On August 31, 2023, the FDIC issued an update on the required Equal Housing Lender (EHL) posters in FDIC-supervised institutions branches. The FDIC recently amended some details of the posters, including updating the name of the office to which complaints should be addressed, as well as adding the web address of the FDIC’s web-based complaint portal.

On August 28, 2023, the CFPB entered into a proposed settlement with a ring of corporate entities operating some of the largest credit repair brands in the country, including Lexington Law and CreditRepair.com. The agreement follows a ruling from the court that the companies collected illegal advance fees for credit repair services through telemarketing. If approved, the settlement would impose a $2.7 billion judgment against the companies. 

On August 25, 2023, the CFPB issued technical corrections to the “Agency Contact Information” final rule that it published in the Federal Register on March 20, 2023. The final rule made non-substantive corrections and updates to Bureau and other Federal agency contact information found at certain locations in Regulations B, E, F, J, V, X, Z, and DD, including Federal agency contact information that must be provided with Equal Credit Opportunity Act adverse action notices and the Fair Credit Reporting Act Summary of Consumer Rights.

On August 22, 2023, the CFPB sued Heights Finance Holding Company, formerly known as Southern Management Corporation, a high-cost installment lender, as well as several of Heights’s subsidiaries (collectively, Southern), for illegal loan-churning practices that harvested hundreds of millions in loan costs and fees. The CFPB alleges that the company, which operates under a variety of trade names, identifies borrowers who are struggling to repay their existing loans, and then aggressively pushes them to refinance. The CFPB is seeking to end Southern’s unlawful loan-churning practices, to gain redress for harmed consumers, and to require Southern to pay a civil money penalty.