The licensee shall not do any of the following:

(a) Directly or indirectly employ any scheme, device, or artifice to defraud or mislead a borrower.

(b) Engage in any unfair or deceptive practice toward any borrower or misrepresent or omit any material information in connection with the servicing of a student loan, including, but not limited to, misrepresenting the amount, nature, or terms of any fee or payment due or claimed to be due on a student loan, the terms and conditions of the student loan agreement, or the borrower’s obligations under the student loan.

(c) Misapply payments made by a borrower to the outstanding balance of a student loan.

(d) If the licensee is required to or voluntarily reports to a consumer reporting agency, fail to accurately report each borrower’s payment performance to at least one consumer reporting agency that compiles and maintains files on consumers on a nationwide basis, upon acceptance as a data furnisher by that consumer reporting agency. For purposes of this subdivision, a consumer reporting agency that compiles and maintains files on consumers on a nationwide basis is one that meets the definition in Section 603(p) of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. Sec. 1681a(p)).

(e) Refuse to communicate with an authorized representative of the borrower who provides a written authorization signed by the borrower, provided the licensee may adopt reasonable procedures for verifying that the representative is in fact authorized to act on behalf of the borrower and for protecting the borrower from fraud or abusive practices.

(f) Negligently or intentionally make any false statement or knowingly and willfully make any omission of a material fact in connection with any information or reports filed with the commissioner, the department, or another governmental agency.

(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 379, Sec. 16. (AB 38) Effective January 1, 2019.)