Hi there
The most significant risks associated with Skip Tracing are compliance-related. Skip tracing is subject to The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, The Servicepersons Civil Relief Act (SCRA), and most importantly, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
TCPA risk becomes especially relevant when your vendor is using an autodialer. While there are several others, an exceptionally high-risk area is wrong party contacts placed to wireless numbers using an auto-dial system. This means that skip tracing, calling references, or any other practice where the consumer did not provide their prior express consent to be contacted on their cellphone, should be under scrutiny. Companies must ensure they have the proper consent, among other compliance concerns, before placing auto-dialed calls to cellphones – even for debt collection
For your Skip tracing vendors, I would verify that they have knowledge and understanding of TCPA and that their employees are appropriately trained. I would also assess their controls related to the use of auto-dialers.
There have been large lawsuits related to TCPA; you can see an example through this link:
https://cedarfinancial.com/risks-in-calling-skip-traced-numbers-with-a-dialer/
I hope my answer was helpful. I would love to hear the perspectives of other members who have experience with Skip Tracing.
Original Message:
Sent: 06-14-2021 12:59 PM
From: Brian Bowen
Subject: Skip Tracing Vendor
Do any of the FI members have any experience at Risk Assessing a Skip Trace Company? PII is involved but it is such a small subset of member/customer data. How are others classifying in your program?