A preventive financial investigation is a strategic choice, not a cost. It's always worthwhile when doubts about the debtor's solvency outweigh the investment in the financial investigation itself. It allows you to act based on reliable data, not just hopes, optimizing your debt collection strategies.

Quick Checklist: Start an Investigation If...

• ...the debt may not be supported by a positive judgment.
• ...the debtor appears to be penniless and idle, but is suspected of concealing assets (real estate, bank accounts, or shareholdings).
• ...has information about recent transfers of assets to family members or companies.
• ...is afraid that other creditors may act before you.

More precisely, this asset investigation is essential in three key moments:

• Before Starting Legal Action

To answer the crucial question: "Is it worth suing?", this avoids unnecessary legal costs against individuals who already have no assets (or "incompetent").

• During an Out-of-Court Negotiation

To negotiate from a position of strength, verifying whether the debtor's claims of difficulty are truthful and what collateral they can offer.

• In the Presence of "Alarm Bells"

When you suspect that a debtor is hiding or transferring assets, it is essential to act quickly to "photograph" the assets before they disappear.

In short, a preliminary asset investigation, which should be carried out anyway, could save you significant legal and litigation costs and provide invaluable pre-debt collection information.

A comprehensive asset investigation isn't always the strategic solution for debt collection. As an investigative partner for professionals and businesses, Istituto Mercurio believes it's essential to guide you toward the most effective investment in asset information. Our experience teaches us that there are specific circumstances in which proceeding would be uneconomical or unnecessary.

Here are 5 scenarios in which we recommend you carefully consider whether investigating the debtor's creditworthiness is truly the right move:

1. Small Debts: If the debt to be recovered is less than €500, the cost of an in-depth asset investigation may be disproportionate. In these cases, legal action, even if motivated by principles, risks generating more costs than benefits.

2. Incompatible Processing Timelines: Our asset investigations require approximately 15 days to ensure a complete and reliable report, which is essential for effective legal action. If you need to file a case in court within a few days due to unavoidable processing deadlines, our standard turnaround times may not meet your urgent needs.

3. Availability of Already Known Asset Information: Are you already aware of specific assets that could be seized by the debtor? For example, are you certain of the existence of a salary, pension, substantial bank accounts, or registered property? If you already have this information for debt collection purposes, a further asset search may be unnecessary. In this case, targeted action targeting that specific asset, such as foreclosure or confirmation of the information, may be more useful.

4. Debtor's Manifest Insolvency Confirmed and Clear: When the debtor's insolvency is obvious and documentable (e.g., homeless, long-term unemployed, registered with social services, recipient of poverty benefits), an asset investigation would only risk confirming what is already evident, representing an unnecessary expense. Our asset search would be impeccable, but it would confirm zero assets.

5. Existence of Faster and Cheaper Alternatives: For a preliminary assessment, especially for small loans, there are significantly cheaper and faster tools. While they don't offer the depth of a true financial investigation, they represent a low-cost first step in providing information.

Our Strategic Consulting

If you find yourself in one of these situations or have doubts about the strategy to adopt, contact us. Istituto Mercurio offers a free preliminary consultation specifically designed to analyze your specific case. Together, we will evaluate whether an asset investigation is truly the most effective tool to achieve your debt collection goals or whether other avenues would be wiser.

Mercurio Investigazioni's comprehensive asset investigation provides a broad overview of the true economic and financial situation of an individual (whether a natural or legal person), providing essential business and private information. We go beyond simply listing assets; we provide a comprehensive strategic framework for your debt collection or solvency actions on the person under investigation.

The information is organized into four main investigative areas.

The 4 Key Investigative Areas:

1. Financial Instruments and Monthly Income Sources

• Financial relationships with IBAN: identification of bank and postal accounts at Italian credit institutions, with ABI and CAB, name of the institution and branch address, and indication of the available liquidity. Upon request, the termination dates of terminated bank and postal relationships.
• Income from employment or pension: identification of the company name and registered office, type of contract and salary; or pension provider, type of pension, and monthly amount.

2. Movable and immovable assets

• Movable property: Search for all vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, mopeds, trailers, agricultural and construction machinery, trucks, and special vehicles. Details of previous owners are available upon request.
• Immovable property: List of buildings and land located throughout the country, with various details such as land registry data, locations, and shares. Details of other co-owners are available upon request.
• Sold property: Report any buildings and land sold in the last 24 months, and therefore subject to revocation. Details of the sale are available upon request.

3. Company assets

• Shareholdings: Ownership, expressed in absolute value and percentage, of shares in joint-stock companies. Upon request, historical research and annual financial statements filed.
• Corporate offices: Search for all corporate offices and positions held in companies, businesses, firms, and cooperatives. Upon request, a historical and detailed list.
• Summary financial statements: Condensed summary of the latest financial statements filed and expert commentary. Upon request, extraction of complete financial statements as well as the meticulous commentary prepared by our industry experts.

4. Debt Position

• Protests, bills of exchange, and checks: List of protested bills, detailing the date and amount. Upon request, a detailed historical list, as well as debts owed to the Treasury and the Revenue Agency.
• Prejudicial assets from the land registry: Details of seizures affecting the suspect's assets. Upon request, search for prejudicial assets prior to the current one, as well as search for land mortgages.

We can affirm that the Mercurio Institute's asset investigation transforms an uncertain credit into a targeted and informed recovery action.

To achieve these results, our process is structured into three strategic phases, designed and optimized to provide professionals—lawyers, business owners, legal consultants, condominium administrators, and investigative agency owners—with a clear and legally useful framework.

The 3 Phases of Our Investigative Process:

• Initial Analysis and Investigation

At this stage, we query dozens of databases and public registers to verify the debtor's financial and asset situation, looking for bank accounts, sources of income (work, pension), company shares, movable assets, and recent deeds.

• Mapping of the Assets That Can Be Seized

We identify and classify all assets that are specifically subject to seizure, providing a clear list of: land and buildings; bank accounts and balances; shareholdings and corporate positions; vehicles; recently sold properties; employer or pension provider and amount received; summary of the latest financial statements and commentary.

• Context of the investigative report

We provide a detailed, easy-to-read report. This document provides all the financial information included in the asset investigation needed to assess the suitability of legal action and proceed with targeted and effective foreclosures or for the valuations for which the research was commissioned. In all cases, the result is an indispensable tool that allows you to act based on reliable data, maximizing your chances of success.

Yes, our approach is completely modular. Mercurio's asset investigation already provides a clear picture of the situation, but can be enhanced with specific investigative modules to obtain even more detailed business and financial information. This allows professionals and companies to tailor the level of detail based on the specific needs of the case, optimizing their debt collection strategy and budget.

Some of Our Additional Investigative Modules

We have developed specific insights for different professional needs:

1. For Legal Consultants and Private Investigators:

• Lease Agreement Investigations: To identify additional sources of income.
• Complete Invoice Listing: For a detailed analysis of all issued and received invoices.
• Extended Mortgage Investigations: On all real estate assets nationwide, both current and historical.
• Public Contract Research: For foreclosures involving significant sums, a key strategy for information on debt collection from public administration suppliers, sums that would otherwise be unrecoverable.

2. For law firms, business owners, and condominium administrators:

• Turnover and VAT Flow Analysis: For a concrete estimate of the real turnover.
• Verification of Commercial Relationships: To map the network of strategic suppliers and customers.
• Registered Movable Assets Search: Searches for boats and aircraft.

How and When to Integrate Information

These forms can be requested in two ways, ensuring maximum flexibility:

• In the Contextual Phase: Immediately activate the in-depth analyses alongside the main investigation to obtain a comprehensive report and maximize time and cost efficiency.
• In the Subsequent Phase: Requesting integrations after receiving the initial report to focus the analysis only on specific elements that have already emerged.

This flexibility ensures maximum return on the investigation budget.

Main advantages of integrative investigations

• Total Customization: Adapt the investigation to the real complexity of the case.
• Cost Optimization: Invest only in the strategic financial information you need for your commercial investigations.
• Flexible Strategy: Decide whether to delve deeper immediately or after analyzing the initial results.

To discuss the best strategy for your case and receive a personalized quote, contact us for a free consultation. Our industry experts will analyze your problem with targeted questions. They will then propose and explain a strategy to optimize the cost-benefit ratio and tailor the intensity of the financial investigation based on the specific objective you've outlined.

To initiate an asset investigation quickly and in full compliance with data protection regulations (GDPR), Istituto Mercurio requests only the strictly necessary information. Our process is streamlined and designed to eliminate any bureaucratic complexity for professionals.

The required documentation is divided into three simple sections (plus an optional fourth) to formalize the assignment, manage it quickly and professionally, and ensure correct billing for the service:

1. Subject's Data (Who we need to investigate): for our financial investigation, the counterparty's identifying data is sufficient, i.e., personal data (if a natural person) for an investigation into a private individual or company data (if a legal entity) for an investigation into a company.

2. Tax Data (for Electronic Invoices): surname, name, residence, tax code / VAT number, SDI code / PEC or name, VAT number, SDI code / PEC address.

This data is required by law and is treated with the utmost confidentiality for tax compliance purposes.

3. Applicant's Data (Person granting the assignment): Complete personal details (surname, name, date and place of birth, address); Identity Document Details.

This data is required by law and is treated with the utmost confidentiality. It will not be shared with third parties and will be completely deleted upon termination.

4. Other additional and optional data: other information, both certain and the result of indiscretions and therefore undocumented, may be shared in order to improve the accuracy of the investigation and the timeliness of its processing.

Our Advantage: No Complex Bureaucracy

Unlike other methods, to activate our credit information and debt collection investigations, you don't need to provide us with legal documentation such as enforcement orders, judgments, or injunctions.

This makes Mercurio's asset investigations an extremely flexible and immediately usable tool for:

• Preventive assessments before filing a legal action.
• Checks on the reliability of future business partners or tenants.
• Review of maintenance payments.
• Support for out-of-court debt collection strategies.
• Strategic financial information during a consensual separation.

This flexibility makes our asset investigation services usable both in the pre-litigation phase and during ongoing proceedings.

Yes, confidentiality is the cornerstone of every Mercurio Agency asset investigation. It's not just a legal requirement, but the foundation of the relationship of trust we establish with our professional clients.

To ensure ironclad confidentiality, we have built our entire process on a double security guarantee.

1. Methodological Guarantee (Zero Human Contact)

Our methodology is your best protection. Our investigations are exclusively digital and based on online queries to authorized databases. This approach is essential for banking and financial investigations, where discretion is paramount.

This means:

• Absolute Anonymity: The client's name never appears during searches.
• No "Leaks": We do not contact people, offices or acquaintances.
• Remote access to national databases: without third party involvement.

2. Legal and Ethical Guarantee

We operate in strict compliance with regulations and professional secrecy. Each credit investigation is protected by:

• European and Italian Regulations: Full compliance with the GDPR and the Privacy Code.
• Secure Data Deletion: Upon delivery of the investigative report, all acquired information is deleted according to the strictest security standards.
• Professional Secrecy: Obligation of confidentiality established by the investigative license and our code of ethics.

In short, thanks to the Mercurio Institute's methodologies, the person under investigation will never know that their financial situation is being investigated. No information relating to a debt collection investigation is ever disclosed to third parties. Your mandate and the results obtained are covered by absolute confidentiality.

We understand that the needs of lawyers, business owners, and debt collection professionals require diversified communication channels for their asset and credit investigations, ensuring speed, traceability, and maximum confidentiality. Therefore, Mercurio Investigative Agency has structured a multi-channel access system to provide targeted support at every stage: from requesting a quote for an asset investigation to managing an ongoing credit investigation. Our team is always available to provide strategic business and financial information.

Choose the channel that best suits your needs.

1. Telephone Contact: Direct Dialogue and Emergency Management

For immediate discussion, to define a strategy, or to manage critical situations, voice contact remains the preferred channel. We guarantee direct responses from experienced sector managers, not from a switchboard.

1st. Main Line for Consultations and Estimates:

• Tel: 39 081 552 38 38 (Active 9:00 - 20:00)
• Ideal for: requesting a free consultation, defining the best debt collection strategy, obtaining a detailed quote for asset searches on individuals or legal entities, including searches on movable and immovable assets and general solvency investigations.

1b. Owner's Hotline for Emergencies:

• Tel: 39 377 129 62 30 (Active 24/7)
• Private channel managed directly by the owner of the Mercurio Institute, Fazio Francesco, for investigations requiring immediate intervention or for particularly sensitive and confidential cases.

2. Email Contact: Written, Official and Certified Communications

For requests requiring written submission, documentation, or formal communications, our email inboxes are manned by dedicated teams.

2a. Information and Quotes (info@investigazionimercurio.it):

• The primary channel for starting a new debt collection case, requesting clarification on our asset investigation services, or receiving a formal quote for your commercial investigations.

2b. Administration (amministrazione@investigazionimercurio.it):

• For contract management, electronic invoicing, sending payment certificates, and accounting aspects related to commissioned surveys.

2c. Certified Electronic Mail (PEC - mercurio@pec.it):

• Reserved for law firms, professionals, and public administrations for the transmission of deeds and documents with legal evidentiary value, guaranteeing maximum security and officiality.

3. Instant Messaging (WhatsApp & Telegram): Speed and Encrypted Security

For professionals who need immediate responses and a discreet way to share information, we offer a comprehensive service via WhatsApp and Telegram, in full compliance with security protocols.

3a. WhatsApp Business / Telegram from the Mercury Institute:

• Tel: 39 334 7767092 (Active 9:00 - 21:00)
• Perfect for: obtaining flash quotes for asset investigations, quickly exchanging documents to start a debt collection investigation, receiving updates on ongoing financial investigations.

3b. Personal WhatsApp/Telegram of the owner Fazio Francesco:

• Tel: 39 377 1296230 (Active 24/7)
• For direct, confidential and urgent communications with the owner, ideal for managing sensitive data or coordinating critical investigative activities.

4. Operational Headquarters and In-Person Meetings (by Appointment)

Our registered office and operations are located in Quarto (Naples), a strategic hub from which our team coordinates asset and credit investigations nationwide. Agenzia Mercurio is your trusted partner for detailed business information on companies and individuals.

4a. Address: Mercurio Detective Agency, Via Giorgio de Falco, 30A - 80010 Quarto (NA), Italy.

4b. Meeting Schedule: By Appointment Only. To ensure maximum confidentiality and dedicate the necessary time to each client to analyze complex asset investigation cases, we meet by appointment only. This ensures there is no overlap between clients, protecting the privacy of each meeting.

4c. How to reach us:

• By Train: The venue is just steps from the "Quarto Centro" stop on the Circumflegrea line (about 40 minutes from the Piazzetta Montesanto station, near Via Toledo).
• By Car: We offer free, reserved parking to our clients for the entire duration of the meeting.

4d. Maximum Discretion: Consultations at your office or home

We understand our clients' confidentiality needs. Therefore, we offer the option of arranging expert consultations directly at your law firm, business, or other location of your choice, to discuss sensitive investigations in complete safety.

From our headquarters, the Mercurio Institute coordinates a widespread network that includes specialized investigators in every region, access to national databases, and protocols consolidated over 30 years of activity to ensure consistent, comprehensive, and up-to-date financial investigations throughout the country.

Our Commitment: Security and Professionalism on Every Channel

The Mercurio Institute's approach doesn't change based on the chosen channel. All communications are protected by rigorous security and confidentiality protocols.

• Advanced Encryption: We use end-to-end encrypted communications (WhatsApp/Telegram) for all discussions related to financial investigations, with the same accuracy as a traditional phone call, but with the option of a written trail for future reference.
• Expertise: Our operators are qualified specialists, ready to provide free and professional advice.
• Identity Verification: Before sharing any sensitive information, we always verify the client's identity.

To ensure maximum flexibility and confidentiality for professionals, law firms, and companies requiring information for debt collection, Istituto Mercurio accepts a variety of payment methods, all traceable and secure for your asset investigations. Each transaction is handled with the transparency necessary for tax-deductibility of investigative expenses, a key aspect for our clients.

Below are the available options.

Accepted Payment Methods

• Bank Transfer: This is the standard method for business transactions. It guarantees maximum traceability and security, and is ideal for paying for complex asset investigations. This method is also available for currencies other than the euro.
• PostePay Top-up: Can be used at tobacconists and post offices, and is ideal for those without a current account who wish to immediately initiate the asset investigation they have commissioned.
• Credit Cards: For immediate service activation. We accept all major credit cards to enable the rapid initiation of solvency investigations and urgent banking inquiries. This method is also available for currencies other than the euro, with exchange fees covered by us.
• Postal Payment Slip: Available at any post office, this is the traditional method used by those without a current account. For those who wish to use it for privacy reasons, it guarantees maximum confidentiality. Ideal for paying for financial investigations with confidential data.
• PayPal Business: Dedicated to exclusive clients, it offers extreme speed and is the perfect solution for international payments or for those who prefer not to share their financial information.
• Bank Check: Accepted to meet the specific needs of some clients, subject to prior agreement.
• Cash: You can pay for a consultation or service directly at our office, with immediate receipt. Recommended for maximum privacy and for your financial investigations.

Invoicing and Tax Deductibility

The Mercurio Agency pays the utmost attention to tax aspects, always guaranteeing:

• Electronic Invoicing: Automatically issued for each transaction and sent via SDI Code or PEC.
• Full Deductibility: The costs incurred for credit information, debt collection investigations, and our other financial investigations are fully deductible as professional expenses.
• Maximum Transparency: Each invoice clearly shows the subject of the investigation, the taxable amount, and VAT, facilitating accounting management.

Absolutely, 100%. The cost of a credit investigation is considered an inherent business expense and, therefore, is fully deductible for IRES and IRAP purposes. This applies to both companies and freelancers (such as lawyers and accountants) who use our credit investigations as a necessary tool for their business.

How We Guarantee Total Deductibility

To ensure flawless accounting management for our clients, we follow a rigorous procedure:

• Clear and Relevant Reason: The invoice includes a clear reason (which we can customize, such as "Commercial information for debt collection" or "Investigation into the debtor's solvency..." or "Asset investigation into..."), clearly indicating the cost's relevance to the professional or business activity.
• Compliant Electronic Invoicing: Upon payment, we immediately issue an electronic invoice that is transmitted to the Interchange System (SdI). This ensures maximum tax compliance.

The Tax Advantage for Professionals and Companies

According to current legislation (specifically Article 109 of the TUIR), the expense for an asset investigation or a financial investigation can be classified as:

• Cost Related to the Activity: The expense is directly linked to the need to protect the company's assets and recover unpaid debts.
• Expenditure Instrumental to the Operation: The information obtained is an essential tool for making strategic, legal or commercial decisions.

For law firms, this offers maximum accounting flexibility, allowing the cost to be allocated as a case-specific expense or as a general operating cost.

Please note: Although deductibility is a well-established practice, we always recommend consulting your accountant for the correct application to your specific tax situation.

No, never. Our policy is "Clear Agreement": the price we quote for Mercurio Agency's asset investigations is the final price you'll pay. We guarantee maximum transparency for every credit investigation and debt collection information service.

Our goal is to build a relationship of trust, and cost certainty is the first step.

What Our "All-Inclusive" Quote Always Includes

Every quote we provide is all-inclusive. This means the price always includes, with no surprises:

• Access to databases, electronic registers, and national databases: Essential for gathering financial and economic information on individuals and legal entities and completing the assignment.
• Investigative Analysis: Processing and interpretation of data by our expert analysts.
• Detailed Final Report: Drafting and delivery of the complete investigative report.
• Post-Investigative Assistance: Our team's support in clarifying every aspect of the report provided.

So, no additional costs other than VAT. Forget about administrative fees, stamp duties, or other administrative costs.

This guarantee of transparency offered by the Mercurio Institute translates into tangible benefits and concrete advantages, because you can plan the cost of the financial investigation from the outset with absolute certainty of the final amount agreed upon at the outset.