Students and Young Consumers Empowerment Act
Sponsored By: Representative Bonamici
Introduced
Summary
A new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau advocate and office for student borrowers would centralize complaint handling and expand data sharing with the Department of Education to protect students, families, and young consumers. It would let the Bureau take complaints on private education loans and Title IV federal loans and coordinate oversight across agencies.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
New student loan complaint process
If enacted, the Bureau and its Assistant Director would have to accept and try to resolve borrower complaints about private education loans and servicing of title IV loans. The Department of Education would continue to handle program-level issues for title IV loans while the Bureau would handle private loan complaints and advise on federal consumer financial law. The Bureau and Education Department would meet at least quarterly and must share each student loan complaint with the other agency. For cross-jurisdiction complaints, the receiving agency would have to send the complaint to the appropriate agency within 10 days. The bill would also require a joint process for complaints about private collection agency actions on defaulted title IV loans.
Bureau access to loan data and rules
If enacted, the Assistant Director would have to sign memoranda of understanding with Education officials within 60 days. The MOUs would let the Bureau access Education Department systems and contractor data for reporting, research, complaint resolution, enforcement, supervision, and rulemaking while requiring privacy safeguards and need-to-know access. The Director could require market participants and servicers to file reports and answer questions, but the Bureau could not use that power to obtain or analyze consumers' personally identifiable financial information. The Education Secretary could not hire a title IV loan servicer unless the contractor agreed to give the Bureau any information it provides the Department. Each agency would pay its own costs to comply with these rules, and any fund transfers would need a separate interagency agreement. The bill would also allow limited redisclosure of tax return information to the Assistant Director when needed for oversight.
Annual reports on student lending risks
If enacted, the Office for Students and Young Consumers would publish three reports each year. These include a student loan marketplace report compiling complaints, independent risk evaluations, and recommendations; a campus banking report on contracts, revenue sharing, marketing provisions, and student fees; and a report on risks to young consumers analyzing complaints and marketplace risks. Each report must be submitted at least once per year starting upon enactment.
New student and young consumer office
If enacted, this bill would create an Office for Students and Young Consumers inside the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Director would appoint an Assistant Director and Student Loan Borrower Advocate to lead the office. The office would help students, young consumers, and families learn about student financial products and coordinate federal and state consumer-protection efforts. The bill would also add clear definitions like 'complaint', 'student financial services', and 'title IV loans'.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Bonamici
OR • D
Cosponsors
Rep. Lee, Summer L. [D-PA-12]
PA • D
Sponsored 2/25/2026
Rep. Bynum, Janelle S. [D-OR-5]
OR • D
Sponsored 2/25/2026
Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]
DC • D
Sponsored 2/25/2026
Rep. Thanedar, Shri [D-MI-13]
MI • D
Sponsored 2/25/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov