Daily Digest - June 17, 2026

Happy Birthday to the following: Rick Lang of Pronto Connects, Kamal Kanwar of American Express, Danielle Banner of JP Morgan Chase & Co., and Victor M. Vega of Auto Approve. Happy belated Birthday to: Tom Mohr of D1AL and Tracey Dudek of RevCycle.

Congratulations for starting new positions: Linda Dameron as Chief Corporate Officer at Greentree Legal, LLC.

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.

🚨Logo Madness! We have a winner!

Congratulations!

Full bracket available here so you can track the competition.

State Appeals Court Won’t Revive FDCPA Suit Over Default Judgments

• In a case that was defended by Brit Suttell of Barron & Newburger, a Washington state appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a consumer’s Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lawsuit accusing a collection law firm of acting unfairly by staying silent after she told the firm she had never been served in the cases underlying two default judgments against her.

• More details here.

A MESSAGE FROM TCN

TODAY’S WEBINAR

UPCOMING WEBINARS

Mass. AG Wins Order Halting ‘Phantom’ Debt Collection Scheme

• A Massachusetts judge has ordered an immediate stop to two debt collection businesses and their owners, handing the state’s attorney general an early win in a case that strikes at one of the industry’s persistent reputational threats: unlicensed “phantom” collection.

• More details here.

Hidden Debt, Unequal Loads: Survey Finds Couples Still Struggle to Talk About Money

• A new Fidelity Investments study suggests that the people behind household balance sheets often do not fully understand them, a finding with quiet implications for any business that lends to, bills, or collects from consumers.

• More details here.

Appeals Court Upholds Stay of Duplicative Car-Fraud Lawsuit, Flags Hallucinated Case Law

• The Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has upheld an order pausing a consumer’s federal lawsuit over a used-car purchase while a parallel case proceeds in state court.

• More details here.

The Real AI Test for Collections Isn’t Speed. It’s the Handoff

• A new survey of consumer attitudes toward automated customer service carries a pointed message for collection operations leaning harder on artificial intelligence: customers are not opposed to bots, but they punish brands that make a live person hard to reach when automation stalls.

• More details here.

FinTech’s New AI Assistant Lets Users Bank by Conversation

• Mercury, a digital banking startup, launched a new AI tool this week that lets customers run their finances through conversation rather than menus, the clearest sign yet that banking software is moving from AI that suggests toward AI that acts.

• More details here.

45 Companies Seeking Collection Talent

• If you've ever wondered where this industry is heading, take a look at who's hiring. This week's job listings feature opportunities spanning collections, credit reporting, customer service, legal, compliance, data analytics, fraud, AI, digital strategy, and executive leadership, offering a revealing snapshot of where companies are investing their time, money, and talent. Whether you're actively looking for a new role, curious about what skills are in demand, or simply want to keep tabs on the market, this week's lineup is packed with opportunities and insights worth exploring.

• More details here

WORTH NOTING: Zillow has bad news for first-time homebuyers ... A bill has been introduced in the Senate that would create a national site for consumers to report scams ... Why you may want to think twice before promoting AI in your messaging ... Centene is offering buyout packages to most of its 60,000 workers nationwide ... A lot of people out there are keeping secret stashes of snacks in their houses ... The most rage-inducing problems in technology today ... What you need to know before the new Fed chief's first meeting today ... There is a new fast food chain atop the customer service rankings, dethroning Chick-fil-A.

Wisdom Wednesday, part I

Wisdom Wednesday, Part II

Webinar Recap: The 98% You Never Hear: Why Manual QA Sampling Is Now a Liability

The webinar, hosted by Mike Gibb of AccountsRecovery.net and sponsored by CSS Impact, explored the risks of relying on manual QA sampling in debt collection operations. Traditionally, firms review only 2% of calls, leaving 98% of compliance exposure unchecked. Panelists Brian Answeeney (CBE Companies), Tonia Brown (EverChain), and Bettina Hagey (Credit Control Corporation) discussed how AI-powered speech analytics now enable 100% coverage, surfacing systemic issues and reducing liability. While automation identifies patterns and compliance risks, human reviewers remain essential for coaching, calibration, and interpreting complex account dispositions. The discussion emphasized that QA programs must evolve to balance compliance, operational effectiveness, and customer experience.

🧠 Key Takeaways:

• Adopt AI for full coverage: Manual sampling misses systemic failures. AI-driven analytics can monitor all calls, texts, and emails, ensuring compliance risks are flagged before they escalate.

• Maintain human oversight: As Bettina noted, “Until AI can coach your agents, you still need a human being to transfer that knowledge.” Human QA ensures credibility, accurate coaching, and proper account disposition.

• Focus on systemic improvement: Tonia stressed the importance of identifying trends and quality improvement rates. QA should measure whether retraining and coaching efforts actually improve collector performance over time.

This session underscored that manual QA sampling is no longer sufficient. The future lies in AI-human collaboration, where technology surfaces insights and humans drive meaningful change.

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