Students and Young Consumers Empowerment Act
Sponsored By: Representative Bonamici
Introduced
Summary
Assistant Director and Student Loan Borrower Advocate at the CFPB would lead a new Office for Students and Young Consumers to handle student loan complaints and coordinate oversight with the Department of Education.
Show full summary
- Students and families would have a single place to file complaints about private and federal student loans and would get annual reports that analyze campus banking deals and marketplace risks.
- Loan servicers and lenders would face new data requests and reporting duties, and the Education Department could not contract for Title IV loan servicing unless the contractor agrees to provide information the CFPB needs.
- The CFPB and Education Department would sign memorandums of understanding within 60 days, hold quarterly coordination meetings, share complaint data in standardized secure formats, and transfer certain complaints within 10 days. Tax return information could be redisclosed to the CFPB for oversight subject to safeguards.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Student loan complaints and servicer access
If enacted, the bill would require the CFPB and the Education Department to set up a joint process to take and try to resolve borrower complaints about private and Title IV loans. Each agency would send complaints it receives to the other, and for cross-jurisdiction issues must direct complaints to the other agency within 10 days. The Bureau could accept complaints about private education loans and route them to servicers and debt collectors. The bill would bar the Education Secretary from hiring a Title IV servicer unless the servicer agrees to give the CFPB any information the servicer provides the Department for those loans.
Annual reports on student finance
If enacted, the bill would require annual reports about student finance. Reports would include a student loan marketplace report compiling complaints and risks, a campus banking report on school contracts, revenue sharing, marketing, and fees, and a report on risks to young consumers. Reports must be issued at least once per year beginning upon enactment.
New consumer bureau office for students
If enacted, the bill would create an Office for Students and Young Consumers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB Director would appoint an Assistant Director and Student Loan Borrower Advocate to lead the Office. The bill would require an MOU within 60 days to let the Bureau access Department of Education systems and coordinate borrower help. Each agency would pay its own compliance costs, and the CFPB must notify Congress if the Assistant Director job or the MOU is vacant or lapsed for 60 days.
CFPB and Education data sharing rules
If enacted, the bill would let the CFPB collect market and provider information to study student loan and campus financial products and require covered firms to file reports when ordered. The bill would also add rules allowing Education to disclose Privacy Act records to the CFPB Assistant Director and let certain IRS return information be redisclosed to that CFPB official when needed for oversight. At the same time, the bill would bar the Bureau from using that authority to gather or analyze consumers' personally identifiable financial information.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Bonamici
OR • D
Cosponsors
Lee (PA)
PA • D
Sponsored 2/25/2026
Bynum
OR • D
Sponsored 2/25/2026
Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]
DC • D
Sponsored 2/25/2026
Thanedar
MI • D
Sponsored 2/25/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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