Title: Know Your Repayment Options Act
Policy area: Education

Summary:
Know Your Repayment Options Act
This bill amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require the Department of Education (ED) to annually give federal student loan borrowers who have graduated or departed from school detailed information, including monthly amount and lifetime payment amount, for each repayment option available to the borrower. To provide this individualized information to borrowers, ED must establish a process for annual verification of the borrower's annual income and the outstanding balance of principal and interest due on federal loans. Borrowers may opt out of being provided this information.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2968 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2968

 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of 
  Education to provide each borrower with an individualized repayment 
                                 guide.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 20, 2017

   Mr. Swalwell of California (for himself, Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of 
Pennsylvania, and Mr. Moulton) introduced the following bill; which was 
        referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of 
  Education to provide each borrower with an individualized repayment 
                                 guide.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Know Your Repayment Options Act''.

SEC. 2. INDIVIDUALIZED REPAYMENT PLAN GUIDE.

    (a) Exit Counseling.--Section 485(b)(1)(A)(i) of the Higher 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092(b)(1)(A)(i)) is amended by 
inserting, ``or, if available, the information described in subsection 
(n)(1),'' after ``monthly payments;''.
    (b) Individualized Repayment Plan Guide.--Section 485 of the Higher 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092) is amended by adding at the end 
the following:
    ``(n) Individualized Repayment Plan Guide.--Beginning 1 year after 
a borrower receives exit counseling under subsection (b), and annually 
thereafter until the borrower has repaid each loan of the borrower that 
is made, insured, or guaranteed under part B (other than loans made 
pursuant to section 428C or loans under section 428B made on behalf of 
a student) or made under part D (other than Federal Direct 
Consolidation Loans or Federal Direct PLUS Loans made on behalf of a 
student), the Secretary shall--
            ``(1) provide the borrower (based on the borrower's annual 
        income and the outstanding balance of principal and interest 
        due on all such loans), for each repayment plan available for 
        such loans--
                    ``(A) the average anticipated monthly payment 
                amount;
                    ``(B) the yearly payment amount;
                    ``(C) the lifetime payment amount;
                    ``(D) the number of months remaining to pay off the 
                loans;
                    ``(E) the amount of the loans that have been 
                forgiven;
                    ``(F) a link to the place on the Web site of the 
                Department that allows borrowers to change repayment 
                plans or provides information about changing such 
                plans; and
                    ``(G) any other information the Secretary 
                determines may be helpful to the borrower in 
                determining which repayment payment plan the borrower 
                should choose;
            ``(2) establish procedures for annual verification of the 
        borrower's annual income and the outstanding balance of 
        principal and interest due on all such loans, and such other 
        procedures as are necessary to effectively provide the 
        information under paragraph (1), including procedures that 
        allow the borrower to consent to the sharing of such data 
        between the Internal Revenue Service and the Department for the 
        entire period the borrower is provided the information under 
        paragraph (1), in a manner that is as least burdensome as 
        practical to the borrower; and
            ``(3) enable the borrower, at any time, to opt out of being 
        provided the information under paragraph (1) on an annual 
        basis.''.
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