The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) published a notice of proposed rules implementing the Student Loan Servicing Act in the July 10, 2020 issue of the Illinois Register. Written comments will be accepted for 45 days.

The IDFPR initially proposed rules in November 2018 but withdrew them a year later because it wished “to reassess the rulemaking.”… Continue Reading

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) includes the following provisions of particular interest to members of the consumer financial services industry:

Credit Reporting.  Section 4021 (Credit Protection During COVID-2019) amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to impose new COVID-19 related reporting requirements on furnishers of information to consumer reporting agencies. … Continue Reading

Last Monday, the CFPB announced that it had entered into a new Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Education to replace the MOU that was terminated by the ED effective October 1, 2017.  The new MOU, which is effective as of January 31, 2020, is limited to the handling of student loan complaints. … Continue Reading

Last week, Congressional representatives Maxine Waters, D-CA, Bobby Scott, D-VA, and Elijah Cummings, D-MD, as chairs of committees with oversight responsibility for the student loan servicing market, sent letters to CFPB Director Kathleen Kraninger and Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos about their concerns with the current state of the student loan industry.… Continue Reading

We can add Maine to the list of states to have enacted a “Student Loan Bill of Rights” that requires student loan servicers to be licensed. On June 20th, Maine Governor Janet Mills signed into law LD 995, “An Act To Establish a Student Loan Bill of Rights To License and Regulate Student Loan Servicers,” a bill which the legislature had passed unanimously.… Continue Reading

Colorado and Maryland have each enacted legislation regulating student loan servicers. On May 13, Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) signed into law SB 19-002, and that same day, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R) signed HB 594.

The Colorado law, SB19-002, is the more sweeping of the two, establishing a licensing requirement for student loan servicers, similar to what has been enacted in California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Washington, and more recently, New York.… Continue Reading

As recently reported, the Washington, D.C. Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking (DISB) published a Bulletin in late April reminding those who service student education loans in the District of Columbia of their obligation to file an annual report. The DISB has now released the required forms for both the 2018 and 2019 filings.… Continue Reading

A Federal Register entry published last week details a proposed data-sharing arrangement between the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Education (DoE) designed to reduce the amount of interest that certain active duty service members pay on federal student loans.

In 2008, Congress amended the Higher Education Act to provide for the removal of interest on federal student loans for military borrowers during service in war zones.… Continue Reading

On May 15, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed into law a bill that, among other things, establishes the role of Student Loan Ombudsman within the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Regulation and sets forth various duties related to that position.

Maryland SB 1068, titled the Financial Consumer Protection Act of 2018, represents a scaled down version of an attempt by state lawmakers to regulate student loan servicers.… Continue Reading

A bipartisan coalition of 30 state attorneys general led by New York AG Eric Schneiderman and Colorado AG Cynthia Coffman have sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to reject a proposed amendment to the Higher Education Act (HEA) that would preempt state law requirements for servicers of federal student loans.… Continue Reading