Bonamici, Porter Push to Better Protect Student Borrowers

Press Release

Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) and Katie Porter (D-CA) today reintroduced the CFPB Student Loan Integrity and Transparency Act, which would restore critical oversight powers to the top government official responsible for assisting student borrowers.

"Students work hard for a better future by pursuing higher education, but too often their educational journey involves dealing with unscrupulous lenders or deceptive loan terms," said Bonamici. "With the CFPB Student Loan Integrity and Transparency Act, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will have additional authority and power to advocate for students and provide needed oversight. I am pleased to join Rep. Porter in this important effort."

"Our economy can't be globally competitive if students have to choose between furthering their education and lifelong financial stress," said Porter, Co-Chair of the House College Affordability Caucus and former professor at the University of California, Irvine. "We can better protect students from predatory lenders, scams, and for-profit universities--and that starts with giving federal watchdogs the tools they need to hold bad actors accountable."

The CFPB Student Loan Integrity and Transparency Act would re-empower the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)'s student loan ombudsman, an official whose oversight capabilities were severely undermined in 2018 when the Trump Administration closed the Office of Students and Younger Consumers. Porter's legislation would support the top official charged with protecting student borrowers by maintaining adequate staffing and resource levels, requiring information sharing between the Department of Education and the CFPB, and mandating cooperation from student loan servicers.

The CFPB Student Loan Integrity and Transparency Act is supported by the Student Borrower Protection Center, Consumer Federation of America, National Consumer Law Center, Student Debt Crisis Center, Americans for Financial Reform, and Center for Responsible Lending.

"The story of the student debt crisis is one marked by widespread economic distress, government inaction, corruption, and shocking abuses by some of the largest financial companies in the world," said Mike Pierce, Executive Director of the Student Borrower Protection Center and the former regulator for the student financial services industry at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. "Big private companies who choose to do this work on behalf of taxpayers routinely break the law. This critical legislation will ensure that the CFPB has the tools to put borrowers back at the center of the Bureau's consumer protection work."

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