CFPB, Federal Agencies, State Agencies, and Attorneys General
Private education lenders doing business in Illinois now have access to official informational guides and templates for meeting the November 1, 2022, reporting requirements under the state’s new Know Before You Owe Private Education Loan Act (“KBYO”).
Promoted as a means to make borrowers aware of federal student loan options before they turn to private loans, KBYO also seeks to collect and publicize data on private educational lending through an annual reporting obligation imposed on lenders. The requirement applies to any “private educational lender” as defined in Section 140(a)(7) of the Truth in Lending Act (“TILA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1650(a)(7). Lenders who make more than 10 “private education loans” (as defined in Section 140(a)(8) of TILA) per year must submit a detailed Annual Report to the Illinois Student Loan Ombudsman, which sits within the Attorney General’s Office. Lenders issuing 10 or fewer such loans must still submit a simplified Annual Statement in lieu of the full report. Both the Annual Report and the Annual Statement take the form of Excel spreadsheet templates.
For lenders disbursing more than 10 private education loans in the year, the Annual Report template is accompanied by a five-page Annual Reporting Information Guide. While KBYO specifies five categories of information to be included in the report, the Attorney General’s Office breaks out the categories into discrete parts on the template, as follows:
The Annual Statement template is accompanied by a two-page Annual Statement Information Guide. In contrast to the report, the Annual Statement requires only identifying information about the Lender and a certification of the number of private education loans disbursed during the year.
The Attorney General’s Office states that applicable submissions must be sent via e-mail no later than November 1, 2022. Deadlines for future years have not yet been made public.
Links to the guides and templates and additional information can be found in the Attorney General’s July 21 press release, as well as on its Student Lending page.
Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast
by the Consumer Financial Services Group at Ballard Spahr LLP
