Daily Digest - November 17, 2025

🎂 Happy Birthday to: Seth Deforest of AmSher Collection Services, John Fahrlender of Greenberg, Grant & Richards, Tamar Yudenfreund of Midland Credit Management, Aaron Avoletta of Diverse Capital, and Joe O'Brien of Veros Credit. Happy belated Birthday to: Christopher Aughe of Enova International (Nov. 16), Katie Gerken of State Collection Service (Nov. 16), Thomas Rivas of Rain For Rent (Nov. 16), Ray Stawiarski of CrossCheck (Nov. 16), Bert Grigsby (Nov. 15), Cole Ackerman of Abstrakt (Nov. 15), Brian Beirne of JP RMP (Nov. 15), Heath B. Adler of Professional Services of NY (Nov. 15), and David Walters of 4Front Credit Union (Nov. 15).

🥳 Congratulations to: Kristina Black as Legal Admin Clerk at Scs Credit Corp, Matt Swanner as VP, Indirect Lending at Coastal Credit Union, Jennifer Brych as Solutions Project Manager at Concepts2Code, and Kevin Bennick as Chief Revenue Officer at SWC Group.

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🆓 Click here to download a free report from Prodigal on how to unlock higher payment rates

Judge: Even a 150-Page Complaint Must State a Claim

• At the very least, you have to hand it to this guy for being a good son. A District Court judge in Michigan has dismissed a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lawsuit filed against 14 different defendants, ruling that the 150-page complaint filed by a man on behalf of his 88-year-old mother who suffers from dementia, ruling that even at that length the complaint failed to state “any viable claim.”

• More details here.

A MESSAGE FROM TCN

TODAY‘S WEBINAR

UPCOMING WEBINARS

Crowdfunding Falls Short for Cancer Survivors, New Study Finds

• A growing number of cancer survivors are turning to crowdfunding to help cover treatment costs and basic living expenses, but most are coming up short. A new study published in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network reviewed more than 78,000 cancer related GoFundMe campaigns created between January 2021 and February 2023 and found that only about one in nine campaigns reached its fundraising goal.

• More details here.

New TransUnion Analysis Shows Rapid Growth in Credit Washing

• TransUnion has introduced a new Credit Washing Solution designed to help identify and stop the growing practice of removing legitimate credit data from consumer reports. The company says credit washing has expanded sharply in recent years, creating financial losses for lenders and distorting how consumer risk is measured.

• More details here.

Compliance Digest – November 17

• In a “you have to see it to believe it” moment, the Compliance Digest has the equivalent of its first-ever political cartoon. Thanks to Lauren Burnette for thinking way outside the box. You can also get insights from Rick Perr, David Schultz, Marissa Coyle, Mitch Williamson, Michael Chapman, and Stefanie Jackman on important legal updates.

• More details here.

• This series is sponsored by Bedard Law Group.

WORTH NOTING: The founder of Capital One is really worried about how fast "Buy Now Pay Later" activity is expanding ... How to deal with higher home heating bills this winter ... The Department of Education's Office of Federal Student Aid has a new Chief Operating Officer ... Could it be that members of Generation Z are the best at saving their money? ... The most affordable city in America sits in western Pennsylvania ... ..If you are using vocal pauses like "ums" and "uhs" more often, it might be a bad sign ... The hidden resume metric that predicts whether or not you will get a job interview ... More people are cutting their vacations short.

Music Monday, part I

Music Monday, Part II

Webinar Recap: Best Practices in Managing Trust Accounts

Trust account management remains one of the most critical compliance functions in the credit and collections industry, carrying serious operational and regulatory risk when not handled correctly. In this webinar, panelists Jim Curham (MRSBPO), Ken Rubin (Hollis Cobb Associates), and Scott Weltman (Weltman, Weinberg & Reis) broke down the controls, processes, and pitfalls that every organization handling client funds must understand.

The panel emphasized that trust accounts are fundamentally about safeguarding other people’s money—and that mishandling them can lead to severe consequences. As Weltman stressed, “There’s not a more important compliance issue… if you don’t do the right thing with your trust account, you could go to jail.” Daily reconciliation, strict separation of duties, and disciplined remittance practices form the foundation of a sound trust account program.

Panelists also discussed real-world challenges such as managing multiple trust accounts, addressing state-specific requirements, dealing with NSF reversals, preventing commingling through proper payment processor setup, and maintaining automation to avoid manual errors. For high-volume environments, automation and API integrations between collection systems, banks, and processors were highlighted as essential to keeping accounts accurate and audit-ready.

The conversation underscored a common theme: trust accounting requires consistent discipline. As Rubin noted, having “the right person overseeing it” is often the difference between a clean audit and costly exposure. Even seemingly small issues—uncashed checks, misrouted fees, or insufficient reconciliation—can spiral into larger compliance problems if not proactively managed.

🧠 Key Takeaways:

• Reconcile trust accounts daily. Never defer reconciliation—being “entrust” is a continuous requirement, not a month-end event.

• Implement strong controls and dual oversight. Separate reconciliation from disbursements, enforce dual controls, and ensure payment processor fees never touch trust accounts.

• Automate wherever possible. Use system integrations to route payments accurately, support state-specific account requirements, and eliminate manual reconciliation errors.

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