02a. Prohibited conduct – student loan servicers. (a) No student loan servicer shall: (1) Directly or indirectly employ any scheme, device, or artifice to defraud a student loan borrower; (2) Directly or indirectly employ any scheme, device, or artifice to mislead a student loan borrower; (3) Engage in any 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 an abusive act and practice; (4) Obtain property by fraud; (5) Obtain property by misrepresentation; (6) Misapply student education loan payments to the outstanding balance of a student education loan; (7) Provide inaccurate information to a credit bureau, harming a student loan borrower's creditworthiness; (8) Fail to report both the favorable and unfavorable payment history of the student loan borrower to a nationally recognized consumer credit bureau at least annually if the student loan servicer regularly reports information to a credit bureau; (9) Refuse to communicate with an authorized representative of the student loan borrower who provides a written authorization signed by the student loan ularly reports information to a credit bureau; (9) Refuse to communicate with an authorized representative of the 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 authorized to act on behalf of the student loan borrower; (10) Make a false statement or make an omission of a material fact in connection with any information or report filed with a governmental agency or in connection with any investigation conducted by the Commissioner or another governmental agency; (11) Fail to respond within 15 business days to a communication from the Department, or the Office of the Attorney General, or within such shorter reasonable period of time as may be requested by the Department or the Attorney General; or (12)(A) Fail to respond within 15 business days to a consumer complaint submitted to the student loan servicer by the Department or the Office of the Attorney General. (B) A student loan servicer may request additional time to respond to the complaint, up to a maximum of 45 business days, provided that the request is epartment or the Office of the Attorney General. (B) A student loan servicer may request additional time to respond to the complaint, up to a maximum of 45 business days, provided that the request is accompanied by an explanation as to why additional time is reasonable and necessary. (May 21, 1997, D.C. Law 11-268, § 7b-1; as added Nov. 27, 2024, D.C. Law 25-219, § 2(d), 71 DCR 12314.)
District of Columbia Legal Code