Daily Digest - August 21, 2026

🎂 Happy Birthday: Jim van Dyke of TransUnion.

🎉Congratulations for starting new positions: Tori Guidry as Partner at Troutman Amin, Sean Fennema as Vice President Operations at EPIC, Robert Terry as Director of Operations at Tua Financial Technologies, and Jennifer Baker as Director of Operations at GetixHealth.

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.

2️⃣0️⃣ Days and Counting!

It doesn’t matter how much you have used AI already. It doesn’t matter how much you know or don’t know about AI. It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to code or build things with AI. What matters is that AI is going to impact how we all work. Either through our direct interactions with it or the technology that we are using or how our colleagues, co-workers, and companies are using it. It will only continue to expand.

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?

🏆 NEW CONTEST! 🧑‍🎨

TCN is going to give away a free T-shirt to all brainstorm attendees and they are excited to be hosting a contest to choose the shirt design. So use your imagination or your best AI tool and email me ([email protected]) your shirt designs. Submissions will be voted on and the winning design will be put on the shirts given out to brainstorm attendees.

Deadline for submission is Friday, August 21. 

New Training Bytes Video Released!

Check out the newest Training Bytes video! Each week, an expert from the accounts receivable management industry will share how he or she would handle different scenarios that collectors often face. This week, Frank Tirre from Cedar Financial advises collectors how to respond to consumers when a consumer  asks if he or she is going to be sued if the debt is not paid. Thanks to Peak Revenue Learning for sponsoring this series! Click on the image below to view this week’s episode!

Collector Sued Over Letter Mailed Two Days After Consumer Called Home Inconvenient

• Two days. That is all the time that allegedly passed between a consumer telling a collector his home was an inconvenient place to reach him and a settlement letter landing in his mailbox anyway. Now the operation is facing an FDCPA suit built almost entirely on timing and destination. The complaint stacks up a long list of Section 1692 claims, but leaves one thing conspicuously unexplained.

• More details here.

• This series is sponsored by WebRecon

A MESSAGE FROM TCN

TODAY’S WEBINAR

UPCOMING WEBINARS

Judge Strikes Down State Law Barring Medical Debt From Credit Reports

• A state moved to keep surprise medical bills off consumers' credit reports. A federal judge just ruled it cannot, finding the measure preempted by the FCRA even as he voiced sympathy for the goal. What tipped the decision was not the statute's text but a long-dormant sunset provision Congress repealed before it ever took effect. The result puts this court squarely at odds with a federal appeals court that saw things the other way.

• More details here.

Appeals Court Affirms Dismissal of FDCPA, FCRA Suit Against Auto Lender

• A pro se plaintiff's FDCPA and FCRA claims against an auto lender are dead, but not for the reason you might expect. The Third Circuit never reached the merits. The case turned instead on a missed deadline and a common misconception about post-judgment motions, one that quietly cost the plaintiff his shot at review. Here is the timing trap that sank the appeal.

• More details here.

New York AG Details Patient Rights on Hospital Bills

• As an estimated 450,000 New Yorkers lose zero-premium coverage, the state's attorney general is spelling out exactly when a hospital bill can, and cannot, be handed to a collector. The new guidance sets firm limits on placement timing and lays out the income thresholds for free and discounted care. For anyone working healthcare accounts in New York, these are the constraints worth knowing before the next placement lands.

• More details here.

Credit Union Chatbot Adoption Climbs to 46%

• Chatbot deployment at credit unions has climbed from 3% to 46% in seven years, but a new report suggests member appetite for AI has a ceiling. Businesses and consumers say they want guidance, not autonomous action, and interest falls off sharply the moment AI starts moving money on its own. The findings sketch a trust ladder that could reshape how institutions roll out conversational tools, and where they stop.

• More details here.

Colleges Add PayPal and Venmo at Checkout

• Tuition bills can now be paid with PayPal and Venmo at a first wave of universities, a shift that drops consumer payment apps into the bursar's office. The convenience comes with fine print, though: service fees, financing restrictions, and a gap in consumer protections that bank accounts do not share. Here is what is live, where, and what students and families should read before they tap pay.

• More details here.

Managers Lose 16.5 Hours a Week to 'Coordination Tax,' Report Finds

• The average manager burns 16.5 hours a week, roughly 41% of the workweek, on status meetings, re-explaining context, and hunting for information that already exists. A new report attaches a dollar figure to that overhead and points to the single factor that tracks most closely with the waste. The likeliest culprit may already be open on your desktop.

• More details here

Clark Hill Welcomes Former OCC Counsel Daniel Prieve to Banking & Financial Services Team

• A decade inside the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency gave Daniel Prieve a front-row seat to enforcement actions, charter applications, and BSA/AML supervision. Now he is bringing that regulator's-eye perspective to the private side, joining Clark Hill's Denver office as senior counsel. Here is the attorney the firm just added to its financial services bench, and why his OCC pedigree resonates for institutions navigating today's supervisory climate.

• More details here

WORTH NOTING: Being a sports fan is expensive and sending a lot of people into debt ... Six flght-booking myths that could be wasting your time ... ChatGPT can now send texts for you through Apple Messages ... More and more of what you find online is being written by AI ... Using AI to help its support department has worked so well for AirBnB that it is rolling out the technology in its search function now ... The best business laptops ... Three things to know about what it means to be $40 trillion in debt ... Of all the things that could happen when you try to wake up a sleeping polar bear, this might be the best-case scenario.

Funny Friday, part I

Funny Friday, Part II

Webinar Recap: The Middlemen: When Debt Settlement and Credit Repair Get Involved

The webinar, sponsored by CSS Impact, examined how debt settlement, credit repair, and credit counseling companies influence the collections process. Panelists including leaders from Spring Oaks Capital, Greenbacks Consulting, Kredit, Atlanticus, and NFCC highlighted the distinctions between these entities, their evolving overlap, and the challenges they pose for creditors, debt buyers, and agencies.

Debt settlement firms negotiate reduced balances, often around half of what is owed, while credit counseling helps consumers repay in full with lower interest rates. Credit repair focuses on correcting inaccuracies on credit reports, though disputes can blur into settlement attempts. As Bruce McClary noted, “The term credit counseling is a little limited when it comes to truly describing what nonprofits are offering today.”

Timing of involvement varies: counseling often begins early in delinquency, while settlement firms engage at the “tipping point” of missed payments. Carly Pennell emphasized that representation can occur “at any point in the customer life cycle.” Panelists agreed that early identification of consumer representation saves costs and improves resolution, while strong partnerships between creditors and settlement/counseling firms streamline negotiations.

Teresa Dodson clarified that settlement companies charge fees based on enrolled debt, typically around 25%, and only take accounts they know can be resolved. The discussion underscored the need for clarity, collaboration, and consumer‑centric approaches—especially as hybrid models blur traditional boundaries.

🧠 Key Takeaways:

• Clarify distinctions internally: Train teams to differentiate debt settlement, credit counseling, and credit repair to avoid misclassification and confusion.

• Engage early with representation: Use data and AI to identify when consumers are working with advisors, preventing unnecessary legal costs and improving outcomes.

• Build collaborative relationships: Partner with settlement and counseling firms to create efficient, consumer‑friendly resolution strategies that balance recovery with compliance

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