Daily Digest - July 14, 2026

🎂 Happy birthday to: Matt Shafer of Solutions by Text, Adam Kazmark of Grass Island Capital, and Bart Shea of GetixHealth.

🎉Congratulations for starting new positions: Dave Myles as Director of Technology at Southwood Financial, Laurie Garcia as Senior National Account Manager at RNN Group, Jessie West as Training Manager at MRS BPO, and Danny McBride as Senior Manager, Strategic Partnerships at FreedomPay.

NEW AI SURVEY

Have 90 seconds to help me out? Take this quick survey, sponsored by TCN, on how you are using AI, what you like about it, and what frustrates you.

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!

I am thrilled to announce a new live conference I am hosting. It’s an AI conference for the credit and collection industry. It will be held in Denver this September. Check out getbrainstorming.com for more information. And watch the video below to see me showcasing my outdoor skills.

If you are interested in being a speaker at the event, click here.

Collector Sued for Allegedly Continuing to Report Fraudulent Accounts After Dismissing Its Own Collection Suit

• A debt buyer allegedly dismissed its own collection lawsuit with prejudice after seeing a police report documenting identity theft, then kept verifying the accounts as accurate for months. The complaint is a case study in how a fraud dispute can snowball into FCRA, FDCPA, and defamation claims.

• More details here.

• This series is sponsored by WebRecon

A MESSAGE FROM TCN

TODAY’S WEBINARS

UPCOMING WEBINARS

New Bill Would Regulate AI Chatbots, Require Disclosure and Human Transfer Option in Customer Service Interactions

• Two House Democrats have introduced a bill that would require any company using an AI chatbot to disclose it upfront and transfer consumers to a U.S.-based human on request, with statutory damages up to $10,000 per violation and liability even when providers exercise reasonable care. If your operation is deploying or even considering AI-powered consumer communications, this is the bill to read now.

• More details here.

NYC Adopts First Municipal Click-to-Cancel Rule, Proposes Junk Fee Ban

• The same agency that licenses debt collectors in New York City is stepping into the void left by federal regulators, finalizing the nation's first municipal Click-to-Cancel rule and proposing a citywide junk fee ban. With a former FTC consumer protection chief now running DCWP and promising restitution and penalties, collectors doing business in the five boroughs should pay attention.

• More details here.

Middle-Class Consumers Are Sliding Backward, and Assets Are the Dividing Line, Equifax Data Shows

• New Equifax data shows the financial middle hollowing out, record card balances funding daily expenses, and one stat every collections professional should sit with: more than 13% of the most financially strained consumers have credit scores above 780. A pristine credit file is no longer a reliable proxy for ability to pay.

• More details here.

Judge Grants MJOP for CRAs in FCRA Case Over Disputed Rental Debt

• A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled that credit reporting agencies were not required to resolve the legal validity of a disputed rental debt during a reinvestigation, tossing the FCRA claims against them. The decision draws a useful line between factual disputes and legal ones that reinvestigations are not built to answer.

• More details here.

Judge Dismisses Rosenthal Act Claim Against Healthcare Provider in Medical Debt Suit

• A federal judge in California ruled that a healthcare provider threatening to send a $26,000 disputed bill to collections was not enough to make it a debt collector under the Rosenthal Act. But the court let an unfair competition claim built on federal billing transparency rules move forward, a theory worth watching.

• More details here.

Study: 73% of Healthcare Websites Running Ad Trackers Despite Consumer Opt-Out Signals

• Nearly three-quarters of major hospital websites are running ad trackers even when visitors have activated legal opt-out signals, in a space that has already produced more than $100 million in tracking-related settlements. For anyone working with healthcare clients, it is another reminder that inherited compliance infrastructure is still your compliance exposure.

• More details here

WORTH NOTING: The three states where its affordable for the average person to own a home ... The best place to get a hot dog in every state ... The CEO of Microsoft warns AI users that you are paying for the technology twice ... AI companies are creating "generative ghosts" using the emails, texts, and social media posts of deceased individuals ... What is keeping parents awake at night these days when it comes to worrying about their kids ... Why you shouldn't feel guilty about enjoying that ice cream cone ... Just how much Americans are eating meals in their cars these days ... The 100 most influential creators of 2026.

Trailer Tuesday, part I

Trailer Tuesday, Part II

Webinar Recap: How to start with Agentic AI

Agentic AI is emerging as a transformative technology for collections and recovery, moving beyond traditional automation to systems that set goals, plan multi‑step actions, and adapt in real time. Panelists Chris Busse (SingleStone) and Dan Medina (Harris & Harris) explained that while automation follows a pre‑defined path, agentic AI “draws the path itself case by case.”

Examples included dispute handling, where agentic AI can assess whether accounts involve attorneys, bankruptcies, or healthcare claims, and then decide whether to act, escalate, or pause for human review. Chris Busse emphasized that agentic AI is “goal‑seeking or end‑to‑end task driven,” capable of calling additional tools to achieve outcomes. Dan Medina added that orchestration layers are critical to prevent runaway costs and ensure compliance, noting, “You usually want to tack on an else…abort, exit, or throw it in a queue for a human in the loop.”

The discussion also highlighted the importance of knowledge bases. Organizing institutional knowledge into accessible formats allows agents to learn from past decisions and build proprietary rule sets. Open‑source frameworks like OpenKB and LangChain were cited as cost‑effective tools for agencies to experiment with, while governance and supervisory controls remain essential to safe deployment.

🧠 Key Takeaways:

• Start Small with Pilots: Identify high‑value use cases such as dispute resolution or compliance workflows, and test agentic AI with human oversight.

• Build Knowledge Bases: Convert documents and institutional decisions into structured repositories to prepare for AI integration.

• Establish Safeguards: Implement orchestration layers, exit strategies, and supervisory controls to manage costs and compliance risks.

This webinar underscored that agentic AI is not just automation—it’s adaptive, goal‑driven, and capable of reshaping how collections teams operate. Agencies that begin experimenting now will be better positioned to leverage its full potential.

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