Daily Digest - May 29, 2026

🎂 Happy Birthday to: Rebecca Roberts-Stewart of LJ Ross Associates, Xerxes Martin of Martin Golden Lyons Watts Morgan, George Van Wormer of Spire, and Tyler Diggs of Figure.

🎉Congratulations for starting new positions: Pat Scheuerman as Managing Director at Alliance Collection Agencies, William M. Tuno as Sr. Product Manager, Liquidity Solutions at TD, and Mark Miyamoto as Vice President of Sales at Salus Fintech.

🚨New Training Bytes Video Released!

Check out the newest Training Bytes video! Each week, an expert from the accounts receivable management industry will share how he or she would handle different scenarios that collectors often face. This week, Sherrika Newman from Revco Solutions   shares how to respond when consumers get maybe too personal and how much time or leeway to allow them to explain what they're going through. Thanks to Peak Revenue Learning for sponsoring this series! Click on the image below to view this week’s episode!

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.

Is it a Class? Collector Accused of Attempting to Recover Non-Existent Debt

• This is one of those, “I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t know if this is a big deal or not” situations, but a lawsuit has been filed against a collection operation for allegedly violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, in which the suit says it is being filed as a class action, but which does not include any reference to the class. It feels like either that part was left out of the complaint for some reason, or it was a copy-and-paste from a previously filed suit that was a class action and this one isn’t. The suit accuses the collector of seeking to collect on a non-existent debt.

• More details here.

• This series is sponsored by WebRecon

A MESSAGE FROM TCN

TODAY’S WEBINAR

UPCOMING WEBINARS

Judge Grants Summary Judgment to Fintech, Debt Buyer, and Bank

• A District Court judge in Illinois has granted summary judgment in favor of three defendants, dismissing every claim brought by a pro se plaintiff who had filed two separate lawsuits arising out of a personal credit line he opened in 2021. The suit accused the defendants of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and other consumer lending laws.

• More details here.

Brookings: Nearly Half of U.S. Households Can’t Make Ends Meet

• A new Brookings report, the first in its “States of Affordability” series, finds that 45.5% of U.S. households did not earn enough to cover basic necessities in 2024. The figure is not a pandemic anomaly. In nearly every year since 2014, more than 40% of American households have struggled to “make ends meet,” Brookings’ term for covering housing, food, child care, health care, transportation, and utilities on post-tax income.

• More details here.

Is CFPB’s Return-to-Office Move Designed to Reduce Size of Agency?

• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is requiring nearly all of its roughly 1,100 employees to report to a new Washington, D.C. office by the end of August. The problem: the new office holds about 550 people. That gap, and the fact that it mirrors almost exactly a reduction-in-force plan the agency submitted to a federal appeals court in March, has employees and observers alike concluding that the math is the message.

• More details here.

Ohio Supreme Court Backs Reinstatement of Debt Collection Case, Allows FDCPA Counterclaims to Proceed

• A collection law firm that filed a second lawsuit to recover a debt found itself on the wrong end of a unanimous Ohio Supreme Court decision after attempting to use a procedural rule to block counterclaims targeting its own conduct.

• More details here.

AI Adoption Is Climbing Among Small Businesses, Just Not Equally

• A new report from the JPMorganChase Institute finds that small business adoption of artificial intelligence has accelerated sharply since 2022, but the gains are not being shared evenly, with meaningful gaps emerging along gender and generational lines.

• More details here.

Judge Sends FDCPA Case to Trial

• A Magistrate Court judge in Massachusetts ruled that a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case is heading to trial, partially granting a defendant’s motion for summary judgment and denying a similar motion from the plaintiff, which accused the defendant, a collection law firm, over claims to collect on a debt that had been discharged in bankruptcy.

• More details here

WORTH NOTING: Food inflation is hitting some people harder than others ... Siri is getting a long-awaited makeover ... Why your air conditioner isn't cooling your house and what you can do about it ... More people are falling behind on their Buy Now, Pay Later loans ... Lenders have been reading subprime consumers all wrong ... A spell-off was needed to name a Spelling Bee winner last night ... Science weights in on the best way to wash your hair ... Meta is laying off more workers as it focuses more on artificial intelligence.

Funny Friday, part I

Funny Friday, Part II

Webinar Recap: Next Best Action: Great Idea! How?!

Hosted by Mike Gibb of AccountsRecovery.net and sponsored by CSS Impact, the session explored how “next best action” strategies are reshaping debt collection. Panelists Joe Gelbard (Avtal), Tracy Glenn (SingleStone), Joshua March (Veritus), and Mark Reinhard (Dial Connection) discussed the evolution from simple call attempts to AI‑driven, individualized outreach.

Tracy Glenn noted that next best action once meant rigid process documentation but now reflects consumer behavior, such as abandoned payment plans. Mark Reinhard emphasized timing as equally critical: “The next best time is probably right away.” Joe Gelbard highlighted the shift toward channel preference and tone, while Joshua March explained how agentic AI can act “like an expert human on an individual basis,” personalizing offers and follow‑ups in real time.

The panel agreed that implementation challenges often stem from legacy systems lacking APIs, poor project management, and compliance constraints. Tracy stressed the importance of smaller, iterative rollouts to avoid stalled 18‑month projects. Josh added, “AI can only be as good as the data it can access,” underscoring the need for accessible, integrated systems.

While AI enables personalization at scale, panelists acknowledged the enduring role of human intuition. Joe observed that some consumers still prefer speaking to a person for trust and complexity, while Marc noted, “Feeling like you’re being heard by a person versus a bot is a different feeling.” Yet, as Josh shared, one debtor even asked to be returned to the AI agent—illustrating shifting consumer expectations.

🧠 Key Takeaways:

• Modernize your tech stack: Ensure systems of record expose APIs to unlock real‑time AI capabilities.

• Adopt iterative rollouts: Pursue smaller, surgical projects for quick wins rather than massive transformations.

• Balance AI with human expertise: Maintain escalation paths for complex cases while leveraging AI for scale and personalization.

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