by 
The Curious Bag
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In the field of debt collection, the term "skip" refers to a person who has disappeared in order to avoid a paying some type of debt. Skip tracing is the process of locating skips.
Reasons
Skip tracing is used to find individuals who have defaulted on credit cards or other types of unsecured loans or who owe money due to a court-issued judgment against them.
Professionals
Collections agencies and attorneys are usually the individuals who engage in skip tracing in order to collect debts owed to them or their clients. There are also services that will perform skip tracing for a number of agencies or attorneys on an as-needed basis.
Contacts
Skip tracing involves contacting employers, relatives and other known creditors by phone to try and obtain information about a debtor's whereabouts.
Other Methods
A number of companies offer software programs to assist with skip tracing, particularly with pulling credit reports and searching for other known addresses for a "skip." For large debts, agencies may hire private investigators to locate skips.
Regulations
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act permits creditors to engage in skip tracing in order to find a debtor's address. Under the law, anyone performing skip tracing over the phone must identify who they are and cannot mention the debt being collected.
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