II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2733 

To provide for the establishment of a Private Education Loan Ombudsman. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 5, 2009 

Mr. BROWN (for himself, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. FRANKEN, and Mr. BENNET) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To provide for the establishment of a Private Education 

Loan Ombudsman. 

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

3 SECTION 1. APPOINTMENT OF PRIVATE EDUCATION LOAN 

4 OMBUDSMAN. 

5 The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with 

6 the Secretary of Education, shall appoint a Private Edu7 cation Loan Ombudsman (in this Act referred to as the 

8 ‘‘Ombudsman’’) to provide timely assistance to borrowers 

9 of private education loans. 


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1 SEC. 2. PUBLIC INFORMATION. 

2 The Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of 

3 Education shall disseminate information about the avail4 ability and functions of the Ombudsman to borrowers and 

5 potential borrowers, as well as institutions of higher edu6 cation, lenders, guaranty agencies, loan servicers, and 

7 other participants in private education student loan pro8 grams and Federal student loan programs. 

9 SEC. 3. FUNCTIONS OF OMBUDSMAN. 

10 The Ombudsman appointed under this Act shall— 

11 (1) in accordance with regulations of the Sec12 retary of the Treasury, receive, review, and attempt 

13 to resolve informally complaints from borrowers of 

14 loans described in section 1, including, as appro15 priate, attempts to resolve such complaints in col16 laboration with the Department of Education and 

17 with institutions of higher education, lenders, guar18 anty agencies, loan servicers, and other participants 

19 in private education loan programs; 

20 (2) not later than 90 days after the date of en21 actment of this Act, establish a memorandum of un22 derstanding with the student loan ombudsman es23 tablished under section 141(f) of the Higher Edu24 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1018(f)), to ensure 

25 coordination in providing assistance to serving borVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:59 Nov 06, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2733.IS S2733

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1 rowers seeking to resolve complaints related to their 

2 private education or Federal student loans; 

3 (3) compile and analyze data on borrower com4 plaints regarding private education loans; and 

5 (4) make appropriate recommendations to the 

6 Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Edu7 cation, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

8 Urban Affairs, and the Committee on Health, Edu9 cation, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the 

10 Committee on Financial Services and the Committee 

11 on Education and Labor of the House of Represent12 atives. 

13 SEC. 4. ANNUAL REPORTS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Ombudsman shall prepare an 

15 annual report that describes the activities, and evaluates 

16 the effectiveness of the Ombudsman during the preceding 

17 year. 

18 (b) SUBMISSION.—The report required by subsection 

19 (a) shall be submitted on the same date annually to the 

20 Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Education, the 

21 Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and 

22 the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen23 sions of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Serv24 ices and the Committee on Education and Labor of the 

25 House of Representatives. 


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1 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

2 For purposes of this Act, the terms ‘‘private edu3 cation loan’’ and ‘‘institution of higher education’’ have 

4 the same meanings as in section 140 of the Truth in Lend5 ing Act (15 U.S.C. 1650). 

Æ 


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