IB 

Union Calendar No. 266 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3621 

[Report No. 116–331] 

To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to remove adverse information 

for certain defaulted or delinquent private education loan borrowers who 

demonstrate a history of loan repayment, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 5, 2019 

Ms. PRESSLEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

DECEMBER 9, 2019 

Additional sponsor: Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ

DECEMBER 9, 2019 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on July 5, 2019] 


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A BILL 

To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to remove adverse 

information for certain defaulted or delinquent private 

education loan borrowers who demonstrate a history of 

loan repayment, and for other purposes. 


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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Student Borrower Credit 

5 Improvement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The October 2014 report of the Bureau of 

9 Consumer Financial Protection titled ‘‘Annual Re10 port of the CFPB Student Loan Ombudsman’’ noted 

11 many private education loan borrowers, who sought 

12 to negotiate a modified repayment plan when they 

13 were experiencing a period of financial distress, were 

14 unable to get assistance from their loan holders, which 

15 often resulting in them defaulting on their loans. This 

16 pattern resembles the difficulty that a significant 

17 number of mortgage loan borrowers experienced when 

18 they sought to take responsible steps to work with 

19 their mortgage loan servicer to avoid foreclosure dur20 ing the Great Recession. 

21 (2) Although private student loan holders may 

22 allow a borrower to postpone payments while enrolled 

23 in school full-time, many limit this option to a cer24 tain time period, usually 48 to 66 months. This lim25 ited time period may not be sufficient for those who 


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1 need additional time to obtain their degree or who 

2 want to continue their education by pursing a grad3 uate or professional degree. The Bureau of Consumer 

4 Financial Protection found that borrowers who were 

5 unable to make payments often defaulted or had their 

6 accounts sent to collections before they were even able 

7 to graduate. 

8 SEC. 3. REMOVAL OF ADVERSE INFORMATION FOR CERTAIN 

9 PRIVATE EDUCATION LOAN BORROWERS. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 

11 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 

12 605B the following new section: 

13 ‘‘§ 605C. Credit rehabilitation for distressed private 

14 education loan borrowers. 

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A consumer reporting agency may 

16 not furnish any consumer report containing any adverse 

17 item of information relating to a delinquent or defaulted 

18 private education loan of a borrower if the borrower has 

19 rehabilitated the borrower’s credit with respect to such loan 

20 by making 9 on-time monthly payments (in accordance 

21 with the terms and conditions of the borrower’s original 

22 loan agreement or any other repayment agreement that 

23 antedates the original agreement) during a period of 10 

24 consecutive months on such loan after the date on which 

25 the delinquency or default occurred. 


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1 ‘‘(b) INTERRUPTION OF 10–MONTH PERIOD FOR CER2 TAIN CONSUMERS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) PERMISSIBLE INTERRUPTION OF THE 10- 

4 MONTH PERIOD.—A borrower may stop making con5 secutive monthly payments and be granted a grace 

6 period after which the 10-month period described in 

7 subsection (a) shall resume. Such grace period shall 

8 be provided under the following circumstances: 

9 ‘‘(A) With respect to a borrower who is a 

10 member of the Armed Forces entitled to incentive 

11 pay for the performance of hazardous duty under 

12 section 301 of title 37, United States Code, haz13 ardous duty pay under section 351 of such title, 

14 or other assignment or special duty pay under 

15 section 352 of such title, the grace period shall 

16 begin on the date on which the borrower begins 

17 such assignment or duty and end on the date 

18 that is 6 months after the completion of such as19 signment or duty. 

20 ‘‘(B) With respect to a borrower who resides 

21 in an area affected by a major disaster or emer22 gency declared under the Robert T. Stafford Dis23 aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, the 

24 grace period shall begin on the date on which the 


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1 major disaster or emergency was declared and 

2 end on the date that is 3 months after such date. 

3 ‘‘(2) OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Bureau may allow 

5 a borrower demonstrating hardship to stop mak6 ing consecutive monthly payments and be grant7 ed a grace period after which the 10-month pe8 riod described in subsection (a) shall resume. 

9 ‘‘(B) BORROWER DEMONSTRATING HARD10 SHIP DEFINED.—In this paragraph, the term 

11 ‘borrower demonstrating hardship’ means a bor12 rower or a class of borrowers who, as determined 

13 by the Bureau, is facing or has experienced un14 usual extenuating life circumstances or events 

15 that result in severe financial or personal bar16 riers such that the borrower or class of borrowers 

17 does not have the capacity to comply with the re18 quirements of subsection (a). 

19 ‘‘(c) PROCEDURES.—The Bureau shall establish proce20 dures to implement the credit rehabilitation described in 

21 this section, including— 

22 ‘‘(1) the manner, content, and form for request23 ing credit rehabilitation; 

24 ‘‘(2) the method for validating that the borrower 

25 is satisfying the requirements of subsection (a); 


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1 ‘‘(3) the manner, content, and form for notifying 

2 the private educational loan holder of— 

3 ‘‘(A) the borrower’s participation in credit 

4 rehabilitation under subsection (a); 

5 ‘‘(B) the requirements described in sub6 section (d); and 

7 ‘‘(C) the restrictions described in subsection 

8 (f); 

9 ‘‘(4) the manner, content, and form for notifying 

10 a consumer reporting agency of— 

11 ‘‘(A) the borrower’s participation in credit 

12 rehabilitation under subsection (a); and 

13 ‘‘(B) the requirements described in sub14 section (d); 

15 ‘‘(5) the method for verifying whether a borrower 

16 qualifies for the grace period described in subsection 

17 (b); 

18 ‘‘(6) the manner, content, and form of notifying 

19 a consumer reporting agency and private educational 

20 loan holder that a borrower was granted a grace pe21 riod. 

22 ‘‘(d) STANDARDIZED REPORTING CODES.—A con23 sumer reporting agency shall develop standardized report24 ing codes for use by any private educational loan holder 

25 to identify and report a borrower’s status of making and 


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1 completing 9 on-time monthly payments during a period 

2 of 10 consecutive months on a delinquent or defaulted pri3 vate education loan, including codes specifying the grace 

4 period described in subsection (b) and any agreement to 

5 modify monthly payments. Such codes shall not appear on 

6 any report provided to a third party, and shall be removed 

7 from the consumer’s credit report upon the consumer’s com8 pletion of the rehabilitation period under this section. 

9 ‘‘(e) ELIMINATION OF BARRIERS TO CREDIT REHA10 BILITATION.—A consumer report in which a private edu11 cational loan holder furnishes the standardized reporting 

12 codes described in subsection (d) to a consumer reporting 

13 agency, or in which a consumer reporting agency includes 

14 such codes, shall be deemed to comply with the requirements 

15 for accuracy and completeness under sections 623(a)(1) and 

16 630. 

17 ‘‘(f) PROHIBITION ON CIVIL ACTIONS FOR CONSUMERS

18 PURSUING REHABILITATION.—A private educational loan 

19 holder may not commence or proceed with any civil action 

20 against a borrower with respect to a delinquent or defaulted 

21 loan during the period of rehabilitation if the private edu22 cational loan holder has been notified, in accordance with 

23 the procedures established by the Bureau pursuant to sub24 section (c)— 


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1 ‘‘(1) of such borrower’s intent to participate in 

2 rehabilitation; 

3 ‘‘(2) that such borrower has satisfied the require4 ments under subsection (a); or 

5 ‘‘(3) that such borrower was granted a grace pe6 riod. 

7 ‘‘(g) IMPACT ON STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR PRIOR

8 DEBT.—Payments by a borrower on a private education 

9 loan that are made during and after a period of rehabilita10 tion under this section shall have no effect on the statute 

11 of limitations with respect to payments that were due on 

12 such private education loan before the beginning of the pe13 riod of rehabilitation. 

14 ‘‘(h) PAYMENT PLANS.—If a private educational loan 

15 holder enters into a payment plan with a borrower on a 

16 private education loan during a period of rehabilitation, 

17 such payment plan shall be reasonable and affordable, as 

18 determined by the Bureau. 

19 ‘‘(i) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.— 

20 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION TO SUBSEQUENT DEFAULT OR

21 DELINQUENCY.—A borrower who satisfies the require22 ments under subsection (a) shall be eligible for addi23 tional credit rehabilitation described in subsection (a) 

24 with respect to any subsequent default or delinquency 


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1 of the borrower on the rehabilitated private education 

2 loan. 

3 ‘‘(2) INTERRUPTION OF CONSECUTIVE PAYMENT

4 PERIOD REQUIREMENT.—The grace period described 

5 in subsection (b)(1)(A) shall not apply if any regula6 tion promulgated under section 987 of title 10, 

7 United States Code (commonly known as the Military 

8 Lending Act), or the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act 

9 (50 U.S.C. App. 501 et seq.) allows for a grace period 

10 or other interruption of the 10-month period described 

11 in subsection (a) and such grace period or other inter12 ruption is longer than the period described in sub13 section (b)(1)(A) or otherwise provides greater protec14 tion or benefit to the borrower who is a member of the 

15 Armed Forces.’’. 

16 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 623(a)(1) of 

17 the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681s-2(a)(1)) 

18 is amended by striking subparagraph (E). 

19 (c) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The table of 

20 contents of the Fair Credit Reporting Act is amended by 

21 inserting after the item relating to section 605B the fol22 lowing new item: 

‘‘605C. Credit rehabilitation for distressed private education loan borrowers.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. PRIVATE EDUCATION LOAN DEFINITIONS. 

2 Section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 

3 U.S.C. 1681a) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing new subsection: 

5 ‘‘(bb) PRIVATE EDUCATION LOAN DEFINITIONS.—The 

6 terms ‘private education loan’ and ‘private educational 

7 lender’ have the meanings given such terms, respectively, 

8 in section 140(a) of the Truth in Lending Act.’’. 

9 SEC. 5. RULEMAKING. 

10 Except as otherwise provided, the Bureau of Consumer 

11 Financial Protection shall, not later than the end of the 

12 2-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this 

13 Act, issue final rules to implement the amendments made 

14 by this Act. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 266 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3621 

[Report No. 116–331] 

A BILL 

To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to remove 

other purposes. demonstrate a history of loan repayment, and for linquent private education loan borrowers who adverse information for certain defaulted or deDECEMBER 9, 2019 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS