Daily Digest - May 13, 2026

🎂 Happy Birthday to: Idris Said of Halsted Financial Services, Jonathan Volpert of Halsted Financial Services, and Lorinda VeltKamp of Location Services.

🎉 Congratulations for starting new positions: Laura Martinez as Director, Healthcare Recovery services at Machinify.

Logo Madness!

It’s time to crown the best logo in the industry. Full bracket available here so you can track the competition. Click on the link underneath the logo to choose your winner. Voting is open for 24 hours.

Judge Certifies FCRA Class Action Over ID Theft Block Requests

• A District Court judge in Pennsylvania has certified a nationwide class action accusing a credit reporting agency of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act by improperly denying consumers’ requests to block allegedly fraudulent information resulting from identity theft.

• More details here.

A MESSAGE FROM TCN

TODAY’S WEBINAR

UPCOMING WEBINARS

California Taps Former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra to Lead New Consumer Protection Agency

• California is preparing to take a more aggressive approach to consumer protection and business oversight with Gov. Gavin Newsom announcing plans to appoint former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra to lead the state’s newly created Business and Consumer Services Agency.

• More details here.

Older Americans Increasingly Caught in Student Loan Default Wave

• A new analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows millions of consumers are struggling to restart student loan payments after the pandemic-era pause, with defaults increasingly concentrated among older borrowers and consumers already under broader financial pressure.

• More details here.

Illinois Regulator Launches New Consumer Complaint Portal

• The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has launched a new online complaint portal designed to streamline how consumers report issues involving financial institutions and regulated companies, including debt collectors.

• More details here.

Missouri Appeals Court Revives FDCPA Lawsuit After Settlement Agreement Dispute

• A Missouri appeals court has reversed a lower court ruling enforcing a settlement agreement in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lawsuit, finding there were disputed factual issues about whether the parties actually agreed to the same material settlement terms.

• More details here.

37 Companies Seeking Collection Talent

• Every week, there’s a fresh reminder that this industry is still hiring aggressively despite all the talk about automation, AI, and consolidation. This week’s job listings stretch from entry-level customer service and collections roles all the way up to executive positions overseeing AI engineering, contact center modernization, analytics, compliance, and product strategy.

  If you want proof that companies are still investing heavily in people, just look at the names hiring right now: Capital One, American Express, Synchrony, SoFi, Upstart, PRA Group, Midland Credit Management, OneMain Financial, and dozens more are all looking for talent right now.

• More details here.

WORTH NOTING: Both household debt and inflation keep rising, which is probably not a good thing in the short- or long-term ... Google announced a new line of laptops yesterday that will succeed its Chromebooks ... The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is bringing staff back to the office ... The best summer travel destinations, and the city at the top of the list may surprise you ... Why you may not want your chatbot to be friendly with you ... When it comes to banks, consumers tend to be very loyal ... With warmer weather approaching, here is how to get started camping if you've never done it before ... Wordle is now going to be a game show.

Wisdom Wednesday, part I

Wisdom Wednesday, Part II

Webinar Recap: Why Better Data Management Leads to Better Recovery

Hosted by Mike Gibb of AccountsRecovery.net and sponsored by Fiber by Clerkie, this session brought together leaders from across collections, recoveries, and digital operations to discuss how data quality and governance directly impact recovery outcomes.

Panelists emphasized that bad data equals bad outcomes—from wasted call attempts to compliance risks. Clean, accessible, and well-governed data enables smarter strategies, faster decisions, and higher returns. The conversation highlighted the challenges of legacy systems, the importance of governance structures, and the role of modern platforms in creating a single source of truth.

Jackson White of Fiber by Clerkie reinforced the theme by showcasing how integrated, real-time data orchestration can optimize outreach, measure consumer intent, and improve cost-to-collect metrics.

🧠 Key Takeaways:

• Prioritize Data Quality & Hygiene

  • Conflicting data is more damaging than missing data.

  • Invest in processes that validate, align, and clean incoming data to avoid compliance risks and wasted effort.

• Establish Governance & Logic Frameworks

  • Define rules for resolving conflicts (e.g., client vs. vendor data).

  • Build defensible structures that ensure consistency, auditability, and compliance across systems.

• Leverage Modern Tools & Integration

  • Legacy systems don’t have to be a barrier—data lakes, APIs, and BI dashboards can centralize fragmented data.

  • Real-time orchestration and analytics enable next-best-action decisioning, improving recovery rates and efficiency.

Webinar Recap: AI vs Cybersecurity: We're DOOMED!

In this session, hosted by Mike Gibb of AccountsRecovery.net and sponsored by CSS Impact, cybersecurity leaders explored how artificial intelligence is reshaping both sides of the firewall. Panelists Solomon Adote (Phillips & Cohen Group), Eric Biederman (Halsted Financial Services), Rob Grafrath (Grafrath Consulting), and Mike Wright (Campus Guard) shared candid insights into the accelerating arms race between attackers and defenders.

AI has dramatically shortened the timeline for cyberattacks. What once took months can now be executed in hours, with phishing emails tailored to individuals, deepfake audio convincing employees, and malware leveraging AI agents to “ask for help” mid-attack. As Solomon Adote noted, “Zero-days used to be once in a while, now it’s continuously happening… four hours to create a rootkit.”

On the defensive side, organizations are deploying AI to detect anomalies faster, triage threats, and contain breaches before attackers reach the “crown jewels.” Yet, panelists emphasized that fundamentals—patching, role-based access, defense-in-depth—remain critical. As Mike Wright reminded, “Humans are either the strongest or weakest part of the chain.”

The consensus: breaches are inevitable. The real challenge is limiting the blast radius, buying time, and preparing staff to respond effectively when—not if—a compromise occurs.

🧠 Key Takeaways:

• Assume Breach is Inevitable: Shift mindset from prevention-only to containment and recovery. Practice tabletop and hands-on exercises to prepare staff.

• Reinforce Fundamentals: Patch quickly, enforce role-based access, and layer defenses to reduce exposure.

• Leverage AI Defensively: Use AI to detect anomalies, accelerate response, and contain threats before critical data is compromised.

This webinar underscores the urgency for debt collection agencies, fintechs, banks, and healthcare providers to treat cybersecurity as a business enabler, not just a technical function. The arms race is escalating—AI is both the threat and the tool to fight back.

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