Companies and individuals can avoid major losses by tracking down the assets of debtors through public records. Kimmons Security Services is one of a new breed of information service companies that use the over 350 sources of public information that's available on the state and county level to locate assets of corporations and individuals who profess to be broke.
Kimmons Security Services has quickly
built up a large and varied client base in eight months
of operation. Clients range from bankers looking for hidden
assets owned by customers defaulting on loans to wives
in the divorce court wanting to find out the complete portfolio
of their husbands' assets.
Rob Kimmons, president, emphasizes that a lot of bankers have been amazed to find out that customers claiming to be broke had quietly slipped assets from a troubled company to a solvent one. Some individuals own over 10 companies, Kimmons adds.
A paper trail is left each time, showing when a firm's assets changed companies, explains Kimmons. If an asset was moved to another company after the "bad" loan was made, then that asset can be attached to pay off that loan.
Kimmons Security Services's cases run
the gamut. A Houston man, who had a personal guarantee
on a corporate loan, told his bank that he was broke and
his company was bankrupt. Kimmons Security Services turned
up a variety of unattached real estate assets to cover
the $90,000 the man owed the bank. The company itself was
involved in a $500 million bankruptcy.
One Houston bank holding company, Kimmons says, has Kimmons Security Services compile a report on all potential borrowers over $100,00 who are new customers. Companies have hired Kimmons Security Services to check the financial background of potential acquisitions of small firms and even prospective directors.
In another case, one divorce lawyer found
through Kimmons Security Services that his client's husband
owned vast tracts of real estate in several counties which
resulted in the husband agreeing to a much higher settlement.
It's surprising how many high net worth men hide assets
from their wives, Kimmons says.
Kimmons adds, "We don't do anything magical, we just have a very efficient system to find all the information," The key to the firm's success - efficiency, knowing where to look and how to organize all the data.
All research is confidential and because all the data comes from sources available to the general public, it would be near impossible for a subject to figure out that he's being investigated.
A basic report includes both civil and criminal cases, records of real property transactions,UCC filings, tax liens,tax roll profiles, assumed name records and the cross relationships and transactions resulting from that data. It takes seven to ten days to put together an average report.
Kimmons, a former police officer, also
owns a two-year-old private investigator service. Last
December, Kimmons bought the word processing equipment
and data bank of the flagging 18-month-old Information
Bank. Kimmons changed the name of the firm and had Kimmons
Security Services operating in the black within two months.
Today the nine-man operation is very profitable and has serviced over 400 clients since it opened.
Kimmons also uses the resources of his private-eye service, AARInvestigations, that's located in the same building as Kimmons Security Services.
Houston Business Journal |
