THE RESEARCHER'S SOURCE

ASSET SEARCHES

Asset searching has become a booming business in the private investigative field. And no wonder. Businessmen need verification of potential business partners' financial-worth claims; investors need to gauge the financial status of the people and companies they're thinking of dealing with; creditors need an accurate fix on the creditworthiness and financial stability of potential debtors. Even fiancés (or fiancées), not infrequently, are interested in looking into the net worth of potential husbands or wives.

Can you find out what someone is worth? If so, can it be done via public records searches?

Yes and no to both questions.

Yes, you can do a little digging on your own, using BackgroundCheckGateway.com and probably develop a fairly accurate picture of just about anyone's financial worth.

No, you generally can't find out someone's exact financial worth using public records.

The reason this is a "yes and no" situation is that some types of assets are relatively easy to find in public records (especially tangible assets like real estate, vehicles, boats, aircraft), while other types are hard to find (especially financial assets, like personal bank and brokerage accounts). Sometimes you can find out a lot about someone's financial assets through civil or criminal litigation records. For example, if he's been through a divorce, his complete financial history should be spelled out in the divorce files (click here for exahustive divorce-related info and resources); or if he's been sent away for tax evasion, his finances will have been relevant and will be found in the court records. Barring this, about the only legal way to discover how much someone owns in the way of financial assets is through the legal discovery process or via subpoena in connection with a legal action. You should be extremely wary of any private investigator or information broker who promises to get you this type of information. He may use illegal methods, like "pretexting" (misrepresenting himself to a financial institution in order to elicit information). Always ask, "What are your sources of information?" Using pretexting to gain access to someone's private financial information is now a federal crime. You don't need that kind of trouble. Following are some simple and legal sources of asset information. (If you don't want to invest the time needed to perform these searches yourself, contact Washington Research Associates -- that's us -- to have the work done for a reasonable, agreed-upon-in-advance fee.) Real Estate. Your information source for real estate records is the appropriate county clerk & recorder's office. Probably, you'll start with the office in the county where your subject currently resides, though you may wish to check counties where he/she has lived in the past, or where you discover other assets. Begin with the county assessor's office. The assessor, of course, is responsible for providing valuations of all property in the county for tax purposes; generally, these valuations are below current market value, however. You can probably do a name search for your subject in assessor records. But you should also check the county recorder's office. That's where you'll find the actual records detailing the purchase, sale, or transfer of the property in question, and it's where you'll also find records of any liens against the property, including tax liens. Motor Vehicles. Although accessibility varies, most states' DMVs will still run a name search for you while your wait on the telephone. Or, if you have the subject's license plate number, they'll run the tags for you and tell you who owns the vehicle. In some states, you may have to make a written request and send along a small fee plus a self-addressed-stamped envelope. In California, and a few other states, you'll need a written authorization from the subject to get this type of information. Boats. For boats up to 27 feet, check the vessel registration records of the Department of Motor Vehicles; for boats over 27 feet, check the U.S. Coast Guard Database. You can check the Coast Guard files either by subject's name or vessel registration number. Airplanes. The national repository for info on aircraft ownership is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in Washington DC (www.faa.gov). Another good source of information regarding aviation is the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA). Stock in Public Companies. The basic information source for financial information about public companies is the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), most importantly, the SEC's EDGAR website (www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm). EDGAR stands for Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval. Here you can find online all mandatory statements filed by all U.S. public companies. A good starting point in using this incredibly voluminous site is the "Quick Forms Lookup" button on the SEC's Home page. You may be most interested in Form 13-D, which identifies owners of more than 5% of a publicly held company; or Form 13-F, which provides a quarterly report of equity holdings by institutional managers holding equity assets of $100 million or more. Form 13-G, which declares sales by a stockholder of 5% or more of his shares, is not available on EDGAR. Contact us, Washington Research Associates, if you need this form for a given company. Incidentally, if you're planning on doing research on EDGAR, check out Free EDGAR, a great Internet resource offered by the Edgar Online Company, which provides free and timely access to SEC filings. Stock (and Other Assets) in Private Companies. Researching private companies is obviously far more difficult than researching public companies, since the former are not required to report to the SEC. Private company research is something of an art, often best left to professionals. But if you want to give it a whirl, a useful starting point is the appropriate Secretary of State's Office. Another helpful private company source is business news databases; try PR Newswire, Crains Business Publications, and the Internet version of Lexis-Nexis. If you can't readily find what you need, contact us (WRA) to discuss your specific requirements; we're experienced in private business research. Personal Financial Accounts. As indicated, locating personal bank accounts is fraught with difficuly and potential illegality. (And once you find someone's account, whether it's a bank or brokerage account, or some other kind of financial account, finding out how much money is in the account is nearly impossible legally.) Some of the legal ways information brokers and PI's use to locate personal accounts are: (1) finding the subject's business account first; his personal account is probably with the same bank; (2) accessing the subject's credit report -- which can be done only given a "permissable purpose" under the FCRA -- then tracing his bank or banks through his loans and the inquiries that have been made to his report; (3) finding civil or criminal filings involving the subject which detail his financial holdings; bankruptcy and/or divorce filings are especially useful; (4) using Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings to locate credit applications which contain banking and other financial information; (5) "dumpster diving," also known as "garbacology" -- searching the subject's garbage to find check stubs, brokerage account statements, etc. (believe it or not, this is legal, as long as the garbage has been put out at the curb in front of the subject's house); and a final trick: mailing a check for a few dollars to the subject, representing it as a "prize"; if the subject deposits it (and reportedly, this worked with Bill Gates!), the investigator receives back the cancelled check containing the subject's bank information on the back of the check (call your regional Federal Reserve Bank and have them look up the bank associated with the routing number stamped on the back of the check). Business Bank Accounts. Business bank accounts can be located in a variety of ways, such as through public business reference sources like Dun's Million Dollar Directory; to get D&B information online, try DNB.com  Business banking information can also sometimes be gleaned from the annual report of the company in question; perhaps the company's web site (which you can locate using AltaVista) contains its most recent annual report

16 LEGAL WAYS TO FIND A BANK ACCOUNT

HAVE YOU:

·     won a money judgment, 

·     run a collection agency,

·      or, have a business enforcing judgments.   

You know that locating a Bank Account is a good way to collect the money that is owed you.    With a judgment you can apply for a Writ at the court and have the Sheriff, Marshall, or a Process Server “hit” the bank.

Okay, there are many ways to find a bank account   Some are legal, and some are illegal.    For example, it is illegal to call a bank and pretend to be the ‘fiancé’ of the person who owes you money, wanting to make sure he is giving you correct information about his financial worth.  Worse yet, you might pretend to be the debtor himself or herself.   

This is illegal because in 1999 Congress enacted the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB), which specifically prohibits obtaining, or even attempting to obtain, another person’s financial information by making false, fictitious or fraudulent statements to a financial institution.    If you want to read it right from the GLB itself, go to http://banking.senate.gov/conf/fintl5.pdf.   You will then be fully informed, though probably quite bored.   

I have been told by some that the GLB was concerned with identity theft.  It has even been suggested to me that those who want financial information simply to collect money owned them, are not involved in identity theft, and therefore the GLB does not apply to them.   Others would say that this is creative thinking.    I’m not an attorney, but to my mind it’s still too early to see how that might play out in the courts.   Violation of the  GLB is not something I would be involved in.

So what are the legal ways to locate bank accounts?   Some I’ll share here are obvious.  Some others are creative.   Some others are daring.    Here goes: 

1)   Use a check the debtor wrote to you:  

Yes, this is obvious, and yes, the debtor may have closed his or her account.  But it’s a good place to start.   Your judgment may have resulted from a bad check.   Or perhaps the debtor was a roommate, a friend (former friend), or even your employer.    If you know which bank the person is with, levy on the accounts there.  In almost all states, you can levy on any branch by serving as Writ on any branch in the state.  California and some other states are more difficult.  You have to know the exact branch where the account or accounts were opened. 

Don’t: Call the bank and tell them the debtor gave you a check and you want to know if it’s good.   Banks are on to this, and won’t believe you.   The bank may also alert the debtor.   And, it may well be against the GLB and other debt collection laws.    Be careful.  You don’t want the debtor to have a reason to sue you.

2)      The Good Old Trash Run:

            This is also called the “Dumpster Dive.”  Okay, so you don’t like dumpsters or trash, but you are determined.  You’ll get this debtor.    It’s a two step process:  Call the city and see when the debtor’s trash is picked up.   Then go get it.   

             I know some people who have done this regularly.  They will go out to the debtor’s home or apartment, bringing along trash bags filled with newpaper.  The idea is not just to take the trash, but to take it and then replace it new with trash.  Some ‘dumpster divers’ even take along different colored trash bags—white, black, green--so that the debtor won’t be alerted if he or she wanders out to get rid of one last beer can before bedtime. 

              The information found in trash cans is valuable.  You may find a lot of things that will help you enforce the judgment.   That should also warn you about protecting your own trash and recyclables.  They don’t always go directly to landfill or recycling machines.   In some areas the recyclable are sorted by convicts who are getting double credit for their time by being environmentally concerned citizens outside the recycling plant.   They get to see all your tossed away papers, receipts, checks, bottles, and even those credit card offers you didn’t want.   Hmmm.  Be careful.

        “Is it legal to dumpster dive?” you ask.    Well, if I were your attorney I would advise you against doing it.   Attorneys are conservative.  They probably don’t know the answer, and know you don’t want to pay for them to research it.   Besides, it is harder for them to get you to pay lots of money if they think you might be in jail.   But besides the usual attorney's views, I’ve been told that there is case law that says that once the trash is on the curb it is fair game.  But I’m sure there is other case law to the contrary.    Check with your local waste management company.  Or see your attorney with check-in-hand.

3)      Divorce Records;

          These can be a goldmine of information.    And in most cases Divorce Records are public information.   The added benefits are that you may learn who did what to whom, who your debtor has been sleeping with (maybe more information than you want), how much alimony he or she gives, who got the stocks and accounts at Wells Fargo, who got the time-share in Aspen, and who got grandma’s silverware.   Every divorce is a soap opera.   Bring your handkerchief. 

4)      Check  with People Who Know the Debtor

             Even debtors have friends.   Some even have lovers and past lovers.   A past friend, past lover, or better yet, an ex-spouse is a terrific source of information about the debtor.  Simply call them and say, “I wonder if you could help me.”   (It’s hard to say ‘no’ when someone asks for help.)  Be upfront.   Say who you are.  And say you need some help because the debtor owes you money.   Listen carefully as the individual tells you all his or her woes with respect to the debtor.  Take notes.  Ask questions.  Banking information.  Work location.  Inheritance, etc. 

             Be careful:  The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (a bureaucratic mouthful) limits who you can tell about the debt.   In effect, you can’t tell anyone except your own attorney, the debtor, and a few other people UNLESS you are trying to effect a post-judgmen remedy.    Suddenly, the wording looks pretty broad.   But check with your attorney to make sure.   Here’s what Title VIII, Section 805(b)  of the  FDCPA says: 

COMMUNICATION WITH THIRD PARTIES. 

Except as provided in section 804, without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector, or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, or as reasonably necessary to effectuate a post-judgment judicial remedy, a debt collector may not communicate, in connection with the collection of any debt, with any person other than a consumer, his attorney, a consumer reporting agency if otherwise permitted by law, the creditor, the attorney of the creditor, or the attorney of the debt collector.

You can read the entire document at http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm.   It’s better than sleeping pills.   

5)      Bankruptcy Records:

A lot of debtors have filed for bankruptcy, and they don’t know the wealth of information they have left behind.   Bankruptcy is a public proceeding.   You have to give the court your social security number, and list all assets to include  bank accounts on the Bankruptcy Petition.  If you could only view  their bankruptcy petition, you would have a ton of information.    Good news!  Bankruptcy petitions are online!   Go to http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/ and set up an account.  It’s free to set up.  Then spend a little time seeing how the site works, navigate to Bankruptcy Courts, and put in the information you have about your debtor.    Even if your debtor filed Bankruptcy eight years ago, the records may still be on line. And even if the Bank information is old, a lot of debtors have trouble switching to a new bank because the new banks don’t want them.  Try it.  You’ll like it.

             6)  Purchase something from the Debtor:

  If your debtor owns a business, you may want to purchase something from him or her, or have a friend purchase something.    But remember, according to the GLB you can not misrepresent yourself.   Of course, pay for it with a check, and then see where it was cashed.    And remember, when you levy on the bank account, be sure to include the name of the business.   A business that is not a Corporation is one and the same as the individual who owns it.    If you are not sure if the debtor is the owner, the county will have records under business license and Fictitious Business Names.

           7)  The Judgment Debtor Examination:

    Every state I’m familiar with has a means by which you can bring the debtor into court for questioning, and subpoena his or her records in the process.     Of course if you ask the debtor where his or her bank accounts are, they may lie or tell you the truth and then quickly withdraw the money or change banks.   But knowing ANY past bank is valuable, because you can subpoena bank records to find out where the money was coming from. Also, if the debtor lies and then you are able to produce an account through one of the other means here, then you will likely have some leverage with the debtor and the court. 

          8)  Subpoena the top 10 banks in your area.

     When enforcing a judgment,  you have more power than you think.  In California, for example, case law states that the judgment creditor may “leave no stone unturned in the search for assets.”   That’s a pretty wide scope of possibilities.   And a VERY effective way is through subpoenas.  It’s potentially a goldmine.   In most cases it is not difficult to subpoena documents.  Ask the court how you can do it, and ask for the forms as well. 

       An excellent time to subpoena documents is at the Judgment Debtor Examination.    I’ve gone so far as to mail off subpoenas to 20 banks at once.   It only costs me a postage stamp for each.   And you never know what will show up.   And getting a subpoena is not as difficult as you think.   Check with the court clerk or the legal advisor at court.   Forms are there.  The cost is a bargain. 

       On the subpoena you might request “Any and all checking and savings statements of the debtor over the past 3 years.”    Most of the banks will simply write back saying there are no accounts there.   That’s fine.   But then one day you may get a phone call from Greta in a bank’s business department, who tells you that there is a 5 cent or 50 cent charge for each page.  Bingo!   You may then ask whether that will include last month’s statement.   Bingo!  The account or accounts are still open!   Then you might want to ‘hit’ the bank right then.   (Note: Check your state laws regarding “Notice to Consumer.”   Your debtor may have to be notified that you are requesting the information.   But that’s okay.  He or she will feel the pressure.    If the debtor objects to a  subpoena at a particular bank—‘hit’ that bank.)   

         9)  Subpoena Vehicle Records

        Does your debtor own, rent, or lease a vehicle?   The license plate will often tell you where he or she got it.  Then subpoena the applications from the dealer.  To get the best auto deal, the debtor was probably quite liberal in stating his assets and income.  You may also find out where the debtor works.  Bank accounts will also be listed.   Applications are terrific sources of information.   Go for it!

        10)  Subpoena Rental or Mortgage Applications

          Whether your debtor rents or owns a home, there is a paper trail available to you.   If the debtor rents, send the manager or owner a subpoena for “full application and all other records relating to the rental of properties, as well as any copies of debtor’s checks maintained by the manager/owner.”   

          If the debtor owns a home, you can probably go on line a get a copy of the “deed of trust.”   Then you’ll know who the mortgage holder is, and you can immediately subpoena the mortgage application.   Again, the debtor will have made a very positive assessment of his assets.   And it’s yours for the asking.  (See the above note on “Notice to Consumer, if your state requires it”)

     11)  Subpoena Information from Employer

           Some employee information is confidential.  However, which bank the debtor’s wages are sent for direct deposit is fair game to request.   Subpoena  those with a Notice to Consumer

    12)   3^rd Party Judgment Debtor Examination:

      I’m not familiar with the laws of every state, but in many states you can require that someone who owes the debtor money or who even “knows” about debtor’s assets can be required to appear in court and answers questions.   Check with your court, and check the codes of your state online.    If it’s doable, do it.    Bring the person in and ask the questions you want.   In California it is possible to bring in the landlord of the debtor, and even his employer!  Talk about getting the debtor’s attention!       

       13) Shotgun Levy

Most people bank within a 2 mile radius of where they live or work.   So go to Yahoo Maps or Map Quest, put in the debtor’s address, and check to see what banks are in the immediate area.   Choose the five main ones, get a writ and have the Sheriff or Marshall levy on all five of them.   You may get a  ‘hit’ on more than one!
 

A writ is usually less than $10, and a levy is probably around $35 dollars for each.   That’s not much for what you may gain.  It will also freeze the debtor’s account, and his checks may bounce.   But you wouldn’t want that. Ha! 

    14)  Property Records at the County:

            If your debtor owns real property he or she will pay property taxes.   In some states and in some counties the check you write is part of the public record at the Assessor’s Office.   More and more these records are user friendly.  What used to be on microfiche and microfilm is in many cases on the county computer, and even on line.  Check the records at the county.  See if it applies to you.

     15)   Find Out What Other Creditors and Debtors Know:

           The Court House computer is another treasure of facts.    Much of it is even on line now, and more to come in the future.     

            If you put your debtor’s name in the court computer you’ll discover old judgments, cases that were dropped, people who are HIS debtors, old landlords, and likely a general cross section of the debtor’s personal and work associates.   You never know what you will find.   Take notes.  Pull the files.  Take more notes.   Call all the people you can, and find out everything you can.   Debtors are creatures of habit, like most people.   They likely will have been banking at the same bank for years.  Send your subpoena, or sent out a levy.

          16) Call the Banks and ask about the Debtor.

         I know, I know.   I said don’t call the bank and tell them you want to know whether the check you have is good.  And I said that any misrepresentation is against GLB.  But I’m not suggesting any misrepresentation.   

           What if you just called a bank and said, “Hi, my name is (your real name), and I have a Court Judgment against (debtor’s real name).    The case number is (case number) , and I need to know if he/she has any accounts with you.”

           A friend of mine actually tried this, and found that if he called 8-12 branches from a particular bank, someone who answers would  give up the information.   Someone will be impressed that it’s a court judgment, and say, “Oh, let me check.   Yes, he has an account with us, but I can’t give you any other information.  I’m sorry.”    Or, they will say, “I’m sorry, no accounts here.”

         The point is that it may take you an hour to call 10 branches of a bank until someone cooperates.   You are not misrepresenting yourself.  You are exactly who you say you are.   

FINAL COMMENTS:

    The debtor owes you money, and you want it.  It may take some effort, but I encourage you to do it.   80% of judgments are not collected at all!   The courts don’t help, and the Sheriff’s for the most part just deliver papers.  

     So we have to do it ourselves, or get someone to do it for us.   I suggest doing it ourselves.   Yes, there may be some initial frustration.   But when you get to know the “system” pretty well, you’ll be a better and more informed citizen.   You will probably also get some of the debtor’s money in your pocket, and there is more than monetary satisfaction to doing that.

     Another possibility is to get an attorney or collection agency to get the money for you.   It will cost 30-50% of what is recovered, but if you simply don’t have the time or if your debtor is not in your area, that’s a responsible next move.  (SOURCE-collectfromyourdebtor.com)