VotedBy VotedBy ⌕
Election Day · Tue, Nov 3See how your members of Congress voted →

H.R. 4480 · 113th Congress

Protecting Educational Loans for Underserved Students Act

Key: what the circles and colors mean

Each circle is a bill. The ring fills as it moves through Congress:

IntroducedPassed one chamberPassed both chambersBecame law (gold)Resolution agreed to (full, dark)Failed or vetoed (gray)

Under the number: the Yea · Nay count of its final (or latest) recorded vote. On a member's page, the small badge is how that member voted: Y Yea / Aye, N Nay / No, P Present, – Not voting.

Gold and violet are only for Yea and Nay; they never mean a party. A member's party is the letter on their photo.

Never voted on. It didn't reach a floor vote before the 113th Congress ended, so it expired. A bill has to be introduced again to be considered in a new Congress.

Protecting Educational Loans for Underserved Students Act - Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish criteria for the Secretary of Education to use in determining whether the credit history of applicants for William D. Ford Federal Direct PLUS loans renders them ineligible for such loans.

What it does: CRS summary · Introduced in House · Apr 10, 2014

Protecting Educational Loans for Underserved Students Act - Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish criteria for the Secretary of Education to use in determining whether the credit history of applicants for William D. Ford Federal Direct PLUS loans renders them ineligible for such loans. (Federal Direct PLUS loans are provided to graduate or professional degree students and the parents of dependent undergraduate students.)

Directs the Secretary to consider an applicant to have an adverse credit history on the basis of his or her credit report, absent a determination that the applicant has extenuating circumstances, if : (1) the applicant is 90 or more days delinquent on the repayment of a debt exceeding $2,000; or (2) during the three years before the credit report date, the applicant has been subject to a default determination, bankruptcy discharge, foreclosure, repossession, tax lien, wage garnishment, or write-off of a title IV debt.

Requires applicants that have been subject to such actions to participate in loan counseling provided by the applicable institution of higher education before becoming eligible for Federal Direct PLUS loans.

Prohibits the Secretary from: (1) denying a Federal Direct PLUS loan to an applicant for having debt that is unrelated to title IV loans and is in collection or has been charged off, provided the applicant participates in such loan counseling; or (2) using the applicant's lack of a credit history as a reason to deny a Federal Direct PLUS loan to such applicant.

Requires the Secretary to retain a record of the Secretary's basis for determining that an applicant has extenuating circumstances that make the applicant eligible for a Federal Direct PLUS loan despite having an adverse credit history.

Makes the Secretary's determination that an applicant does not have an adverse credit history effective for the two years following such determination.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov

About this bill and sources

Official title: Protecting Educational Loans for Underserved Students Act

Latest action (Jun 13, 2014): Referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training.

Policy area: Education · Origin: House · Introduced: Apr 10, 2014

Official page on Congress.gov · Bill text (GovInfo) · Status record (XML)

No recorded floor vote found.