Rhode Island § 19-33-12 - Student Loan Bill of Rights Act

§ 19-33-12. Prohibited conduct.

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 information in connection with the servicing of a student 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, the terms and conditions of the loan agreement, or the borrower’s obligations under the loan;

(3) Obtain property by fraud or misrepresentation;

(4) Knowingly misapply or recklessly apply student education loan payments to the outstanding balance of a student education loan;

(5) Knowingly or recklessly 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 annually if the student loan servicer regularly reports information to a credit bureau;

(7) Refuse to communicate with an authorized representative of the student loan borrower who provides a written authorization signed by the student loan borrower, provided the student 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) Negligently make any false statement or knowingly or willfully make any omission of a material fact in connection with any information or reports filed with a governmental agency or in connection with any examination conducted by the department or investigation conducted by the attorney general or other governmental agency; or

(9) Fail to properly evaluate a student loan borrower for an income-driven or other student loan repayment program or for eligibility for a public service loan forgiveness program before placing the student loan borrower in forbearance or default, if an income-driven repayment or other program is available to the student loan borrower except as otherwise provided in federal law, federal student loan agreements, or a contract between the federal government and a student loan servicer.