Senate Passes Bill to Protect and Provide Relief to Coloradans with Student Loan Debt

March 25, 2019

Denver, CO –The Colorado State Senate recently voted 21-to-9 (5 absent) to pass SB19-002, Regulate Student Education Loan Servicers, a priority bill sponsored by Senator Faith Winter (D-Westminster) and Majority Leader Steve Fenberg (D-Boulder) to protect student loan borrowers in Colorado by regulating companies that service student loans and creating a student loan ombudsman to investigate complaints and provide assistance and education to borrowers. The bill now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.

Student loan companies often take advantage of borrowers by charging excessive fees and not disclosing important information about their loans. The result? There are more than 765,000 student loan borrowers in Colorado who have an outstanding debt of over $26 billion.

“The state regulates and licenses about every other form of debt, but not student loan debt,” said Senator Winter. “We believe that Coloradans with student loan debt should have the same protections that other consumers with debt have. While that has not been the case, we believe that this legislation is a commonsense solution that will make sure that people with student loan debt get treated fairly.”

“Student loans have become a serious burden on hundreds of thousands of Coloradans, stifling our state’s economic growth and limiting a generation’s ability to have children and buy homes,” said Majority Leader Fenberg. “It is time for us to protect student loan borrowers and allow them to focus on their education and careers, rather than worrying about being taken advantage of.”

This bill would regulate companies that service student loans and create a student loan ombudsman to investigate complaints and provide assistance and education to borrowers.

For more information on SB19-002, please visit https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb19-002.

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