No find, no fee address tracing: what it means, and what to check before you pay

Three payment models that all get called "no find, no fee"

The phrase is used for three very different arrangements, and the difference decides how much risk you carry.

• Pay first, refund on failure. You pay the full fee at instruction. If the agent fails, you claim the money back. You carry the cash, you chase the refund, and you may be told a doubtful address "counts" as a result.
• Search fee plus success fee. A non-refundable amount is taken up front for "searches" and a second amount on success. The first part is never returned, found or not.
• Charged only on delivery. Nothing is taken at instruction. The fee is taken when the result is delivered and not otherwise. This is the model Trace Bureau uses.

Ask any agent one question before you instruct: at what moment does money leave my account? If the answer is "when you instruct", it is a refund policy, not a no-find-no-fee model.

What "found" should mean

A no-find-no-fee promise is only as good as the definition of a find. Some services treat any address as a result. That is how people end up paying for an address the person left two years ago.

A result you can rely on has three parts: the current registered address (where the records place the person now), a confidence rating that says how strong the evidence is, and a date. Trace Bureau rates every result Confirmed, Probable or Possible. Confirmed means two or more independent current records agree. Probable means strong evidence from one current record with supporting indicators. Possible means the best available lead, said plainly, and it is never charged at the full fee.

How Trace Bureau's model works, step by step

1. You instruct online: the person's full legal name plus a date of birth or a previous address, and why you need the address.
2. You save a card. It is held by our payment provider, not by us, and nothing is charged.
3. A person reads your instruction and confirms there is a lawful basis. If there is not, we decline and nothing is charged.
4. We trace: more than 150 sources, registers and records, cross-referenced, and the result is checked by a person.
5. Confirmed or Probable: the fee is charged and the report unlocks at once, with an email. Possible: we tell you it is a lead, offer it at half price, and you choose. Not found: nothing is taken, and we tell you what we can.
6. If a saved card cannot be charged on the day, we send a payment link and release the report when it is paid. Firm accounts are invoiced monthly, only for delivered cases.

There is no refund process because there is nothing to refund. That is the whole point.

What it costs

Standard trace £100, delivered within 3 to 5 working days. Express £150 within 48 hours. Priority £195 within 24 hours, same working day when instructed before noon. Firms instructing ten or more traces a month pay £85 per trace on a monthly invoice. Extras where they are on file: mobile number £25, email address £20, employer £35, each charged only if found. Every price is charged only when a current registered address is delivered. Full pricing.

Questions to ask any tracing agent before you pay

• At what moment does money leave my account?
• What exactly counts as a find, and will the report say how confident you are?
• Is the report dated, and can I rely on it if service of documents is later challenged?
• Who does the work: a person, or a single database lookup?
• Do you ask why I need the address, and will you refuse instructions without a lawful basis?
• Is the operator registered with the Information Commissioner's Office, and is it a limited company whose details are shown?
• What happens if the address turns out to be wrong?

A good agent answers all seven without hesitation. Trace Bureau's answers are on the how it works and questions pages.

Why a professional investigator runs it this way

Trace Bureau was founded by a working UK investigator who spent years watching solicitors, landlords and creditors pay hundreds of pounds up front for an address in an email with no date and no confidence rating, then argue about refunds. Charging only on delivery removes the argument. It also keeps the incentives honest: we are paid for results we would stand behind, not for searches.

Every case is read, worked and signed off by a person. We do not publish our sources or method, for the same reason a good locksmith does not, and we do not promise more than the deliverable: the current registered address, a confidence rating and a date.

When to instruct a professional trace

If you have a lawful reason to know where someone is now (money owed, proceedings to serve, an estate to distribute, a tenant who left owing rent, a commercial dispute, or a relative you want to reach with their consent) and you have the person's full name plus a date of birth or a previous address, you have enough to start. Instruct a trace in five minutes. Nothing is charged until we find them.