Sponsors (5)
The bill strengthens consumer protection for student-loan borrowers by creating a dedicated CFPB student advocate, improving interagency data access and coordinated complaint handling, and adding privacy safeguards — but it increases regulatory data-sharing and compliance burdens that raise privacy risks and costs for agencies, contractors, and potentially borrowers.
Students and student-loan borrowers will get a dedicated CFPB office/advocate and faster routing of complaints between CFPB and Education, improving access to help and increasing the chance of timely resolutions.
CFPB access to Department of Education databases and records will enable faster, more complete investigations and better market research and analysis to identify servicer misconduct and inform policy recommendations.
The bill establishes limits on collecting personally identifiable financial information and requires data safeguards and privacy agreements to protect nonpublic PII shared between agencies.
Expanded CFPB authority plus new reporting and information requirements will raise compliance costs for lenders, servicers, and Title IV contractors, costs that could be passed on to borrowers or institutions.
Mandatory interagency data sharing (including access to IRS return information) increases the risk that sensitive borrower data could be exposed if privacy safeguards or security controls fail.
Agencies (CFPB and Department of Education) must absorb compliance and implementation costs, which could strain budgets, reduce resources for other priorities, or require reallocation of staff.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Creates a CFPB Assistant Director and Student Loan Borrower Advocate, an Office for Students and Young Consumers, and requires a 60‑day MOU with the Department of Education to share oversight data and coordinate complaint handling.
Introduced February 25, 2026 by Suzanne Bonamici · Last progress February 25, 2026
Creates a new Assistant Director and Student Loan Borrower Advocate at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to lead a new Office for Students and Young Consumers, accept and try to resolve complaints about private and federal student loans, and produce an annual report on the student loan marketplace and campus banking risks. Requires the Department of Education to enter a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the CFPB within 60 days to allow coordinated oversight and CFPB access to Department systems, records, and contractor-held data, while protecting consumer personally identifiable information. Mandates ongoing coordination between the CFPB and the Department of Education, including quarterly meetings, shared exam/review schedules, aligned reporting categories, and defined procedures for sharing nonpublic information and complaints; requires congressional notification if the Advocate position or required MOU lapses or is vacant for 60 days.