Skip Tracing for Collection Agencies: Options Compared (2026)

What are the best skip tracing options for collection agencies in 2026?

Ava Data ranks first for the locate step — current contact data on accounts an agency already holds — on the criteria where its published facts lead: a published per-match price, nothing charged on a miss, and bulk files and an API on one $9/month plan. The other four are not ranked against each other; each is listed with the agency it fits best.

How do the collections skip tracing options compare on price?

Only providers that publish a price are in this table. The billing model is the column that matters most on an account file, because it decides what an account with no match costs.

TLOxp, Accurint for Collections and Tracers are not rows in this table. None of the three publishes a per-search price, and a like-for-like price row would imply they are the same kind of product as a pay-per-match data service; they are compared in the picks above and in the job table below. Not published means the provider's own pages state no price as of the date shown. Not confirmed means we could not confirm the fact on the provider's own pages as of the date shown; it does not mean the feature is missing. Ask the provider before relying on either.

Which skip tracing option fits your agency?

Which skip tracing option fits a new collection agency?

A new agency fits Ava Data because the rate is published and the plan is the whole commitment: $9/month with 100 credits, 2¢ per matched phone, and nothing charged on a miss. Agencies that need investigative-grade search can add TLOxp or Accurint for Collections alongside it when their work calls for reports.

Which skip tracing option fits a small collection agency?

A small agency fits Ava Data: accounts upload as a CSV of up to 250,000 records, tracing costs 2¢ per matched phone with nothing charged on a miss, and collectors add no per-seat charge. A small agency that needs account-level investigative reports fits Accurint for Collections, at a price LexisNexis quotes through sales.

Which skip tracing option fits a high-volume collection agency?

A high-volume agency fits Ava Data when placements swing month to month: bulk files of up to 250,000 records, 2¢ per matched phone at any volume, and an API at 60 requests per minute. An agency tracing about 100,000 accounts every month that wants DNC status in the response fits BatchData's $2,000/month Growth tier.

Which skip tracing option fits an agency tracing from its own collections software?

An agency tracing from its own software fits Ava Data: POST /standard-search returns phones and emails for a name and last-known address at 1 credit (2¢) per matched phone, a miss returns creditsCharged 0, and account files run as bulk jobs. The spec is public at /openapi.json, so a client can be generated.

Which option fits which collections job?

Collections work splits into jobs that need different tools, and naming the job settles most of the choice. The table matches each job to the option whose published facts fit it; Ava Data covers the locate jobs at 2¢ per matched phone, and the investigative platforms cover the report work.

How does a collections team update phone numbers on a file of accounts?

A collections team updates phone numbers on a file of accounts by running the file through a skip trace and writing the results back against its own account IDs. With Ava Data the whole file goes up as one CSV of up to 250,000 records, each matched phone costs 1 credit (2¢), and accounts that return nothing cost nothing.

1. Export the accounts with name, last-known address, city, state and ZIP. Keep your account ID in the file: responses carry no person ID, so your ID stays the key.
2. Upload the CSV in the dashboard or through POST /api/v1/bulk/upload. address is the only required column; names narrow the match.
3. Choose phone, email or both. Each data type is 1 credit per matched record, and the credits reserved for accounts that do not match are released when the job finalizes.
4. Download and re-import. The file returns with your original columns plus phones, each tagged mobile, landline or VoIP, and emails.
5. Work the accounts that still fail one at a time with a 20¢ Deep Search, which adds aliases and likely relatives and associates.

Ava Data returns no Do Not Call field, so any scrub runs as a separate step in your own process. The general mechanics of a trace are on what is skip tracing.

What replaces TLOxp for skip tracing, and what doesn't?

TLOxp can be replaced for the locate step and only partly for the investigative step. If an agency uses TLOxp mostly to refresh phones and emails on accounts, Ava Data covers that at 2¢ per matched phone on a self-serve $9/month plan. If it uses TLOxp for investigative reports, Accurint for Collections is the closer substitute.

• Locate data at a published price: Ava Data, with per-match billing, bulk files and an API, and no charge on a miss.
• A contact-and-locate workflow with reports: Accurint for Collections, with first and last seen dates and pre-built reports; pricing is not published.
• Investigative research with skip tracing: Tracers, which publishes no per-search price.
• Compliance fields with the trace: BatchData, whose skip trace documents DNC status and TCPA litigator flags, on subscriptions from $2,000 a month.

No price is quoted here for TLOxp, Accurint or Tracers because none is published; ask each for its per-search rate before comparing it with a per-match price.

What locate data does Ava Data return for a collections account?

For a collections account, Ava Data returns locate data: current phone numbers with a line type, email addresses, and the addresses on file, at 1 credit (2¢) per matched phone and 2 credits (4¢) with email. A 10-credit (20¢) Deep Search adds aliases, age, and likely relatives and associates with their own phones and emails.

One limit, stated plainly: Ava Data is not a consumer reporting agency and this data is not a consumer report under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. These fields exist to locate and contact a person. They may not be used to establish anyone's eligibility for credit, insurance, employment, or housing — those are FCRA-regulated purposes, and section 3 of our Terms of Service bars that use.

How Ava Data Knows the Numbers Are Good

There's a harder question than price: how do you know the numbers are good? Most skip tracing services never find out what happens after they hand you a phone number. Ava Data does — through partnerships with high-volume dialing networks placing over 100 million calls a month, Ava Data sees real connect signals and tests its data head-to-head against major data vendors. Every outcome gets scored: right-person connects, numbers that don't connect, wrong numbers. Those signals feed a custom ranking layer that orders every contact's phone numbers by real-world connect performance — so the number most likely to answer is first on your list.

These are aggregate network connect signals — no customer lists or uploaded records are ever shared, sold, or used.

How we compared

Ava Data, LLC publishes this page and ranks its own product first. Ava Data is placed first for the locate step on the criteria where its published facts lead — a published per-match price, nothing charged on a miss, and bulk files and an API on one plan — and the other options are not ranked against each other. Competitor facts come from each provider's own website and carry the date they were read: September 25, 2026 for TLOxp, Accurint for Collections and Tracers; September 7, 2026 for BatchData. The TLOxp and Tracers facts came from a search limited to their own domains, because tlo.com and tracers.com block automated reading. Where we could not confirm a fact on the provider's own pages as of the date shown, the table says Not confirmed instead of estimating.

No price is shown for TLOxp, Accurint for Collections or Tracers because none is published, and none of the three appears in a price table. This page does not score data quality for any provider; with Ava Data, you see your match rate on every job, and you only pay for matches.

Competitor pricing and features are based on information publicly listed on each provider's website as of the date shown beside each provider, and may have changed. Verify current details with each provider.

Frequently asked questions

What's the best skip tracing service for debt collection agencies?

The best skip tracing service for a debt collection agency depends on the job. For current phones and emails on accounts with a name and last-known address, our pick is Ava Data: 2¢ per matched phone, nothing on a miss, bulk files and an API. For investigative searches, TLOxp or Accurint for Collections fits.

What should a small collection agency use for skip tracing?

A small collection agency should use a service it can start without a negotiated contract or a seat count. Ava Data fits that: a $9/month plan with 100 credits, 2¢ per matched phone, nothing charged on a miss, and CSV uploads of up to 250,000 accounts. Agencies that need investigative reports should price Accurint for Collections or TLOxp.

What are the best TLOxp alternatives for skip tracing?

The best TLOxp alternatives for skip tracing depend on what TLOxp does for you. For updating phones and emails on accounts, Ava Data covers the locate step at 2¢ per matched phone on a self-serve $9/month plan. For investigative reports, Accurint for Collections is the closer substitute. Neither TLOxp nor Accurint lists a per-search price.

What is skip tracing in debt collection?

Skip tracing in debt collection is locating an account holder who has moved or changed numbers: the account carries a name and a last-known address, and the trace returns current phone numbers, emails and addresses. Ava Data supplies that locate step at 2¢ per matched phone, charged only when a match is returned.

How do collection agencies find updated phone numbers for accounts?

Collection agencies find updated phone numbers by running the account file through a skip trace: export name and last-known address, upload the CSV, and re-import the phones that come back. Ava Data takes up to 250,000 accounts per file at 2¢ per matched phone, and a single-record Deep Search at 20¢ adds likely relatives and associates.

Related: Skip Tracing Cost Guide · What Is Skip Tracing? · People Search API · Bulk Skip Tracing · Skip Tracing API · BatchData Alternative · Best Skip Tracing APIs · Pricing · Terms of Service