Welcome to today's chat. We will be starting very soon.
3	Audience	A DeHaven		What are some of the free skip tracing web sites the rest of you use most frequently.
4	Audience	Jerry	1	Could you explain the service(s) you and your company provide.
5	Jerry	Mike Dores	1	There are two great new products recently released by Merlin. The first is Merlinâs ãQuickSkipä, a system which allows users to perform automated debtor research with their own in-house repository of public record databases. The second, National FlatRate, is an online product which gives unlimited access to several national skiptracing databases for one low monthly or quarterly price.
6	Audience	djdallenbach	6	what can of service do you provide regarding tenants that have skipped & what is your success rate?
7	Audience	Daniel		How well can you locate public records?
8	Audience	Andrea		how does the national flat rate work?
9	djdallenbach	Mike Dores	6	All of our public record products are designed to locate skips. Our success rate depends on your abilities to verify the information you get from us.
10	Audience	Jerry	5	What kind of costs are associated with your service(s)?
11	Daniel	Mike Dores	7	Our system is designed to very easily and inexpensively locate all types of public records.
12	Andrea	Mike Dores	8	For one low monthly or quarterly price, you get unlimited searching into a National Credit Header File, Real Property Ownership for over 600 counties in 34 states, a National Locator File which includes over 135 million households, a National Fictitious Business Names File and several other databases. The price is $150 per month or $395 per quarter for unlimited access to one user at a time. Multiple user licenses are also available. You click on the banner at the top of this page for more information on this product.
13	Jerry	Mike Dores	5	Most of our services, whether online or on CD-ROM are sold on a flatrate basis. The more you use them the cheaper the cost per search. For instance, for $2500 per year, you can get unlimited access into a national database of names, addresses and phone numbers. This access gives you the ability to search one at a time or in a batch mode.
14	Audience	A DeHaven		Does anyone in the audience do their own skiptracing on the internet?
15	Audience	Darrell		how do you compare to others in size of data base?
16	Audience	Daniel		will that include Drivers licenses and criminal records
17	Audience	Andrea		Can access to the national flat rate be automated?
18	Audience	Andrew	12	How far back do the data bases go?
19	Audience	Daniel		yes i do skip tracing on the net
20	Darrell	Mike Dores		Re: Size of database. Our database is as large as anyone in the industry. Our residential file includes at least 150 million households.
21	Daniel	Mike Dores		We have some criminal records. We do not currently have any drivers records.
22	Daniel	A DeHaven		We do as well. We have pretty good success with skipease and 555. Do you have good succes with other sites.
23	Audience	Richard		Is there a drop off point on the number of years information is available? Or can it be researched from date of creation?
24	A DeHaven	Andrea	3	I've tried several free sites - all old data - anyWho.com is not very accurate.
25	Andrea	Mike Dores		Automate national flatratre? Yes, with certain restrictions, we give you the ability to script multiple searches into the National Credit Header File. Please call Pam at Merlin at 1-800-367-6646 for more information.
26	Audience	Darrell		how often are the updates
27	Andrew	Mike Dores	12	We keep archived records in our databases going back many years. It depends on which file you are asking?
28	Audience	Daniel		can you access non published phone numbers
29	Darrell	Mike Dores		Our CD-ROM databases are updated quarterly. Most of our online databases are updated monthly.
30	Daniel	Mike Dores		There are millions of non-published phone number in the credit header file which is available through our national flatrate online service
31	Audience	Darrell		can requests be sent electronically
32	Mike	Jerry		Does the information cover all 50 States? And if not, what States are covered?
33	Daniel	A DeHaven		All this information is professionally displaced on their website. Did anyone visit the website before the chat?
34	Mike Dores	Andrea		What type of databases are available with your in-house batching system?
35	darrell	Mike Dores		Yes. Yes, Merlin has a main frame processing system called Merlin Sure-Loc which will process your debtor files overnight. You can e-mail your files to us or send them on tape.
36	audience	Mike Dores		Please put line numbers on your questions.
37	Audience	Darrell		will you be at next weeks san diego conference?
38	Jerry	Mike Dores		Yes, we have many national databases, as well as databases for specific states.
39	Andrea	Mike Dores		We have a comprehensive residential and business phone database, a national locator file with over 50 million unlisted households, a national real property database which includes over 1200 counties and a national business ownership file. Our databases, which are delivered on CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or OnStream Cartridge, are updated quarterly. Monthly updates are available for an additional charge.
40	Mike Dores	Marie		How can Merlin prevent users from abusing the information found through your site?
41	Audience	Mike Dores	37	Yes. We will be at booth 308 at the San Diego conference.
42	Marie	Mike Dores	40	We follow the FTC guidelines regarding who gets access to private information. We check out all potential customers to make sure they are a legitimate commercial concern.
43	mike dores	Daniel		so you do have access to non published numbers?
44	Mike Dores	Andrea		What is the value of a real property ownership file to the debt buying industry?
45	Daniel	Mike Dores	43	The credit header file does contain milliions of non-published numbers. The numbers are provided by the consumers to potential creditors.
46	Audience	Darrell		can you tell us who are someof your customers that would recommend your services as reference ?
47	Andrea	Mike Dores	44	First, you determine whether your debtor is a property owner. In addition, our ability to search by address provides one of the best skiptracing sources available: the name and address of landlord of the last known residence. The real property database serves both functions.
48	mike dores	Daniel		What about propert tax information. Do you have a program for that or straight acces to Taxx offices
49	Darrell	Mike Dores	46	Call Pam at 1-800-367-6646 and she will be glad to give you a list of references.
50	Audience	TheDebtTrader		Just a reminder to use a line # when asking a question. This makes it easier for Mr. Dores to respond quicker.
51	Daniel	Mike Dores	48	In addition to the file available at the national flatrate site, we are just about to release a national real property file on CD-ROM and online which includes assessors records from 1200 counties and recorder's transfers from over 800 counties.
52	Mike Dores	Andrea		How is your system different from Acollaid or Fastdata?
53	Andrea	Mike Dores	52	First, our prices are considerably lower. More importantly, comparison tests run by several of our customers found Merlin to have consistently higher hit ratios. Also, we are happy to accept your files in any data format as long as the format does not change from one order to the next.
54	mike dores	Daniel	54	Is this a guaranteed program
55	Mike Dores	Marie		Can you do batch processing on bankruptcies and, if so, how many per batch?
56	Daniel	Mike Dores	54	Not sure what you mean.
57	Marie	Mike Dores	55	We do not batch bankruptcy. Nobody can beat BANKO's prices.
58	Mike	dave	89	Can we become a user and reseller of your info?
59	Mike Dores	Andrew		Does the information cover all 50 States? And if not, what States are covered?
60	mike dores	Daniel	56	I gues what I am asking is that dou you gaurantee the information you provide is up to date
61	Dave	Mike Dores	89	Yes. We do have a Value Added Reseller Program. Please call Mike Dores at 1-800-367-6646 to talk about this.
62	Audience	Darrell	60	are debt buyers and collection agencys currently useing your services
63	Andrew	Mike Dores	59	Many of our databases do cover all 50 states. Call Pam at our office for details of which databases cover which states.
64	Daniel	Mike Dores	60	We have a money back guarantee on all of our products. However, it is impossible to guarantee that our information is up to date. If you find that the data does not suit your purpose, we will give you your money back.
65	mike dores	Daniel	61	Do you have any acces to information such as TCIC and NCIC
66	Audience	Marie		A question for the "industry veterans": Is it standard practice for other agencies to call asking for skip tracing info on another agencies' debtors? I am always reluctant to divulge anything.
67	Audience	Mike Dores	62	Yes. We have been selling to collection agencies since 1982. In the last few years, many debt buyers are now using our services. We will be glad to give you references if you call our office and speak to Pam.
68	Marie	Daniel		Why are you reluctant we are in the same business?
69	Daniel	Mike Dores	65	We do not have access to TCIC or NCIC
70	Mike Dores	Jeff		With Credit Card specific paper (Visa, MC, Discover), do you have a industry average good phone "Find Rate" out of say every 100 no phones accounts? Prime, Seconds, Tritary paper? Purchased paper? by
71	Daniel	Marie	68	Simply because it is not possible to know the name of every agency in the country and no one really knows the person with whom they are sharing information over the telephone, right?
72	Marie	Daniel		Simple, do what i do get a call back Number. Call and verify. Usually I make good contacts that way
73	Audience	Darrell		on average how many changes occur in your base monthly?
74	Jeff	Mike Dores	70	Our customers measure "find rates" in many different ways. I have heard everything from 6% find rate to 30%. The only numbers we listen to regarding "find rates" or "hit rates" is the percentage of additional "hits" that our customers report using our service over other services. We will be glad to run a test of any of your files so that you can determine your own "find rate".
75	Daniel	Marie	72	Are you in the debt buying industry?
76	Mike Dores	Jeff	71	Most people (Skiptracers) have there own "Black book" of phone numbers they can call within a company. Most set themselves up so they can use each other for skiptracing accounts. This is coming from someone that has worked at banks as well as collection agencies.
77	Darrell	Mike Dores	73	Our national residential file, The TraceWizard, has about 10 million new and updated records each month. When there is an area code change, there can be up to 30 million changes.
78	Mike Dores	Andrea		Does Merlin have any way to allow us to run a demo?
79	Marie	Daniel		Well, yes we work the accounts we buy, but we have bad luck obatining information on skips because people conside us 3rd party
80	Andrea	Mike Dores	78	Yes, You can demo our National FlatRate system for a free day. If you would like to demo our mainframe processing, we will be glad to run a test file of up to 500 debtors. Just call our customer service department and ask us to set up a demo.
81	Mike Dores	Andrea		What about customer support and training?
82	Andrea	Mike Dores	81	Merlin has over a dozen customer service and technical support staff available from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm Mountain Time. We are will known in our industry for fast, friendly customer service.
83	Audience	Darrell		how often would you recommend updating a 28,000 name portfolio ? to be most cost effective
84	Mike Dores	CJ		Do you have the ability to intergrate streamilining from our database to yours
85	CJ	Mike Dores	84	Yes. All of our CD-ROM based databases include our "QuickSkip" software which allows you to integrate our database search and retrieval system directly with any software program. It includes a programmer's toolkit which makes integration very simple.
86	Mike Dores	CJ	85	And these CD's are updated quarterly
87	Audience	TheDebtTrader		For all those sitting on the sidelines, if you have a question don't be shy, just jump in and ask it
88	Darrel	Jeff	83	Skiptracing usually comes down to unit cost vs return. So to say you have 28,000 accounts doesn't speak to that. What is your unit yield or return for those accounts? Of the 100 accounts that have numbers, how many will pay you and is it enough to cover the skip cost for all accounts that you did NOT get numbers for plus regular overhead.
89	CJ	Mike Dores	85	Yes. Our standard CD-ROMs are updated quarterly. If you would like more frequent updates, we can accommodate you. Prices quoted at our website are for quarterly updates.
90	Mike Dores	CJ		Thank you
91	Mike Dores	Thomas		Thanks for all of the information. If a Merlin user (like my company) finds that the information is incorrect and has found the correct info through debtor contact, can we send "updates" to Merlin to help future skip trace attempts?
92	Mike Doris	Daniel	88	Is there an access to public untility information
93	Mike Dores	Jerry		Maybe I missed it, but how long have you been in the business?
94	Thomas	Mike Dores	91	I'm afraid not. Besides the logistical nightmare, you are running into FCRA issues by providing information about your debtor to third parties.
95	Daniel	Mike Dores	92	No, we do not have access to public utility information.
96	Jerry	Mike Dores	93	We began selling public record in 1991. I have been a skiptracer since 1971.
97	Mike Dores	Thomas	94	Isn't the whole point of skip tracing to share info with third parties?
98	Audience	Chris		Is it going to be possible to get finished text of this chat at the end? Will it be accessible tomorrow as well?
99	Thomas	Mike Dores	94	I agree. However, we are dealing with public record and I cannot change the public record databases based on information provided by our users. I have discussed the idea of a clearing house of debtor information which would have a database of debtor addresses located by different companies. Once again, there are FCRA privacy issues. Also, most collection agencies do not want to give good address for their debtors to other agencies, at least until the file is closed.
100	Chris	The Debt Trader	98	Yes, all transcripts of chat held at The Debt Trader are archived for future referencing. Upon the ending of today's chat, you will find a link in the member center to this transcript.
101	Audience	regina		I also use flat rate. I have had alot of success with this info. my question is: Is there a simpler way to access non published #'s?
102	The Debt Trader	Thomas	99	Do you anticipate this site (thedebttrader.com) ever being a skip tracing forum, too?
103	Regina	Mike Dores	101	I am unaware of any other published source for non published numbers.
104	Audience	Mike Dores		Thanks very much for giving us an opportunity to answer your questions. If you have any additional questions about our services, or about skiptracing in general, or if you would like a free demo, feel free to call Mike Dores or Pam Barberis at 1-800-367-6646. I am signing off. Merlin Information Services will be exhibiting at the Faulkner & Grey Bad Debt Market Conference next week in San Diego. Please stop by and introduce yourself. We will be demonstrating all of our skiptracing tools at the conference.
105	Audience	regina	99	Do you have any suggestions for no matches thru merlin?
106	Thomas	TheDebtTrader	102	Yes...We will consider any service or forum that will better serve our members.
107	Audience	TheDebtTrader		Well that about wraps it up for this session. We would like to thank Mike Dores with Merlin Information Systems for taking the time out of his busy schedule to be with us today. We would also like to thank all of you members for your time and participation. If you have any questions for Mike Dores you may click through to his site from the banner above. Thanks again!!!
108	Mike Dores	regina	100	Have you gotten any information on the rescent laws that passed concerning skip tracing?
109	Mike Dores	regina	100	Have you gotten any information on the rescent laws that passed concerning skip tracing?
110	marie	regina		alot of companies have a problem with skip tracing- however if you are with a reputable company- sharing info should not be a problem. we are all looking for the same end result.