[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4544 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4544

 To amend the Truth in Lending Act to prohibit predispute arbitration 
  agreements that force arbitration of disputes arising from private 
                education loans, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 27, 2019

   Ms. Dean introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Truth in Lending Act to prohibit predispute arbitration 
  agreements that force arbitration of disputes arising from private 
                education loans, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Ensuring Fair Legal Recourse for 
Private Student Loan Borrowers Act''.

SEC. 2. ARBITRATION OF PRIVATE EDUCATION LOAN DISPUTES.

    (a) In General.--Section 140 of the Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 
1650) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(h) Arbitration of Private Education Loan Disputes.--
            ``(1) No validity or enforceability.--No predispute 
        arbitration agreement or predispute joint-action waiver shall 
        be valid or enforceable with respect to a dispute relating to a 
        private education loan.
            ``(2) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Predispute arbitration agreement.--The term 
                `predispute arbitration agreement' means an agreement 
                to arbitrate a dispute that has not yet arisen at the 
                time of the making of the agreement.
                    ``(B) Predispute joint-action waiver.--The term 
                `predispute joint-action waiver' means an agreement, 
                whether or not part of a predispute arbitration 
                agreement, that would prohibit, or waive the right of, 
                one of the parties to the agreement to participate in a 
                joint, class, or collective action in a judicial, 
                arbitral, administrative, or other forum, concerning a 
                dispute that has not yet arisen at the time of the 
                making of the agreement.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect on the date of enactment of this Act and shall apply with 
respect to any dispute or claim that arises or accrues on or after such 
date.
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