Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina

Debt collection agencies use a process called "skip trace." It involves looking at all of the data about a debtor to see where they might be located. It involves using the debtor's Social Security number and ordering a credit report to find out where the debtor last lived. It also involves calling the debtor's phone number in the creditor's file. It may involve review of state personal property, tax or land records to ascertain their address. If all else fails, the creditor starts calling friends, relatives, neighbors or employer.

A debt collector must comply with all federal and state debt collection laws, including any licensing requirements, which NC has. Licensing is handled through the insurance department. When speaking to third parties, a debt collector cannot divulge any information about the debt nor can they indicate that they are a debt collector unless the person called asks. The debto collector also has to be careful when mailing information to the debtor so that it does not disclose that the mail is from a debt collector or that the person contacted owes a debt.

You ask how you can verify the debtor's identity. There is no aboslute fool-proof way to verify. The debt collector will not know the sound of the debtor's voice. The debt collector can always request a date of birth or the first/last digits of the Social Security number, which may come in handy if a debt collector is dealing with a parent/child with similar/identical names or a very common name. However, an identifty thief might also have this kind of verfiication information. I would think that identity thef of this sort would be very very rare in looking at the total population of debtors overall so I would not necessarily be concerned unless your data indicates otherwise.