124 STAT. 2076 PUBLIC LAW 111–203—JULY 21, 2010 (A) the types of institutions of higher education that they attend; (B) socioeconomic characteristics (including income and education levels, racial characteristics, geographical back- ground, age, and gender); (C) what other forms of financing borrowers use to pay for education; (D) whether they exhaust their Federal loan options before taking out a private loan; (E) whether such borrowers are dependent or inde- pendent students (as determined under part F of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965) or parents of such students; (F) whether such borrowers are students enrolled in a program leading to a certificate, license, or credential other than a degree, an associates degree, a baccalaureate degree, or a graduate or professional degree; and (G) if practicable, employment and repayment behav- iors; (5) the characteristics of private educational lenders, including whether such creditors are for-profit, non-profit, or institutions of higher education; (6) the underwriting criteria used by private educational lenders, including the use of cohort default rate (as such term is defined in section 435(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965); (7) the terms, conditions, and pricing of private education loans; (8) the consumer protections available to private education loan borrowers, including the effectiveness of existing disclo- sures and requirements and borrowers’ awareness and under- standing about terms and conditions of various financial prod- ucts; (9) whether Federal regulators and the public have access to information sufficient to provide them with assurances that private education loans are provided in accord with the Nation’s fair lending laws and that allows public officials to determine lender compliance with fair lending laws; and (10) any statutory or legislative recommendations necessary to improve consumer protections for private education loan borrowers and to better enable Federal regulators and the public to ascertain private educational lender compliance with fair lending laws. SEC. 1078. STUDY AND REPORT ON CREDIT SCORES. (a) STUDY.—The Bureau shall conduct a study on the nature, range, and size of variations between the credit scores sold to creditors and those sold to consumers by consumer reporting agen- cies that compile and maintain files on consumers on a nationwide basis (as defined in section 603(p) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act; 15 U.S.C. 1681a(p)), and whether such variations disadvantage consumers. (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Bureau shall submit a report to Congress on the results of the study conducted under subsection (a) not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act.
