On March 15, 2018 Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed into law WA SB 6029 (2018), which enacts and amends various provisions regarding student loans. One of these amendments includes the following:
“In addition for all consumer loans made by a licensee that are a refinance of a federal student education loan, the licensee must provide to the borrower a clear and conspicuous disclosure that some repayment and forgiveness options available under federal student education loan programs, including without limitation income-driven repayment plans, economic hardship deferments, or public service loan forgiveness, will no longer be available to the borrower if he or she chooses to refinance federal student education loans with one or more consumer loans.” (Ibid. § 14, which adds new Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 31.04.102[5])
Although “consumer loan” is (strangely) not defined under the Washington Consumer Loan Act (Wash. Rev. Code Ann. §§ 31.04.015 through 31.04.904), this Act does apply to “each loan made to a resident of this state by a licensee, or persons subject to this chapter [31.04]” unless otherwise exempt (Ibid. § 31.04.025[1]). Thus, it’s possible for this new provision to apply to a mortgage loan which refinances a federal student education loan. This law takes effect on June 7, 2018 (see http://apps2.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=6029&Year=2017&BillNumber=6029&Year=2017).
We are currently reviewing this change to determine any impact to our document library and/or systems and evaluating any necessary changes. Any modifications we make will be announced on our website (http://blog.docutechcorp.com/category/document-updates).