§ 31–106.02a. 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 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 accompanied by an explanation as to why additional time is reasonable and necessary.