HB1443 HFLR Page 1 BOLD FACE denotes Committee Amendments. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - FLOOR VERSION STATE OF OKLAHOMA 1st Session of the 59th Legislature (2023) HOUSE BILL 1443 By: Provenzano of the House and Montgomery of the Senate AS INTRODUCED An Act relating to student loans; amendin g 24 O.S. 2021, Section 172, which relates to the Oklahoma Student Borrower's Bill of Rights Act; prohibiting student loan servicer from failing to provide certain loan forgiveness information; and providing and effective date. BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA: SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 24 O. S. 2021, Section 172, is amended to read as follows: Section 172. A. The Attorney General shall prepare a written statement that includes an "Oklahoma Student Borro wer's Bill of Rights" for a student loan borrower who t akes out a student education loan that is serviced by a student loan servicer. The statement shall incorporate all items from subsection B of this section and be made available to the public and writt en in plain HB1443 HFLR Page 2 BOLD FACE denotes Committee Amendments. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 language designed to be easily understood b y the average student loan borrower. B. No student loan servicer shall: 1. Directly or indirectly employ any scheme, device or artifice to defraud or mislead student loan borrowers; 2. Engage in any unfair or deceptive practice toward any person or misrepresent or omit any material infor mation in connection with the servicing of a studen t education loan including, but not limited to, misrepresenting the amount, nature or terms of any fee or payment due or claimed to be due on a student education loan, th e terms and conditions of the loan agreement or the borrower's obligations under the l oan; 3. Obtain property by fraud or misrepresentation; 4. Incorrectly apply or fail to apply student education lo an payments to the outstanding balance of a student edu cation loan; 5. Provide inaccurate information to a credit bureau, thereby harming a student loan borrower 's creditworthiness; 6. Fail to report both the favorable and unfavorable payment history of the student loan borrower to a nationally recognized consumer credit bureau at least annua lly if the student loan servicer regularly reports information to a credit bureau, except in the case of loan rehabilitation; 7. Refuse to communicate with an author ized representative of the student loan borrower who pr ovides a written authorization HB1443 HFLR Page 3 BOLD FACE denotes Committee Amendments. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 signed by the student loan borrower, provided the stude nt loan servicer may adopt procedures reasonably related to verifying that the representative is in fact authorized to act on behalf of the student loan borrower; 8. Make any false statement or misreprese ntation by omission of a material fact in connectio n with any information or reports filed with a governmental agency or in connection with any investigation conducted by a governmental agency; 9. Fail to inform borrower s of the federal income repayment options before offering deferment or forbearance as an option; or 10. Inform Fail to inform student loan borrower borrowers if their type of loan does not qualify for loan forgiveness programs. SECTION 2. This act shall become effective November 1, 2023. COMMITTEE REPORT BY: COMMITTEE ON BANKING, FINANCIAL SERVICES AND PENSIONS, dated 02/22/2023 - DO PASS, As Coauthored.