The 2026 Washington Insights Fly-In: What ACA Members Heard in DC

By the time I walked into Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck’s office Tuesday evening, it was already clear this year’s ACA Washington Insights Fly-In was going to feel different.

The conversations started before the welcome reception officially began. Small groups quickly formed around the room as executives, agency owners, attorneys, healthcare receivables leaders, and vendor partners compared notes on the industry’s biggest challenges: AI regulation, offshore calling restrictions, CFPB uncertainty, workforce shortages, privacy legislation, and the growing complexity of running a nationwide receivables business in 2026.

Held May 19–21 at the Royal Sonesta Washington DC, Capitol Hill, with VoApps serving as title sponsor, the event arrived at a critical political moment. The 119th Congress is already operating under the shadow of the upcoming midterm elections, and everyone in the room realized that the window for meaningful legislative engagement will narrow significantly once the campaign season fully takes over Washington.

From the outset, the seriousness of the tone was unmistakable. This wasn’t a celebratory industry gathering. It felt more like a strategic working session at a moment when the rules governing collections, compliance, consumer communications, and operational staffing are all evolving simultaneously.

And over the next two days, that impression only grew stronger.

ACA’s Advocacy Message was Focused and Consistent

ACA International President Jennifer Whipple opened the program by framing the week around a concept that would be repeated consistently throughout the fly-in: policymakers respond to constituent stories far more than abstract industry talking points.

That idea shaped nearly every session.

The policy agenda itself was extensive: AI regulation, fair access to banking, TCPA reform, CFPB restructuring efforts, and FTC concerns surrounding alleged versus verified identity theft claims. But beneath those individual issues was a larger concern. The receivables industry is now operating within an increasingly fragmented regulatory environment.

Throughout the week, discussions repeatedly returned to the growing overlap between federal agencies, state legislatures, privacy regulators, and emerging AI oversight efforts. Compliance leaders are no longer responding to a single regulatory framework; they are navigating multiple layers of guidance and enforcement that often evolve at different speeds and occasionally conflict with one another.

ACA’s government affairs team consistently encouraged members to translate those challenges into practical economic terms for lawmakers.

How many people in a district depend on receivables-related jobs?

How many consumers rely on stable recovery systems?

What operational consequences emerge when regulations become inconsistent across jurisdictions?

By the end of the week, that constituent-focused approach had clearly become the foundation of the industry’s broader advocacy strategy.

The Workforce Crisis is Reshaping Operations

One of the strongest and most urgent conversations throughout the fly-in centered around staffing.

I kept hearing the same thing from executives across agencies, healthcare receivables firms, law firms, and vendor organizations: finding and retaining talent remains extraordinarily difficult.

The numbers presented during the conference reinforced that reality.

According to the TransUnion Debt Collection Industry Report discussed during the sessions, 88% of debt collection companies are reporting hiring challenges, while 81% are struggling with employee retention.

Offshore Calling Restrictions are Creating Tension

Those statistics framed much of the conversation surrounding the FTC’s proposed offshore calling rulemaking.

And this is where the tension in the industry becomes impossible to ignore.

Many agencies are increasingly relying on offshore or hybrid staffing models because they simply cannot fully staff domestically. At the exact same time, regulators are signaling a more restrictive posture toward offshore operational structures.

That contradiction surfaced repeatedly throughout the week.

Several conversations focused on the operational implications these pressures could create over the next 12 to 18 months, from capacity constraints and liquidation pressure to rising labor costs, reduced flexibility, and greater compliance risk.

Small Business Concerns Entered the Discussion

Representatives from the SBA Office of Advocacy added another dimension to the conversation. Their focus centered on the cumulative regulatory pressure facing small and mid-sized businesses as they work to adapt to rapidly evolving compliance expectations.

ACA leadership also encouraged attendees to remain actively engaged in the FTC comment process. Throughout the sessions, speakers emphasized that meaningful industry participation during rulemaking periods could play an important role in shaping how future proposals are ultimately structured and enforced.

AI Regulation is Emerging as a Major Operational Risk

If staffing conversations dominated one side of the event, AI regulation dominated the other.

And frankly, it’s easy to understand why.

One of the clearest themes throughout the fly-in was the growing concern surrounding state-by-state AI and privacy legislation. ACA’s government and state affairs teams walked attendees through the increasingly fragmented regulatory landscape, and the operational implications are becoming enormous for organizations operating across all 50 states.

In conversation after conversation, executives described the same challenge, where no agency can realistically build 50 different operational models to accommodate 50 different AI frameworks.

Federal Preemption is Becoming a Larger Discussion

That’s why the federal-preemption discussion is becoming louder inside the industry.

The argument is not centered on eliminating regulation altogether. Most companies acknowledge that increased oversight around AI, consumer communications, privacy, and data governance is inevitable. The larger concern is operational consistency. As more states introduce their own standards governing disclosures, consent requirements, decisioning practices, and data usage, nationwide compliance becomes more difficult to manage.

For multi-state operators, the challenge is adapting to a growing patchwork of state-level requirements that may differ in scope, terminology, enforcement standards, and implementation timelines. Several attendees described that fragmentation as one of the most significant operational risks facing the industry over the next few years.

Consumer-Facing AI is Already Here

That complexity becomes even more pronounced when AI enters the conversation.

Voice AI, automated SMS platforms, consumer engagement systems, workflow automation tools, and decision-support technologies are already being integrated into collections operations across the receivables ecosystem. In many cases, deployment is moving faster than the regulatory guidance surrounding it.

The central question throughout the week was not whether AI will become part of receivables operations. It already has. The focus has shifted toward how regulators will define acceptable use, disclosure obligations, human oversight requirements, auditability standards, and consumer protections as adoption accelerates.

What stood out most was the pace at which the discussion has evolved. A year ago, AI conversations at industry events often felt exploratory and somewhat theoretical. In Washington this week, the tone felt markedly different, more immediate, more operational, and far more tied to real-world compliance and business decisions.

Interest Rate Cap Proposals Are Raising Industry Concerns

Another major conversation throughout the fly-in focused on legislative proposals surrounding credit card interest rate caps.

At first glance, these proposals are often framed entirely as consumer affordability measures. But the conversations in Washington focused heavily on the downstream effects those caps could create across the broader credit ecosystem.

Several attendees discussed the potential impact on placement volumes, charge-off behavior, recovery economics, and overall credit availability.

The Industry’s “Unintended Consequences” Argument

The argument ACA continues to center largely around unintended consequences.

If lenders reduce credit availability or tighten underwriting standards significantly in response to capped profitability, the effects don’t stop with issuers. Those decisions ultimately affect consumers, receivables placements, servicing volumes, and the broader credit market itself.

CFPB Uncertainty Continues to Command Industry Attention

For many attendees closely following the CFPB, this became one of the most substantive portions of the entire program.

Andrew Nigrinis, PhD, a former CFPB Enforcement Economist now with Legal Economics LLC, delivered a detailed presentation examining how enforcement economics, investigative frameworks, and internal analytical models influence Bureau decision-making. Rather than focusing solely on headlines or political narratives, the discussion offered a rare look at the mechanics behind how enforcement actions are evaluated, prioritized, and justified inside the agency.

Sarah Auchterlonie of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck expanded on that perspective from the legal and regulatory side, helping attendees understand how evolving interpretations, administrative actions, and procedural shifts may affect compliance expectations moving forward.

Questions About the CFPB’s Direction Remain Unresolved

Across both sessions, one theme surfaced repeatedly: significant uncertainty still surrounds the CFPB’s long-term direction under current leadership.

Questions involving enforcement priorities, rulemaking activity, litigation strategy, economic analysis standards, and congressional reform efforts remained central to the discussion. Some initiatives appear to have slowed publicly, while others continue advancing more quietly through administrative channels. Meanwhile, separate CFPB reform proposals are still moving through both chambers of Congress, adding further complexity to the regulatory outlook.

For agencies operating nationwide, the challenge is preparing for a compliance environment that could continue evolving significantly over the next several quarters.

Preparing for Continued Regulatory Volatility

What made these conversations particularly valuable was the level of nuance involved. Rather than falling into the familiar “pro-CFPB versus anti-CFPB” framing that often dominates public debate, speakers focused on the practical realities facing agencies operating in an unsettled regulatory environment.

For compliance professionals in attendance, the discussion was less about predicting the Bureau’s political direction and more about preparing organizations to function effectively amid shifting enforcement priorities, evolving supervisory expectations, and ongoing legislative uncertainty.

ACA Focused Heavily on Preparing New Advocates

One of the more underrated aspects of the fly-in was the amount of preparation devoted to helping newer attendees navigate Congressional meetings effectively.

ACA’s outside counsel and policy teams spent considerable time walking participants through the mechanics of Hill advocacy: how to structure meetings, how to communicate policy concerns clearly, and how to connect operational realities to constituent impact.

Turning Operational Challenges Into Policy Conversations

What I found most valuable was the practical guidance, which made it easy to apply the concepts in real situations.

The focus wasn’t on teaching attendees how to sound like lobbyists. It was about helping business leaders explain what regulations actually look like operationally inside their organizations.

How many people do you employ? What happens when compliance costs rise? How do communication restrictions affect consumers trying to resolve accounts? How do staffing shortages affect servicing capacity?

Those were the kinds of conversations attendees were preparing for before Wednesday afternoon’s Hill appointment block.

Bipartisan Engagement Became One of the Event’s Biggest Themes

More noticeable than the number of congressional offices represented was the depth of the engagement itself.

Members from both chambers and both parties addressed the group over the course of the program, representing districts from across the country. A sitting Senator joined the Wednesday lunch session, while seven House members participated throughout the event.

Several of those lawmakers sit on committees directly tied to the industry’s future, including Financial Services, Banking, and Judiciary.

That says a lot.

There is a major difference between ceremonial access and substantive access, and this felt much closer to the latter.

Established Relationships and New Connections

Another thing I found notable was the mix of Congressional offices represented. Some were long-established relationships ACA has cultivated for years. Others involved newer members still building familiarity with the receivables industry.

That balance matters strategically heading into the midterms.

The ACPAC Reception Extended the Conversations

The ACPAC reception Wednesday evening reinforced the bipartisan atmosphere. After a full day of Hill meetings, attendees had the opportunity to continue conversations in a more informal setting with House-side participants from both parties.

The Hill Meetings Revealed Clear Political Dynamics

Wednesday afternoon’s Hill appointment block ran from 1:30 to 5:00 PM following the morning policy sessions and Senate lunch discussion.

And while every office approached issues differently, some clear patterns emerged.

Republican offices tended to focus more heavily on workforce constraints, regulatory restraint, CFPB reform, and operational flexibility. Democratic offices more frequently emphasized consumer protection concerns, medical debt, and identity theft issues.

Areas of Bipartisan Agreement Still Exist

At the same time, several areas of bipartisan overlap became apparent:

Workforce issues.
Identity theft concerns.
TCPA modernization.
Operational friction caused by outdated communication frameworks.

Those conversations revealed something valuable. While ideological divides certainly remain, there are still issue areas where the industry has room to build cross-party coalitions.

House and Senate Offices Framed Issues Differently

I also noticed a meaningful difference between House and Senate dynamics.

House offices often approached discussions through a more localized constituent lens, but Senate conversations tended to focus broadly on regulatory architecture and economic implications.

For attendees navigating advocacy for the first time, seeing those differences firsthand was incredibly valuable.

Some Important Conversations Happened After Hours

As valuable as the formal policy sessions were, some of the most meaningful conversations happened in the spaces between them.

At the Brownstein reception on Tuesday evening.
In hallway discussions between briefings.
During the ACPAC reception on Wednesday night.
Over coffee before the morning sessions began.

Those informal settings created opportunities for debt buyers, collection agencies, healthcare receivables leaders, law firms, and technology providers to speak candidly about the operational realities shaping the industry.

It was also a reminder that much of the industry’s real intelligence-sharing still happens person-to-person. The nuance, context, and immediacy of those exchanges are difficult to replicate through virtual meetings or scheduled conference calls.

Why Pre-Midterm Events Matter More

The cross-segment representation at the fly-in created conversations that felt broader and more strategic than many traditional industry events.

And in a pre-midterm environment, those relationships carry even greater importance. As Washington gradually shifts toward the campaign season, the window for meaningful legislative engagement becomes increasingly limited.

That reality gave many of the discussions a greater sense of urgency.

Because the industry is no longer just reacting to regulatory issues. It is trying to coordinate around how to navigate the next several years of structural change across compliance, technology, workforce management, and consumer communications.

What Happens After Washington

Leaving Washington, my biggest takeaway wasn’t tied to a single bill, agency, or rulemaking calendar. It was the realization that operational strategy and regulatory strategy are becoming inseparable across the receivables industry.

The next several months will test this reality quickly.

The FTC’s offshore calling proposal continues to create uncertainty for agencies operating hybrid staffing models. State legislatures are advancing AI and privacy measures at a pace that few national operators can afford to ignore. Meanwhile, CFPB observers are watching formal rulemaking activity, along with the shifts in enforcement posture and supervisory focus that often shape the industry long before headline announcements emerge.

ACA Convention 2026 in Orlando this July will likely serve as the next major checkpoint for many of these discussions.

Because regulatory decisions are now directly influencing hiring models, technology investments, compliance infrastructure, vendor relationships, and long-term operational planning in real time.

And in many ways, that became the defining narrative of the fly-in itself.