Daily Digest - July 1, 2025

Brought to you by: TCN | By Mike Gibb

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Mike Gibb
July 01, 2025

📝 EDITOR’S NOTE: Scroll down to the bottom for a recap and highlights from yesterday’s webinars.

🥳 🎂 Happy belated Birthday to: Brandon Locke of The CCS Companies. Happy belated Birthday to Mark Neeb of Channel Payments.

🙌 🎉 Congratulations to: Benjamin Osborne, who was promoted to Vice President of Business Solutions Delivery at Resurgent Capital Services.

The early bird registration deadline for ComplianceCon expires this week! Sign up now and save $100 off the registration price!

Collector Sued for Not Reporting Dispute Fast Enough

  • Well, that escalated quickly. We’re definitely living in a less-patient society than we used to. A plaintiff has filed a lawsuit, accusing a collection operation of violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act because it failed to mark an account as disputed. The kicker? From the time the dispute was received by the defendant to the time the lawsuit was filed was less than three weeks.

  • More details here.

  • This series is sponsored by WebRecon

A MESSAGE FROM TCN

TODAY‘S WEBINAR

UPCOMING WEBINARS

Collector Petitions Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in FDCPA Standing Case

  • A petition has been filed with the Supreme Court to hear arguments in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case over whether the receipt of a letter is enough for an individual to have suffered a concrete injury and thus have standing to sue.

  • More details here.

Consumer Credit Issues Make Top 10 in Latest Consumer Complaint Survey

  • The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) has released its 2024 Consumer Complaint Survey Report, spotlighting the top issues plaguing consumers across the country. While auto-related complaints remain the most frequent, “Consumer Credit” issues, which include complaints about debt collection, credit reporting, and other financial services, secured a spot in the top five.

  • More details here.

Voice AI Agents Take on Healthcare’s Costliest Problem … and Attract Millions in Funding

  • The administrative burden in healthcare, estimated to cost up to $1 trillion annually, is attracting the attention of AI startups and investors alike. Two companies, SuperDial and VoiceCare AI, are leading the charge by building voice AI agents to automate the costly, time-consuming phone calls between billing teams and insurers.

  • More details here.

WORTH NOTING: A ranking of the best gift cards ... Debunking a handful of myths when it comes to car insurance ... How you start your day has a big impact on how well your day goes ... These six traits define "coolness" no matter where in the world you live ...Why you need to protect and prioritize the first two hours of your day ... Why this could be a summer of "economic hell" ... If you are cutting your cords, here are the best streaming devices ... An early look at NBA free agency signings.

Trailer Tuesday, part I

Trailer Tuesday, Part II

Webinar Recap: What Should be on your Collector Scorecard

The Big Picture: As the responsibilities of collectors evolve and technology changes how consumers engage, so too must the metrics that define success. In a webinar moderated by Mike Gibb, panelists Tim Caraveo (First Credit Services), Jose Giron, and Aubrey Gohde (State Collection Service) broke down what every collection operation should be tracking on collector scorecards—and how to make those metrics matter.

Why it matters: A well-designed scorecard does more than rank performance—it identifies opportunities, motivates collectors, ensures compliance, and supports team-wide efficiency. But only if it’s accurate, consistent, and easy to understand.

Key Takeaways:

  1. Efficiency Trumps Everything:

    • Resource utilization—how collectors spend their time logged in—was the top metric named by all three panelists.

    • Calls per hour, talk time, and wrap/idle time should be tracked and benchmarked against peers—not just absolute performance.

    • Efficiency isn’t just about effort, it’s about removing friction and building momentum.

  2. Daily Scorecards Are Essential:

    • Scorecards must be updated and shared daily to drive accountability and improvement.

    • Use visual tools (like color-coded spreadsheets or dashboards) to make key metrics stand out.

    • Include pacing toward goals and team averages to provide clarity on expectations.

  3. Don’t Just Track Compliance—Track Performance Drivers:

    • Go beyond QA pass/fail. Include metrics like post-dated payments, average payment size, manual dial productivity, and even digital follow-up success.

    • Reward “ace” calls and consumer compliments.

    • Keep the scorecard lean and focused: “Simple is delicious.”

Bottom Line: If your scorecard doesn’t help your agents improve and feel empowered—or if it isn’t trusted—it’s not doing its job. Make it accurate. Make it visual. And most importantly, make it matter.

Webinar Recap: Breaking Down the Supreme Court's Ruling in McLaughlin Chiropractic v. McKesson and What it Means for The TCPA

The big picture: A recent Supreme Court decision in McLaughlin Chiropractic v. McKesson is expected to have far-reaching consequences for how courts interpret rules issued by federal agencies like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), particularly concerning the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

🧠 What happened: In its June 20 ruling, the Court held that federal district courts are no longer bound by the Hobbs Act to accept FCC rulings as definitive in civil litigation. This means courts at the trial level can now independently review and potentially reject longstanding FCC interpretations of the TCPA — such as what qualifies as consent or an autodialer.

💥 Why it matters: This ruling undermines nearly two decades of legal precedent relied upon by creditors, collectors, and servicers who based compliance on prior FCC rulings — especially the 2008 declaratory ruling that affirmed “pass-through” consent and deemed a consumer’s voluntary provision of a phone number as sufficient permission to call.

💬 What the experts said: Panelists David Kaminski and Brit Suttell warned that companies must reassess their consent protocols and be prepared for litigation that tests these FCC rulings in new ways. While the ruling does not eliminate consent standards outright, it opens the door for courts to question them — and for plaintiffs' attorneys to challenge them aggressively.

Takeaways for industry professionals:

  1. Audit Your Consent Language:
    Review the consent language from all clients — especially older ones — to ensure it explicitly allows communication via autodialers and prerecorded/artificial voice messages.

  2. Segment and Re-strategize:
    Bucket accounts by strength of consent. Use more cautious outreach strategies (e.g., manual dialing) for accounts with weaker or unclear consent.

  3. Revisit Agent Scripts & Portals:
    Update agent scripts and online portals to capture more robust TCPA consent. Specificity matters more than ever post-McLaughlin.

Bottom line: While the industry shouldn’t panic, proactive compliance reviews are essential. The ruling signals that long-held assumptions about the TCPA are no longer safe from challenge.

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The Daily Digest is sponsored by TCN