Student Loan Borrower Bill of Rights

The Student Loan Borrower Bill of Rights provides protections for Minnesotans who have student loans that are serviced by providers identified in the law. The servicer of a student loan is often different from the student loan borrower and services the loan by managing the process for borrowers to repay the loan.

What type of practices do student loan servicers have to follow?

DO’s 

• Acknowledge written communication from a borrower within 10 days and respond within 30 days 
• Confirm how borrowers would like to have an overpayment applied 
• Apply partial payments in a way to minimize late fees or negative impact on a borrower’s credit history 
• When transferring a loan to another servicer, ensure a borrower still receives any benefits granted, and transfer all information to the new servicer within certain time periods 
• Prior to placing a borrower in default, must evaluate a borrower for eligibility for an income-driven repayment program 

DON’Ts

• No attempts to mislead a borrower 
• No unfair, deceptive, or misrepresented information related to the loan servicing 
• No false statements or omission of material fact for applications, information or reports  
• No misapplication of payments either knowingly or negligently 
• No inaccurate information provided to a consumer reporting agency either knowingly or negligently, and not fail to report both favorable and unfavorable payment history in annual reports 
• No refusal to communicate with authorized representatives of a borrower 
• No misrepresentation of availability of student loan forgiveness programs the servicer has reason to know the borrower is eligible for