I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2542 
To amend the Truth in Lending Act to establish requirements for releasing 
a cosigner from obligations of a private education loan, for the treatment 
of the loan upon the death or bankruptcy of a cosigner of the loan, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 21, 2015 
Mr. LARSEN of Washington introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To amend the Truth in Lending Act to establish require-
ments for releasing a cosigner from obligations of a 
private education loan, for the treatment of the loan 
upon the death or bankruptcy of a cosigner of the loan, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bereaved Borrowers’ 
Bill of Rights Act of 2015’’. 
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SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR PRIVATE EDUCATIONAL 
LENDERS. 
Section 140 of the Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 
1650) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection: 
‘‘(g) REQUIREMENTS REGARDING COSIGNERS FOR A 
PRIVATE EDUCATION LOAN.— 
‘‘(1) COSIGNER RELEASE REQUIREMENTS.—If a 
private education loan has a cosigner who is jointly 
liable for such loan, a private educational lender 
shall include a process for releasing the cosigner 
from any obligations on the loan and in such process 
the lender— 
‘‘(A) shall make the criteria for obtaining 
the release clear, transparent, and easily acces-
sible via the website of the private educational 
lender; 
‘‘(B) shall notify the borrower if the bor-
rower is eligible to release a cosigner; 
‘‘(C) shall, if denying a request to release 
a cosigner, provide an explanation for the denial 
and offer the borrower an opportunity to cor-
rect the request; and 
‘‘(D) may not change the terms of the re-
lease to impose additional duties on, or be detri-
mental to the interests of, the borrower or co-
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signer over the duration of the private edu-
cation loan. 
‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL
REQUIREMENTS.—Notwith-
standing any provision in a private education loan 
agreement that contains a process for releasing a co-
signer from obligations on the loan, a private edu-
cational lender shall, upon receiving notification of 
the death or bankruptcy of a cosigner— 
‘‘(A) notify the borrower about the bor-
rower’s rights under the private education loan 
agreement regarding the release of the cosigner; 
and 
‘‘(B) if the borrower continues to make on- 
time payments (in the amount determined prior 
to the death or bankruptcy of the cosigner) on 
the private education loan, provide a period of 
time of not less than 90 days for the borrower 
to follow the process for release of the cosigner 
before deeming that the borrower has failed to 
repay the loan, changing the terms of the loan, 
accelerating the repayment terms of the loan, 
referring the loan to a debt collector (as defined 
in section 803 of the Fair Debt Collection Prac-
tices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a)), or notifying con-
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sumer reporting agencies (as defined in section 
603(f)) of a change in the status of the loan. 
‘‘(3) CREDIT WORTHINESS STANDARDS.—A pri-
vate educational lender may not evaluate the credit 
worthiness, credit standing, or credit capacity of a 
borrower or a cosigner at the time at which a co-
signer is released from obligations on a private edu-
cation loan using a different standard than was used 
to evaluate the credit worthiness, credit standing, or 
credit capacity of the borrower or cosigner at the 
time of the origination of the loan. 
‘‘(4) REQUIREMENTS FOR NEW COSIGNERS.— 
Notwithstanding any provision in a private education 
loan agreement, a private educational lender shall, 
upon receiving notification of the death or bank-
ruptcy of a cosigner who is jointly liable for the pri-
vate education loan— 
‘‘(A) notify the borrower about the bor-
rower’s rights under the private education loan 
agreement regarding identifying a new cosigner 
or refinancing the loan; and 
‘‘(B) if the borrower continues to make on- 
time payments (in the amount determined prior 
to the death or bankruptcy of the cosigner) on 
the private education loan, provide a period of 
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