Daily Digest - October 24 2025

Brought to you by: TCN | By Mike Gibb

Author

Mike Gibb
October 24, 2025

🎉Happy Birthday to: Larry Baker, John Adonnino of National Recovery Solutions, and Bethany Cayton of InvestiNet.

🎉Congratulations for starting new positions: Claudia Plascencia as Executive Vice President at Resolvion.

ARMTech Early Bird Registration Expires Next Week!

Register before October 31 and save $150 on the registration fee for ARMTech.

🚨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, Jennifer Peck from The Stark Agency shared the most important skill a collector should be practicing every day. Thanks to Peak Revenue Learning for sponsoring this series! Click on the image below to view this week’s episode!

🔔 Upcoming Meetings

Monday, October 27 @3pm ET: Compliance Chat

Tuesday, October 28 @3pm ET: Vendor Roundtable

Thursday, October 30 @3pm ET: Small Agency TechTactics

Suit Accuses Collector of Treating Defense of Collection Lawsuit as Dispute

  • Is responding to a collection lawsuit a dispute that requires a response from the collector? Is a cease communication request that is included in a notice of an intent to defend that lawsuit valid? Is sending two letters with the results of a dispute investigation 10 and 16 days after the dispute was made too soon? These are some of the questions surrounding a class-action lawsuit that has been filed in Maryland federal court alleging a collection operation violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

  • More details here.

  • This series is sponsored by WebRecon

A MESSAGE FROM TCN

TODAY‘S WEBINAR

UPCOMING WEBINARS

Judge Dismisses FDCPA Complaint Against Hospital Collection Unit

  • Medical debts can be tricky. A lot of times, separate physician groups or medical practices work out of a hospital and can bill a patient directly, making it confusing for the patient to know who is collecting for what. A District Court judge in Pennsylvania has adopted a magistrate judge’s recommendation to grant a defendant’s motion to dismiss a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case after the plaintiff sued the collection department of a hospital because the plaintiff did not clearly prove the defendant met the statute’s definition of a debt collector.

  • More details here.

Warren Questions Student Loan Servicer’s Role in Private Lending Amid CFPB Pullback

  • Sen. Elizabeth Warren [D-Mass.] has launched a new probe into a San Diego-based private student loan servicer, raising concerns about its work with the National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts and the impact of reduced oversight under the Trump Administration.

  • More details here.

From Shopping to Delegating: How AI Agents Are Rewriting Consumer Expectations and Experiences

  • Imagine waking up to find your AI assistant has already switched your car insurance, ordered groceries, and paid your phone bill … all while you slept. That may sound futuristic, but according to a new academic report titled The End of Shopping by Professors Mark Bartholomew and Shmuel Becher, that future is here. The paper explores the rapid rise of autonomous “AI shopping agents” self-acting digital systems capable of making purchases, managing subscriptions, and optimizing financial decisions without human oversight.

  • More details here.

WORTH NOTING: All that demolition and construction going on at the White House? Guess who is paying for it? ... Why you may want to consider switching to an AI web browser ... Target is laying off 1,800 employees to revive its brand ... Scientific research has confirmed that making friends gets harder as you get older ... Why more people are comfortable going out and doing things on their own ... If you know someone who has cancer, here are some ideas to help and offer support ... Ordinary skills that can help propel you to be an exceptional leader ... Larger tax refunds for consumers may be on the horizon in 2026.

Funny Friday, part I

Funny Friday, Part II

Webinar Recap: The Compliance Officer's Dilemma: When Smart Technology Makes Dumb Mistakes

As technology becomes more deeply embedded in compliance operations, it brings both tremendous benefits and serious risks. In this CSS Impact–sponsored webinar, The Compliance Officer’s Dilemma: When Smart Technology Makes Dumb Mistakes, a panel of experts discussed how compliance leaders can strike the right balance between automation, oversight, and trust.

Panelists David Weimer (Kramer & Frank), Crystal Duplay (Frost Echols), and Jer’Ron Dinwiddie (Harrison & Harris) joined moderator Mike Gibb of AccountsRecovery.net to explore how “smart” systems can fail if not properly monitored. As Weimer noted, “Automation is not a fire-and-forget weapon.” Each panelist emphasized that technology should enhance—not replace—human judgment in compliance.

Duplay warned against the “set it and forget it” mindset, citing examples of automated letters that sent hundreds of copies to a single consumer. Dinwiddie added that compliance leaders must understand where automation adds value and where complexity still demands a human touch. The panel also agreed that trust in technology begins with vendor transparency, rigorous testing, and continuous auditing.

The discussion reinforced that even advanced AI tools are only as good as the instructions and oversight behind them. “If an auditor asks how it works and you can’t answer, that’s a problem,” Duplay cautioned.

🧠 Key Takeaways:

  • Test and Verify: Treat every automated process as an ongoing experiment. Regularly test, sample, and “try to break” your systems to ensure they function as intended.

  • Train AI Like an Employee: Automation requires continual guidance, feedback, and refinement—just like a new hire.

  • Audit Vendors and Processes: Review your compliance technology and vendor relationships annually to ensure alignment with current regulations and risk standards.

Technology can make compliance faster, smarter, and more consistent—but only when paired with vigilant human oversight.

The Daily Digest is sponsored by TCN