There are many Debt Collection Agent's in the marketplace vying for prime collection's work. In truth, many Debt Collection Agent's offer an excellent service in this area. However, with so many to choose from, who do you choose?

Trace & Collect leaves Clients with a greatly reduced choice. In fact, many Debt Collection Agent's take T & C work purely to get a 'foot in the door' for prime. Ultimately, this can only lead to underperformance as prime Debt Collection Agent's struggle to produce results with trace & collect. Recoveries in T & C are typically far lower than prime. There are several reasons for this.

1/. a prime Debt Collection Agent will often shy away from the initial investment (whether in-house or outsourced) required to trace an individual before or if recoveries commence.

2/. a prime Debt Collection Agent often lacks the resource and expertise to trace effectively.

3/. lettering or despatching a card to the last known address is often the extent of trace activity undertaken by a prime Debt Collection Agent.

The approach taken by 1st Locate is different. We started as a Trace Agent, offering quality tracing with comprehensive 'visible' confirmations. Our success in this field led us to believe we could be successful in the collections arena. The Management at 1st Locate have backgrounds ranging from the Banking & Finance industries to the Utility sectors so a progression into the collections industry was a logical step forward.

Fundamentally, our key products are now 'trace only' or 'trace & collect'. Although we have several major 'prime' clients, we are always actively seeking additional trace & collect clients.

1st Locate are rapidly becoming one of the most successful companies offering 'trace & collect'. We now have a portfolio of major Trace & Collect clients including some of the larger Gas, Electricity and Water Utilities.

Investment in new technology and people development has enabled our continued expansion in this 'niche' sector.

All cases placed with us for Trace & Collect undergo a comprehensive trace process including the use of our Express Address product followed by full trace activity culminating in collections proceedings when we conclusively establish the new address.

The large investment we make in each case ensures that we are a) able to find more abscondees/movers than our competitors & b) convert larger numbers in to paying customers again.

Our comprehensive understanding of Gas, Electricity, Water and credit/finance ensures we are able to effectively negotiate and resolve difficult cases. In fact, we have gained particularly good experience in the Utility sector concerning consumption/responsibility issues whether gas, electricity or water related.

Some of the benefits of using 1st Locate trace & collect debt recovery services:

• We offer our clients dedicated banking facilities with BACS settlements at pre-agreed intervals.

• Expertise in the trace industry second to none by one of the UK's largest trace agents

• Sophisticated trace and collection computing systems providing comprehensive audit trails

• Open door policy

• Express address forwarding address system

• Tele numbering and auto address cleansing repair/maintenance systems

• Return mail facility

• Sophisticated telephony with call monitoring and analysis facilities

• Specialist experience in the Utility sector

• Sophisticated reporting including interim reports on cases prior to collection activity

For further information regarding trace and collect, please telephone 0113 297 7508 or send us an email.

 OPEN AN ACCOUNT

DEBT COLLECTION. - In addition to becoming one of the UK's leading Trace & Collect specialists, we also offer a professional prime debt collection, 2nd placement and write off recovery service.  Our experienced staff and sophisticated technology ensure we are able to consistently produce high returns for our clients yet still maintain a professional & respectful approach with your customers. Our ability to resolve disputes and problems enables us to produce outstanding returns across all types of collection activity.

We supply our products & services to the Gas, Water & Electricity, Banking, Legal, Finance and other industries. Our ability to trace people combined with our approach to resolving problems has ensured we are one of the fastest growing companies in the debt recovery & tracing sector.

We now have a portfolio consisting of major Utility suppliers, Banks, Local Authorities & Finance Companies.

TRACE & COLLECT. - A significant portion of our client's bad debt provisions are usually made up from debtors where contact has been lost. Many of our competitors are loathe to  take on this type of work because of the level of expertise and investment required to trace individuals.

Our business has developed from a trace only agent to one of the leading Trace & Collect agencies in the UK. Our average investment in each case placed with us approaches £20 before we have even made any collection. Experience has shown us that unless a Debt Collection Agent commits resource and is prepared for initial expense, recovery rates suffer. As a result of this, many agents concentrate on prime, where the initial investment prior to recoveries is small.

UTILITY DEBT COLLECTION. Our experience in the Utility sector has developed around tracing and collecting debts but also the identification and resolution of periods of supply and responsibility for consumption. We currently service six of the largest Utility companies in the UK. Our debt negotiators are skilled in all types of Gas, Electricity and Water payment tariffs, metering options & measured/unmeasured consumption issues. We invest much time in staff training for this sector and the regulatory issues and restrictions in force. We are currently the top performing debt collection agency for a number of our Utility clients - let us show you how with a free trial for all new Utility clients.