WASHINGTON – Today, Representative Madeleine Dean (PA-04) reintroduced the Private Loan Disability Discharge Act (H.R. 2498) to protect totally and permamently disabled individuals and families from unfair lending practices.
Under current law, private lenders are not required to discharge student loans for borrowers or their cosigners if the borrower becomes totally and permanently disabled – unlike federal student loans which require this discharge. The Private Loan Disability Discharge Act would require private student lenders to discharge the loan balance for both the borrower and co-signer if the borrower becomes totally and permanently disabled.
“A constituent brought this issue to our attention, her daughter had become totally disabled and she was left with the remaining balance of her private student loans as the cosigner, ” Rep. Dean said. “The lending company said they would forgive the loan for the borrow, but not for the cosigner – so we wrote H.R. 2498 to address this unfair practice, and to ensure student loan borrowers are protected in the case of these terrible circumstances."
The Private Loan Disability Discharge Act (H.R. 2498) will be referred to the House Committee on Financial Services, led by Chairwoman Waters, where Rep. Dean has been a committee member since 2019.
H.R. 2498 is endorsed by The National Council on Independent Living, the National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients), the Center for Responsible Lending, and The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS).
Rep. Madeleine Dean is a mother, grandmother, attorney, professor, former four-term member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and U.S. Representative for the Fourth District of Pennsylvania.
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