Daily Digest - August 12, 2026

🎂 Happy Birthday: Ryan Henry of SIMM Associates, and Jenny deHoyos of Capio.

🎉Congratulations for starting new positions: Shawn R. Smith as Co-Founder at History Capital LLC, and Shiloh Veit as Director System Operations at Retina Consultants of America.

New Digital Communications Report

The industry is optimistic. Placements are expected to climb. Consumers, it turns out, are more ready for digital than the businesses serving them.

New AI Event!

Cut through the hype and promotion. Figure out what is fact and what is fiction. Learn from the experts who are doing some amazing things with AI. Hear how others are approaching this revolutionary technology and what they are comfortable with it touching inside their operation.

These are all reasons why you need to be at brainstorm. Can you run the risk, personally and professionally, of falling further behind those who are going to be there?

Current But Brittle: Consumers Staying on Top of Bills While Repayment Timelines Stretch

• Nearly 9 in 10 households say they paid all or nearly all of their bills on time over the past three months. Sounds like good news, until you see what they are doing to stay current. New Achieve survey data reveals the stopgaps consumers are leaning on, how long they expect repayment to take, and why the numbers should have anyone watching roll rates paying close attention.

• More details here.

A MESSAGE FROM TCN

TODAY’S WEBINARS

UPCOMING WEBINARS

Judge Grants Part of CRA's MTD FCRA Case Over Loan Mod Reporting

• A consumer made every reduced payment under his mortgage loan modification, but his credit report told a different story. A federal judge in Illinois has now weighed in on a question that splits courts in the district: does the reasonable procedures requirement stop at the moment a dispute is filed? The answer decided which claims survived, and which one did not.

• More details here.

Judge Dismisses FDCPA Suit Against Servicer, CEO Over Statements Sent to Ex-Spouse

• She owned the property. Her ex-spouse owed the debt. When mortgage statements kept arriving addressed to him, she sued the servicer and its CEO under the FDCPA. A federal judge in Connecticut has now dismissed the case, explaining exactly where the complaint fell short, and closing with a pointed warning about something else the judge spotted in her briefs.

• More details here.

TSA PreCheck for Banking? Pilot Tests End of Repeated Identity Checks

• Imagine verifying your identity once and carrying that trusted credential from institution to institution. A pilot launched this summer, coordinated with Treasury, FinCEN, the OCC and the FDIC, is testing exactly that. The legal foundation has existed since 2003, so why hasn't it worked at scale before now? And what are the fine-print limits every compliance officer should know?

• More details here.

How a $1.6B CU Used AI to Tame Its Cybersecurity Backlog

• A credit union serving the U.S. Senate was drowning in roughly 100 new potential breach points every day, with each one triggering a manual investigation that could last days. Then it deployed an AI platform and cut vulnerability resolution time by 75%. The lessons translate directly to collection shops juggling sensitive consumer data, aging tech stacks and lean security teams.

• More details here.

Wisconsin Appeals Court Affirms Judgment for CU

• A defendant fighting a vehicle repossession argued her auto loan had been "securitized" and that she was entitled to use the loan's own proceeds to make her payments. The Court of Appeals of Wisconsin was not persuaded, but the most memorable part of the ruling may be the court's caution about where her legal citations appear to have come from.

• More details here.

43 Companies Seeking Collection Talent

• From entry-level collectors to directors of collections and recovery, from creditors rights attorneys to AI solutions specialists, this week's roundup gathers dozens of open positions across the ARM industry in one convenient place. Remote roles included. Whether you are hiring or looking, it is worth a scroll.

• More details here

WORTH NOTING: All those worries and concerns about data centers don't appear to be impacting property values yet ... The area codes where the volume of robocalls is spiking ... How to tell if that panicked call from a loved one is real or not ... Seven things that are considered normal here in the United States, but are considered to be weird everywhere else ... Wallethub with a breakdown of the household debt situation for Americans ... It's not just the em-dash: how to spot AI writing ... Do Gen Z and Millennials have different habits when it comes to using the phone? ... The extreme lengths that parents are going to in order to get school supplies for their kids.

Wisdom Wednesday, part I

Wisdom Wednesday, Part II

Webinar Recap: What To Do When You Don't Have an Email Address

The webinar, hosted by Mike Gibb of AccountRecovery.net and sponsored by CSS Impact, tackled the challenge of consumer engagement when email addresses are missing, invalid, or abandoned. Panelists Matt Jarrell (Quanta Credit Services), Jordan McWilliams (Resurgent Capital Services), and Jenna Muñoz (TransUnion) explored the realities of declining email coverage as debt ages, the importance of email validity, and the need for diversified outreach strategies.

Jarrell noted that pre‑charge off accounts often have 90%+ email coverage, but post‑charge off rates can drop as low as 20% due to abandoned or outdated addresses. McWilliams highlighted the difference between store card data, which often contains fake or mistyped emails, and online loan products that require verified logins. Muñoz emphasized that direct consumer‑provided contact information remains the “gold standard,” while vendor‑sourced data must be validated for reliability.

The panel also discussed deliverability metrics, with Jarrell warning that open rates below 10% signal domain health problems. McWilliams cautioned against arbitrary cutoffs when determining “dead boxes,” noting that later emails sometimes outperform earlier ones. Muñoz stressed the need for continuous monitoring of bounce rates, domain/IP reputation, and compliance with permission‑based outreach.

Finally, the group agreed that SMS and outbound dialing are critical complements to email, with Jarrell stating, “Not having a cell phone number and being able to text is a bigger problem than not having an email address.”

🧠 Key Takeaways:

• Monitor email health: Track bounce rates, open rates, and domain/IP reputation to avoid being flagged as spam.

• Diversify outreach channels: Strengthen SMS and outbound dialing strategies to mitigate risks when email fails.

• Prioritize consumer‑provided data: Treat direct contact information as the most reliable and compliant source, while validating vendor‑sourced data.

Did you know you can get full access to all of my past webinars, along with transcripts and summaries of each, for only $29/month? Sign up to be a premium subscriber today!

The Daily Digest is sponsored by TCN