UK Locate Launches Skiptrace and Collection Service for European Market

With the recent news that personal bankruptcies have risen 81% year on year in Quarter 1 2006 and consumer debt is at the Â£1.1 trillion mark, the risks of consumer gone-aways have increased significantly, presenting a major challenge for the consumer credit industry. Responding to this challenge is UK Locate, which has been established to provide a range of Trace and Collect services. These combine proven consumer tracing expertise, with a unique approach to the structure and delivery of the services, tailor-made to an individual company?s requirements.

?I believe one of the biggest challenges for the consumer credit industry is the growth in absconded debtors, communication is key?, confirmed Ron Higgins, Director & Founder, UK Locate Limited.

?A recent MORI survey estimated that 8% of the adult population is in financial difficulty, representing over 3.5m consumers. Combined with the record levels of opt out on the Electoral Register, this puts increasing pressure on the consumer credit industry to find and recover outstanding debts. UK Locate has, therefore, been established to offer a unique and compliant alternative to existing trace and collection services, by providing a highly professional and ethical service, on a ?no trace ? no fee? or ?no collect ? no fee? basis.?

A wealth of consumer credit industry experience is behind the UK Locate service which has been established by Ron Higgins, who is also Chairman of leading debt acquisition and collections company, Merit Finance Limited. Gerry Mansfield, Head of Sales brings over 25 years credit industry experience. Paul Farrimand, Head of Investigative Services, has extensive experience in both secondary and investigative trace work across a number of industry sectors, including utilities and mortgage shortfall debt.

The business set-up has been supported by Kevin Still, Senior Vice President of Credit Professionals Limited (CPL). Kevin has provided extensive support in the establishment of the tracing and collections operations and the on-going integration of a range of state-of-the-art data cleansing, enhancement and tracing tools. CPL has been retained to assist with on-going recruitment needs and to provide further strategic support.

Reflecting the fact that all consumer lenders and debt purchasers want the best possible, but most profitable recovery rates, UK Locate places emphasis on the speed of verified tracing at the outset with the early detection of difficult accounts in order to identify the appropriate long-term repayment options. UK Locate also recognises that, for debt purchasers, the cost of tracing debtors may not have been fully factored into the working capital requirements early in the recovery cycle. In response to this, UK Locate has adopted a partnership approach with volume providers of forward flow prime and secondary trace work.

UK Locate utilises sophisticated matching algorithms to undertake automated search routines, as well as conduct detailed credit application research to confirm the length of residency and trace absconded debtors. This is combined with a highly experienced internal team who carry out telephone follow-up on the more difficult cases. This combination of expertise and technology means UK Locate can handle very large volumes of accounts.

Operating out of three service centres, in Peterborough, Manchester and Farnborough, UK Locate offers: