Welcome to "Know Your Debtor"

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Know Your Debtor, a quarterly newsletter produced by insideARM in collaboration with and sponsored by LexisNexis® Risk Solutions.

Each quarter, the newsletter will provide a statistical snapshot of the health of the consumer. We will also provide articles and blogs that put the data into perspective.

At the heart of the newsletter is a statistics dashboard (see below) with macroeconomic data from various sources that tracks a debtor’s ability to repay. LexisNexis will also provide an index of skip tracing activity by company type; the data will show which type of organization (collection agencies, law firms, or creditors) was the most active skip tracer in the quarter.

Our initial issue is going out once to all subscribers of our daily ARM Insider. To continue receiving the quarterly newsletter, please subscribe for free. Subscribers to Know Your Debtor will have access to the most interesting consumer information all in one place.

LexisNexis Skip Tracing Index For Second Quarter

*The LexisNexis Skip Tracing Index measures skip tracing activity within different ARM company segments. A higher figure reflects an increase in skip tracing activity in the general market. 3Q08 was established as the baseline reference period for the index.

LexisNexis Skip Tracing Index Trends

LexisNexis provides consumer search (skip tracing) services to the ARM industry. Search volumes can be a way to measure the activity among collectors. Every quarter, LexisNexis will provide search volume data and analysis putting the data into perspective. ¹

Industry skip tracing activity notably increased in 2008 among creditors and collection law firms as loan defaults spiked and the economy continued to deteriorate. Creditor search activity grew through 2008 and into the 1st quarter of 2009 before pulling back in the 2nd quarter of 2009 due to general cost reduction measures.

As for collection agencies, they were faced with record volume of accounts to work and tremendous expense reduction pressures in the 2nd half of 2008, which has continued through the 2nd quarter of 2009. As such, agencies reduced debtor skip search activities starting in mid-2008, with a steady decline since. It is important to note that in the 2nd quarter 2009, overall industry skip activity began to moderate as companies exited the tax season and took a “wait and see” approach to the economic recovery.

Looking ahead to the 3rd quarter of 2009, skip search activity thus far appears to be following a stabilization trend that began late in the 2nd quarter of this year. Recent metrics point to a slight up-tick in skip search activity which coincides with the overall market stabilization trend that is beginning to appear in the 2nd half of 2009.

Consumer Statistics for the Second Quarter of 2009

Featured Article

¹Nothing herein should be construed as legal advice. The law changes very rapidly and, accordingly, we do not guarantee that any information on this document is accurate or up to date. Additionally, the law differs from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and is subject to interpretation of local courts. Legal advice must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case, and the tools and information provided to you herein may not be an appropriate fit in your case. Nothing that you read or is provided on this Web site should be used as a substitute for the advice of competent legal counsel.

Due to the nature of the origin of public record information, the public records and commercially available data sources used in reports may contain errors. Source data is sometimes reported or entered inaccurately, processed poorly or incorrectly, and is generally not free from defect. This product or service aggregates and reports data, as provided by the public records and commercially available data sources, and is not the source of the data, nor is it a comprehensive compilation of the data. Before relying on any data, it should be independently verified. LexisNexis is a registered trademark of Reed Elsevier Properties, Inc., used under license.