1. (1) A student loan servicer shall not:

   1. (a) Directly or indirectly employ a scheme, a device, or artifice to defraud or mislead student loan borrowers;
   2. (b) Engage in an 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 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 student loan borrower's obligations under the loan;
   3. (c) Obtain property by fraud or misrepresentation;
   4. (d) Misapply student education loan payments to the outstanding balance of a student education loan;
   5. (e) Provide inaccurate information to a consumer reporting agency;
   6. (f) Fail to report both the favorable and unfavorable payment history of a student loan borrower to a consumer reporting agency at least annually if the student loan servicer regularly reports information to a consumer reporting agency;
   7. (g) Refuse to communicate with an authorized representative of a student loan borrower who provides a written authorization signed by the student loan borrower; except that 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. (h) Make any false statement or omit any material fact in connection with information or reports filed with a governmental agency or in connection with an investigation conducted by the administrator or another governmental agency; or
   9. (i) Except as otherwise provided in federal law, federal student loan agreements, or a contract between the federal government and a student loan servicer, fail to properly evaluate a student loan borrower for an income-based 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-based repayment or other program is available to the student loan borrower.

Source: L. 2019: Entire article added, (SB 19-002), ch. 157, p. 1867, § 2, effective August 2.