Title: Student Loan Refinancing Act
Policy area: Education

Summary:
Student Loan Refinancing Act
This bill allows a borrower of a Federal Direct Loan program loan to modify the interest rate on the federal student  loan to the current applicable rate. That interest rate is fixed for the life of the loan, unless the borrower elects to modify it again.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2186 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2186

   To authorize borrowers of loans under the William D. Ford Federal 
  Direct Loan Program to modify the interest rate of such loans to be 
 equal to the interest rate for such loans at the time of modification.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 9, 2019

 Mr. Pocan (for himself, Mr. Grothman, Mr. Payne, Ms. Jayapal, Ms. Lee 
of California, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Schiff, Mr. 
Khanna, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Rush, Ms. Brownley of California, Mr. Schrader, 
    Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Ms. Meng, Mr. Welch, Mr. 
    Loebsack, Mr. Peters, Mr. Lowenthal, Ms. Moore, Mr. Raskin, Mr. 
 Malinowski, and Ms. Wasserman Schultz) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To authorize borrowers of loans under the William D. Ford Federal 
  Direct Loan Program to modify the interest rate of such loans to be 
 equal to the interest rate for such loans at the time of modification.

    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 ``Student Loan Refinancing Act''.

SEC. 2. BORROWER MODIFICATION OF INTEREST RATES UNDER THE WILLIAM D. 
              FORD FEDERAL DIRECT LOAN PROGRAM.

    Section 455(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1087e(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(11) Borrower modification of interest rate.--
                    ``(A) Modification.--Notwithstanding the preceding 
                paragraphs of this subsection, the borrower of a 
                Federal Direct Stafford Loan, a Federal Direct 
                Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, a Federal Direct PLUS Loan, 
                or a Federal Direct Consolidation Loan may elect to 
                modify the interest rate of the loan to be equal to the 
                interest rate that would be applicable to such loan if 
                such loan were first disbursed (or in the case of a 
                Federal Direct Consolidation Loan, first applied for) 
                on the date on which such borrower elects to modify the 
                interest rate of such loan.
                    ``(B) Fixed rate.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (C), an interest rate elected under 
                subparagraph (A) for a loan shall be fixed for the life 
                of the loan.
                    ``(C) Continuing authority to modify.--A borrower 
                may elect to modify the interest rate of a loan in 
                accordance with subparagraph (A)--
                            ``(i) at any time during the life of the 
                        loan; and
                            ``(ii) any number of times during the life 
                        of the loan, except that a borrower may not 
                        modify the interest rate of the loan more than 
                        once in a six-month period.''.
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