Daily Digest - December 18, 2025

🎂 Happy Birthday to: Cole Gottlieb of Cross River, Patrick Inks of JPMorgan Chase, Tyler Dolphin of Resurgent Capital Services, and Neil Shah of Prodigal.

🎉Congratulations for starting new positions: Alexandra (Ali) Taylor as Compliance Analyst III at Credit First National Association, Michael LaVine as Executive Vice President of Operations at NCB Management Services, Inc., and Sherah Petrarca as Director - Compliance & Quality Assurance at Caine & Weiner.

🌲 🎅 HOLIDAY HAPPY HOUR - TOMORROW!

I will be hosting a holiday happy hour at 5pm ET on Friday, December 19. All are welcome. Please stop by and enjoy some holiday cheer with your friends and colleagues from across the industry. Reply to this email (or send a separate email to [email protected]) to be added to the calendar invite and get zoom credentials. Hope to see you there!

New Speakers Being Added Daily

Check out ARMTech.live for the growing list of impressive speakers who are going to be in Dallas. This is going to be the must-attend event of the year!

Getting to Know Billy Rowlee of Finance System

• Billy Rowlee likes to go fast. Probably why he works best when he is “loaded full” of caffeine and why he will likely beat you in a go-kart race thanks to his years of racing cars. Now a reformed graphic designer turned salesman, he still loves to play Call of Duty when he gets a chance. Read on to learn more about Billy, why he feels being a cheerleader is so important, and how he explains what he does to his family.

• More details here.

• This series is sponsored by TEC Services Group

A MESSAGE FROM TCN

TODAY‘S WEBINAR

UPCOMING WEBINARS

Full D.C. Circuit to Rehear CFPB Layoff Case, Blocking Trump Administration Firings

• The full Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has vacated an earlier decision that would have allowed the Trump administration to move forward with mass layoffs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, marking a major procedural win for the Bureau’s employee union and a setback for the White House’s efforts to dismantle the agency.

• More details here.

Court Rejects Bid to Dismiss FCRA Counts in Student Loan Bankruptcy Reporting Dispute

• A District Court judge in Illinois has partially granted a defendant’s motion to dismiss claims it violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act over how student loans were reported by a creditor after the plaintiff filed for bankruptcy protection, allowing the core FCRA allegations to move forward while dismissing a request for declaratory relief.

• More details here.

Plaintiff’s Recusal Motions Fail After She Refuses to Appear for Deposition in FDCPA Case

• A District Court judge in Pennsylvania has denied motions from a pro se plaintiff to recuse himself from a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case after the plaintiff objected to being ordered to appear in person for a deposition, according to a memorandum issued earlier this month. The ruling comes after months of discovery disputes, repeated requests from the plaintiff to be deposed remotely, and her subsequent failure to appear for the deposition at all.

• More details here.

Mass. AG Reaches $5M Deal with Mortgage Servicer Accused of Violating State Foreclosure and Debt Collection Laws

• Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell has announced a $4.65 million settlement with Newrez LLC, the successor by merger to Specialized Loan Servicing, resolving allegations that the company engaged in unfair and deceptive mortgage servicing and debt collection practices that placed thousands of borrowers at heightened risk of foreclosure.

• More details here.

WORTH NOTING: Delaware has wiped out the medical debt for 18,000 of its residents ... Which college majors are the worst-paying five years after graduation? ... Why lather, rinse, and repeat may not be as silly as it sounds ... A look at which members of Congress aren't coming back after next year ... How to slow down time if it's going too fast for you ... How to get poached at work ... The biggest business fails of 2025 ... How carmakers are increasing the cost of buying a car without raising the sticker price.

Top 10 Thursday, part I

Top 10 Thursday, Part II

Webinar Recap: How to Make Sure Collector Training Sticks

Collector training remains one of the most critical—and most fragile—components of collection operations. In this webinar, industry leaders from legal, training, and operations roles explored why collector training often fails to translate into consistent on-the-job behavior and what organizations can do to improve retention, performance, and compliance.

The panel agreed that the biggest challenge is not delivering training, but ensuring collectors remember and apply what they’ve learned under real-world pressure. As host Mike Gibb noted, “Training a collector is one thing. Getting that collector to remember their training is an entirely different kettle of fish.”

Panelists highlighted several common breakdowns, including overly theoretical training, lack of reinforcement, limited feedback loops, and insufficient visibility into how training is delivered. Jennifer Peck emphasized the importance of connecting training to the organization’s mission and helping collectors understand how their actions impact members, clients, and downstream teams. Sherrika Newman stressed that behaviors must be reinforced immediately, warning that “if it doesn’t get reinforced, the behavior will never become automatic.”

The discussion also addressed the realities of smaller agencies with limited resources. While job shadowing is common, panelists cautioned that it should be short-term and paired with structured feedback, compliance fundamentals, and early hands-on practice. Technology can help support learning, but several panelists emphasized that nothing replaces live calls and real-world experience.

Ultimately, the panel reinforced that training is a business investment tied directly to compliance risk, consumer experience, and recovery outcomes—not a discretionary cost.

🧠 Key Takeaways:

• Tie training to purpose, not just process. Collectors retain information better when they understand the “why” behind policies, scripts, and workflows.

• Reinforce learning early and often. Immediate feedback, repetition, and post-training check-ins prevent bad habits from forming.

• Prioritize what must be instinctive. Compliance, empathy, and call control should be second nature, while referenceable details can live in tools and scripts.

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