Internet a powerful weapon in maximizing debt collections.

With the advent of the worldwide web, California debt collectors and lawyers now have a tool which enables them to maximize debt recovery faster than ever--the worldwide web. And, interestingly, it can be used in virtually every facet of the collection process, short of going to court.

For example, in the first step, a debt collector always should seek to properly identify his/her debtor. This is crucial, because if the debtor is named incorrectly in a law suit, the collector will end up with a judgment against the wrong party hindering his ability to collect the debt. It used to be that collection attorneys spent an inordinate amount of time writing letters to, or calling, the Secretary of State or Board of Equalization to find out how a business was set up and whether it was still in good standing. This process in the past could have taken weeks. However, now one is able to obtain this information within seconds on the internet.

The free-of-charge website, ss.ca.gov will allow you to instantly determine your debtor's official legal name, the business' status, as well as provide information as to whether the entity is suspended or active. Further, it divulges the name and address of the agent for service of process.

If your debtor is an individual, click on choicpointonline.com and for about $17.50, you can instantly obtain an extensive public records report on anyone. This report will include the person's current address and all other addresses he has recently used. It will also reveal the names and telephone numbers on the debtor's family members and neighbors. You will also receive a list of any and all real property owned by your debtors and the names of any businesses which they have owned or those in which they have participated. Additionally, this web site will divulge information regarding all your debtor's aliases as well as any bankruptcy filings in his or his company's name.

Finding Your Debtor

If you know who your debtor is, but can't find him, for only about $8.50 you can access and locate just about anyone within seconds. Two free-of-charge web sites, reverseaddress.com and switchboard.com provide reverse directories of telephone numbers and street addresses.

Many times it is very helpful to find out if your debtor is being sued by other creditors and what stage the litigation is in. You may also want to obtain information about whether your debtor is suing anyone himself. In the past, to accomplish this, lawyers had to send a person to the courts and manually search through their records. It was extremely time consuming and costly. Today, most of the courts have all of their records online.

One of the most extensive web sites, lexis.com, will enable a public records search of any of the courts, as well as searches for state and federal tax liens filed against your debtor and any UCC filings with which he is involved. This will produce a very clear picture of your debtor's litigation activities and current business involvements as well.

Entertainment Industry Debtors

In Southern California, many of our firm's debtors are in the entertainment industry. This used to be a very secretive and difficult industry on which to obtain information--but not any longer with filmtracker.com.

For under $10, this web site will give you any and all of the films, television and or music projects that your debtor has been involved with in the past, present or foreseeable future. It also reveals the name of the studio involved, the agent, the business manager, distributor of the project and the company your debtor is working for. This powerful site can mean the difference between collecting or not.

If you obtain a judgment against your debtor and are interested in locating potential assets to levy upon, go to creditcommander.com and pull a current copy of your debtor's credit report. This will include current employment, vehicle ownership or lease information, home ownership information, the names of other creditors and some banking information.

It is astounding how readily available these powerful tools have become at the touch of a button and how few collection professionals take the time to learn about these web sites and utilize them. Information on your debtor and his assets has always been the single most essential element of successful collections. In this day and age, collections have become an intense and highly competitive race. To stay ahead of the field, you must know more than your creditor competitors and you must put that information to immediate use. If your debtor has a diminishing pool of assets remaining, the difference between a day or two could mean the difference between recovering your debt and not.

If a company has been unable to collect a debt after contacting the debtor, legal action should be initiated on debts exceeding $5,000. If the debt is less, file a small claims action. The creditor should also assume that there are other creditors and the ones who move the fastest are most likely to recover money owed.

Lisa Spiwak and Nick Iezza are partners of Spiwak & Iezza, a Westlake Village-based commercial collection law firm, that has collected more than $75 million for clients such as City National Bank, General Electric, Sysco Foodservices, and Universal Studios.