H.R. 5458 (111th): Christopher Bryski Student Loan Protection Act

Introduced:
May 28, 2010 (111th Congress, 2009–2010)
Sponsor:
Rep. John Adler [D-NJ3]
Status:
Died (Passed House)

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

(About Ads | Advertise Here)
Status

This bill was introduced in a previous session of Congress and was passed by the House on September 28, 2010 but was never passed by the Senate.

Progress
Introduced May 28, 2010
Referred to Committee May 28, 2010
Passed House Sep 28, 2010
Cosponsors
27 cosponsors (26D, 1R) (show)
Committees

House Education and the Workforce

House Financial Services

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

To amend the Truth in Lending Act and the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require additional disclosures and protections for students and cosigners with respect to student loans, and for other purposes.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Sep 29, 2010.
8 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

GovTrack gets most information from THOMAS, which is updated generally one day after events occur. Activity since the last update may not be reflected here.

Citation

Click a format for a citation suggestion:

GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

9/28/2010--Passed House amended. Christopher Bryski Student Loan Protection Act and Christopher's Law -
Section 2 -
Amends the Truth in Lending Act to require institutions of higher education (IHEs) that provide student loan counseling to new borrowers and cosigners at the time of any student loan application, origination, or consolidation, or at the time the cosigner assumes responsibility for repayment, to include information on creating a durable power of attorney for financial decisionmaking.
Requires private educational lenders to provide borrowers and cosigners of student loans with that information at the time of loan application.
Requires lenders of private educational loans for which cosigners are held jointly liable to describe clearly and conspicuously, in writing, the cosigners' obligations regarding such loans, including the effect a borrower's or cosigner's death, disability, or inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity would have on such obligations.
Directs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to publish model forms for the information this Act requires to be provided regarding:
(1) the creation of a durable power of attorney; and
(2) a cosigner's obligation.
Section 3 -
Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require IHEs to provide borrowers of federal educational loans information at their entrance counseling regarding: (1) the effect their death, disability, or inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity would have on their federal and private educational loans; and (2) their state's model form, published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, for creating a durable power of attorney.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/111/2/hr5458.

Background

The bill was named after Christopher Bryski, who died at age 23.  His parents, as co-signers of his student loans, were left with massive debt.  Unlike the federal government, private institutions do not have to forgive student loans that have a co-signer if the student becomes disabled or dies.

Summary

H.R. 5458 would require private educational lenders and institutions of higher education (IHEs) that provide student loan counseling to discuss the benefits of advanced directives with the signers and cosigners of student loans.

This bill would require lenders of private educational loans for which cosigners are held jointly liable to clearly and concisely define the terms of cosigners' obligations regarding such loans and to inform the signers and cosigners regarding the benefits of purchasing credit insurance. 

The bill would also direct the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System by regulation to set standards for determining when a private educational loan signer or cosigner has died or become incapacitated or disabled.  

Additionally, the bill would require the following: (1) prospective borrowers of federal PLUS and consolidated loans to be informed about creation of advanced directives; and (2) borrowers of federal educational loans to be provided entrance counseling regarding the creation of advanced directives and the effect their death, incapacitation, or disability would have on their federal and private educational loans.

Some members may be concerned that this bill would require financial institutions and colleges to provide education on matters such as healthcare powers of attorney and living wills, for which they have no institutional knowledge or expertise.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.

The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)