WebRecon to Transform, Begin Verifying Litigant IDs and Tracking Pre-Litigation Demands

WebRecon LLC is about to change all of the rules.

On Monday, Feb 20, WebRecon will relaunch as WebRecon B.O.L.D.: The Bureau of Litigant Data. The first-of-its-kind consumer reporting agency (CRA) will focus on verifying the identities of consumers who threaten or initiate certain types of legal actions against collection agencies, including FDCPA, FCRA and TCPA.

The benefits of approaching litigant data in this way are many, according to WebRecon CEO Jack Gordon. “We have been tracking litigants for over three years now, but there have been some frustrating limitations,” said Gordon. “In order to truly have the freedom to provide the most useful client experience, it became obvious that we needed to do it as a CRA.”

Two of the major benefits of this move are the ability to confirm consumer data directly with the defendants in consumer litigation, and the ability to track consumers who send demand letters but do not actually file suit. In both cases, FDCPA’s prohibition on 3rd party disclosure has prevented collection agencies from being able to effectively cooperate. WebRecon’s Bureau of Litigant Data provides agencies a compliant pathway for both types of data to be provided, compiled and ultimately shared with other agencies.

Collection agencies have reported a 400-500% explosion in pre-litigation demands from consumers in recent years, according to Gordon. Viewed in the context of a declining growth rate in filed-FDCPA lawsuits, it seems clear many on the consumer side have shifted tactics to better stay under the radar.

“The industry has been demanding a better solution to these problems for years,” says Gordon. “As the only company with a 100% focus on consumer litigants, WebRecon is the natural choice to push the matter forward with a dedicated, comprehensive solution to tracking, compiling and disseminating this data in an accurate and responsible manner.”

WebRecon has introduced several litigant tracking innovations to the collection industry since its launch in January 2009. Among them:

• Being the first to offer a comprehensive litigant batch processing service
• Being the first to offer a litigant data warehousing service which alerts clients when any of their debtors sue another company
• Being the only service to offer a fully indexed search engine of litigants, attorneys and defendants in consumer actions.
• Being the only service to offer non-federal litigation in their database and search processes. WebRecon currently has almost 20,000 exclusive state, county, city and small claims lawsuits currently on file, in addition to over 70,000 federal lawsuits.
• Being the only service to alert its clients of new activity by the most litigious consumers in the country through the semi-monthly “Litigant Hotsheet”

WebRecon will be exhibiting at next week’s DBA International conference at the Aria in Las Vegas, and will use that opportunity to introduce this exciting new service to the industry.

Collection agencies and law firms interested in more information on how to participate should contact WebRecon through its web site at www.webrecon.com/contact. More detailed information will be provided to interested participants as it becomes available.

Creditors and collection firms use WebRecon’s services to easily segregate predictably litigious consumers from their databases. A significant percentage of consumer litigation is initiated by the same consumers over and over again, and screening them out of the general population can reduce lawsuits significantly.