(110 ILCS 992/15-5)

Sec. 15-5. Scope; requirement for student loan servicing license.

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to operate as a student loan servicer in Illinois except as authorized by this Act and without first having obtained a license in accordance with this Act.

(b) The provisions of this Act do not apply to any of the following:

(1) a bank, savings bank, savings association, or credit union organized under the laws of the State or any other state or under the laws of the United States;

(2) a wholly owned subsidiary of any bank, savings bank, savings association, or credit union organized under the laws of the State or any other state or under the laws of the United States;

(3) an operating subsidiary where each owner of the operating subsidiary is wholly owned by the same bank, savings bank, savings association, or credit union organized under the laws of the State or any other state or under the laws of the United States;

(4) the Illinois Student Assistance Commission and its agents when the agents are acting on the Illinois Student Assistance Commission's behalf;

(5) a public postsecondary educational institution or a private nonprofit postsecondary educational institution servicing a student loan it extended to the borrower;

(6) a licensed debt management service under the Debt Management Service Act, except to the extent that the organization acts as a subcontractor, affiliate, or service provider for an entity that is otherwise subject to licensure under this Act;

(7) any collection agency licensed under the Collection Agency Act that is collecting post-default debt;

(8) in connection with its responsibilities as a guaranty agency engaged in default aversion, a State or nonprofit private institution or organization having an agreement with the U.S. Secretary of Education under Section 428(b) of the Higher Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1078(B); or

(9) a State institution or a nonprofit private organization designated by a governmental entity to make or service student loans, provided in each case that the institution or organization services fewer than 20,000 student loan accounts of borrowers who reside in Illinois.

(Source: P.A. 100-540, eff. 12-31-18.)