Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio has added his support for a bill that proponents are saying would help improve students’ knowledge when taking out student loans.
One of the goals of Senate Bill 133, also known as The Know Before You Owe Act, is to simplify language in student loan agreements so that students can better understand them.
“This stuff is so hard for people to understand. It’s written in language many times to obfuscate, it’s no accident the way its written,” Brown, a Democrat, said on a conference call with reporters Tuesday. “No human being would understand unless they went to law school and passed the BAR.”
Representatives from the office of Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio, could not be reached for comment by press time.
Student loan debt throughout the country is currently valued at more than $1.2 trillion, making it the second-largest form of consumer debt, behind mortgage debt, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It has recently surpassed the amount of credit card debt held by Americans.
The average student loan debt at Ohio University, including “private alternative loans,” stands close to $27,000, Katie Quaranta, a spokeswoman for the university, said in an email.
Under the bill, private loan lenders would be required to send loan statements to students once every three months, notify the university about a student’s private loan and submit a report to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to the summary of the bill.
The bill would also amend existing law to require universities to notify students about their options when seeking private loans.
Brown co-sponsored the bill March 31, becoming the most recent lawmaker to do so. The second-most recent person to do so was Maryland’s Benjamin Cardin, a Democrat, in mid-June. There is no Republican co-sponsor of the bill.
The bill was introduced January 2013, and has since been in committee.
@LucasDaprile
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