Sec. 1. Short title; Findings
431 words·~2 min read·
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This Act may be cited as the or Christopher Bryski Student Loan Protection Act . Christopher’s Law Congress finds the following: No requirement exists for private educational lenders’ promissory notes to include a clear and conspicuous description of the responsibilities of a borrower and cosigner in the event the borrower or cosigner becomes disabled, incapacitated, or dies. According to the Annual Report of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
(CFPB)Student Loan Ombudsman, dated October 16, 2012: In less than seven months, the CFPB has handled approximately 2,900 private student loan complaints. . Co-signers complain that information about discharge or alternative arrangements in the case of death of the primary borrower is not readily available and that decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, giving co-signers little understanding of how the process works, or if they will be successful. . The complaints and input received by the CFPB resemble many of the same issues experienced by mortgage borrowers, such as improper application of payments, untimeliness in error resolution, and inability to contact appropriate personnel in times of hardship. . The difference between federal and private student loans in periods of disability was not well-understood. . There are at least $8 billion of private student loans in default, representing more than 850,000 individual loans. . While lenders do provide the terms of agreement in promissory notes, including associated benefits and protections, many borrowers state they were unaware of the categorical differences between federal and private protections. . No requirement exists for a private education loan borrower to designate an alternate point of contact on their account in the event of their death or permanent disability. An estimated 1,700,000 people sustain a traumatic brain injury each year, with older adolescents aged 15 to 19 years old more likely to sustain a traumatic brain injury than other age groups. It has been estimated that the annual incidence of spinal cord injury, not including those who die at the scene of an accident, is approximately 40 cases per 1,000,000 people in the United States or approximately 12,000 new cases each year. These injuries can lead to permanent disability or loss of movement and can prohibit the victim from engaging in any substantial gainful activity. In the 2007–2008 academic year, 13 percent of students attending a 4-year public institution of higher education, and 26.2 percent of students attending a 4-year private institution of higher education, borrowed monies from private educational lenders. According to Sallie Mae, in 2009, the percentage of cosigned private education loans increased from 66 percent to 84 percent of all private education loans.