(110 ILCS 992/7-5) Sec. 7-5. Definitions. As used in this Article: "Amount financed" means the amounts advanced by the EISA provider to the consumer or on behalf of the consumer, or if the EISA provider is a merchant financing the sale of goods or services to the consumer using an EISA, "amount financed" means the amount credited by the EISA provider toward the purchase of expenses described in the definition of "educational income share agreement". "Annual percentage rate" or "APR" means the percentage rate calculated according to the Federal Reserve Board's methodology as set forth under Regulation Z, 12 CFR Part 1026. The "annual percentage rate" of an EISA is the measure of the cost of the EISA, expressed as a yearly rate, that relates to the amount and timing of value received by the consumer to the amount and timing of payments made, including any charges or fees that would be included in the APR as set forth under Regulation Z, 12 CFR Part 1026. The "annual percentage rate" is determined in accordance with either the actuarial method or the United States rule method. "Cash price" has the meaning given in 12 CFR 1026.2(a)(9). "Consumer" means a natural person who enters into an EISA. "Educational income share agreement" or "EISA" means an agreement between a consumer and an EISA provider under which: (1) the EISA provider credits or advances a sum of |
| money to the consumer or to a third party on the consumer's behalf or, if the EISA provider is a seller of goods or services to the consumer, the EISA provider credits or advances toward the purchase of such goods or services;
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(2) the consumer is obligated to make periodic
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| payments, if any become due, to the EISA provider calculated, based upon, or determined by the consumer's income;
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(3) the consumer incurs an obligation in each payment
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| period only if the individual's income in that period is above an income threshold specified in the EISA;
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(4) there is an EISA duration after which the
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| obligation is complete, regardless of how much has been paid, as long as the consumer has paid any prior amounts due;
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(5) each of these elements is available at the time
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| the agreement is executed;
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(6) the agreement is not made, insured, or guaranteed
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| under Title IV of the federal Higher Education Act of 1965 or another federally subsidized educational finance program; and
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(7) the agreement is extended to a consumer
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| expressly, in whole or in part, for postsecondary educational expenses, tuition, or other obligations of, or pay amounts to or on behalf of such an individual, for the costs associated with a postsecondary training program or any other program designed to increase the individual's human capital, employability, or earning potential, including, but not limited to, a program eligible to participate as a program under Title IV of the federal Higher Education Act of 1965, as well as any personal expenses, such as books, supplies, transportation, and living costs, incurred by the individual while enrolled in such a program and any other costs or expenses included in the definition of "qualified higher education expenses" under 26 U.S.C. 529(e)(3)(A), including the refinancing of loans or agreements used for the purposes described in this paragraph (7) and regardless of whether the agreement is provided by the educational institution that the consumer attends.
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For purposes of this definition, an EISA shall be
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| treated as a credit, within the meaning of that term under 15 U.S.C. 1602(f), and as a "private education loan", within the meaning of that term under 15 U.S.C. 1650(a)(8), to the extent the proceeds of the EISA are used for postsecondary educational expenses in a manner consistent with the definition of that term.
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"EISA duration" means the maximum time during which a consumer could remain obligated on the EISA, other than periods when an EISA provider is attempting to collect past-due amounts and absent periods of payment relief pauses, forbearance, military service suspension, or other suspension of obligations at the request of the consumer, regardless of whether the consumer's income is greater than the minimum income.
"EISA maximum number of payments" means the maximum number of EISA payments during EISA payment periods in which the consumer's income is equal to or greater than the income threshold that a consumer could be required to make under the terms of the EISA. "EISA maximum number of payments" does not include periods of payment relief pause.
"EISA payment" means a calculated monthly payment in excess of $0.00 that counts toward the maximum income-based payments under the EISA. An "EISA payment" is required only for income earned during an EISA payment period in which the consumer's income was equal to or greater than the income threshold.
"EISA payment calculation method" means the mechanism, formula, percentage, dollar figure, or other means of calculating a student's payment obligation, based on the student's income, under the terms of the EISA.
"EISA payment cap" means the maximum amount of money a consumer must pay to satisfy the terms of an EISA, which may be expressed as a dollar value, a multiple of the amount funded to the student or on the student's behalf, or as a maximum effective annual percentage rate.
"EISA payment cap" does not include charges that would be excluded from the definition of the term "finance charge" under 12 CFR 1026.
"EISA provider" means:
(1) a person or entity that provides money, payments,
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| or credits to or on behalf of a consumer pursuant to the terms of an EISA;
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(2) any person or entity engaged in the business of
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| soliciting, making, funding, or extending EISAs; or
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(3) any person or entity that is providing
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| educational services to the consumer and receiving compensation from an EISA provider (separate from proceeds of the EISA to cover educational expenses of the consumer) for advertising, marketing, or recommending EISAs, on behalf of an EISA provider, for those educational services.
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This definition does not apply to an entity that either (i) has no direct interactions with the consumer and is not responsible for making credit decisions regarding the consumer or (ii) is the provider of the educational services to the consumer, unless the entity qualifies under paragraph (1), (2), or (3).
"Federal poverty guidelines" means the poverty guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2).
"Garnishment" means any legal or equitable procedure through which earnings of an individual are required to be withheld for payment of obligations to an EISA provider as set forth in the Code of Civil Procedure.
"Income threshold" means a fixed dollar amount that is the minimum income per payment period that an EISA recipient is required to earn before the EISA recipient is required to make a payment on an EISA for such payment period.
"Index" means the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers: U.S. City Average, All Items, 1967=100, compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor.
"Payment relief pause" means a period of time that is requested by the consumer during which the consumer is not required to make payments despite the consumer's income exceeding the income threshold.
"Sales price" means the "total sale price" as set forth in 12 CFR 1026.18(j).
(Source: P.A. 104-383, eff. 8-15-25.)
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(110 ILCS 992/7-10) Sec. 7-10. Monthly payment affordability. (a) Each EISA shall specify the EISA payment calculation method applicable to the EISA. An EISA shall not require payments from the consumer toward that EISA that exceed 8% of the consumer's income. An EISA provider shall not enter into an EISA with a consumer if the consumer would be committing to pay more than 15% of the consumer's income at any time during the EISA duration, based on information available to the EISA provider at the time of the projection, inclusive of any payment obligations that the EISA provider knows will arise in the future for other EISAs and education loans upon which the consumer is obligated at the time of the projection. The EISA provider must confirm a consumer's EISA and education loan liabilities through a verifiable third-party source. At a minimum, the EISA provider must confirm such liabilities using information maintained by a nationwide consumer reporting agency, as defined by 15 U.S.C. 1681a(f), and doing so is sufficient for meeting the requirement in this subsection. However, nothing in this subsection shall prohibit an EISA provider from using other sources to provide additional verification. For the purposes of calculating the portion of a student's future income that would be consumed by the EISA for which the student has applied and other EISAs and education loans known at the time, the EISA provider shall calculate the aggregate future burden of all such obligations, including the EISA for which the student is applying, at the hypothetical future income levels described in subdivision (a)(15)(iii) of Section 7-75, ranging from the income threshold of the EISA for which the student has applied up to the maximum income described in subdivision (a)(15)(iii) of Section 7-75. The terms of the EISA for which the student has applied cannot cause the student's aggregate future burden to exceed the percentage limits in this subsection at any of the income increments stated in this Section. For the purpose of calculating the percentage burden of an EISA at a given future income level, the EISA provider shall use the EISA payment amount that would be applicable for the EISA at such income level. For the purpose of calculating the percentage burden of an educational loan at a given future income level, the EISA provider shall divide the annual payment obligation by income level using the most affordable payment plan or option which would yield the lowest monthly payments that would be available to the student at such income level under such loan. For students enrolled in a program eligible to receive federal student loans under Title IV of the federal Higher Education Act of 1965, as part of this analysis the EISA provider shall assume a federal loan balance equal to the larger of (1) the student's existing federal loan balance and (2) the aggregate maximum amount the student is eligible to borrow under Federal Direct Stafford Loans for the student's status, dependent or independent. (b) The EISA must state that when a consumer has income that is equal to or below the income threshold set forth in the EISA that the consumer's payment obligation is zero dollars. The income threshold must be equal to or greater than $47,000; however, that amount shall be increased on January 1, 2026, and every other January 1 thereafter, by the annual unadjusted percentage increase (but not less than zero) in the index for the 12 months ending with the preceding September, including all previous adjustments. (c) An EISA must offer at least 3 months of voluntary payment relief pauses for every 30 income-determined payments required under the EISA. (d) During the payment process for the EISA, the consumer may request that the income threshold on the EISA be adjusted upward to ensure the consumer's income, less any payments required by the EISA, would be greater than or equal to the minimum essential income based on the consumer's current place of residence. As used in this subsection (d), the consumer's minimum essential income is equal to 275% of the federal poverty guidelines for a single person (for the year in which the calculation is performed), multiplied by a cost-of-living adjustment factor equal to the ratio of (i) one plus the current locality payment percentage issued by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management for the locality pay area in which the consumer resides, divided by (ii) one plus the current locality payment percentage issued by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management for the "Rest of U.S." locality pay area. The locality pay areas described in this subsection (d) are the locality pay areas described in 5 CFR 531.603. An EISA provider must notify consumers of this option on each monthly billing statement. Nothing in this provision shall prevent an EISA provider from taking reasonable steps to confirm a consumer's place of residence (such as requiring a copy of a utility bill or a driver's license) for the purpose of establishing the consumer's minimum essential income, including if the EISA provider believes a consumer's place of residence has changed. Furthermore, an EISA provider may require that a consumer has resided at a location for at least 90 days before adjusting the consumer's minimum essential income. The requirements for repayment options in subsection (k) of Section 5-30 apply to this Section.
(Source: P.A. 104-383, eff. 8-15-25.) |
(110 ILCS 992/7-30) Sec. 7-30. Limits on covered income. An EISA must specify the definition of income to be used for the purposes of calculating a consumer's payment obligation under the EISA. No EISA shall include any of the following in its definition of income: (1) the income of the consumer's spouse, children, or |
| dependents or a party to a civil union with the consumer under the Illinois Religious Freedom and Civil Union Act; or
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(2) any amount paid by the consumer under Title II or
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| XVI of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 401 et seq. or 42 U.S.C. 1381 et seq., or under a State program funded by Title IV of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 601 et seq;
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(3) individual retirement account distributions;
(4) pensions and annuities;
(5) social security benefits;
(6) any sources of government aid provided to
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| individuals, including, but not limited to:
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(A) unemployment programs;
(B) disaster relief programs;
(C) Medicare or Medicaid benefits;
(D) benefits received through the Supplemental
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| Nutrition Assistance Program;
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(E) economic impact payments;
(F) the earned income tax credit or child tax
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(G) other income excluded from the definition of
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| taxable income set forth by the Internal Revenue Service; or
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(H) passive income that is not derived as a
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| result of a consumer's active participation in any trade or business.
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(Source: P.A. 104-383, eff. 8-15-25.)
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(110 ILCS 992/7-35) Sec. 7-35. Fees permitted. (a) In addition to the EISA obligation permitted by this Act, an EISA provider may contract for and receive the following additional charges: (1) government fees and taxes; (2) a fee, which shall not exceed the sum of $25, for |
| a failure to provide documentation to the EISA provider for the confirmation and reconciliation of the consumer's income within 30 days after the date on which such documentation is due, as reflected in the written notice to the consumer;
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(3) a fee for processing any forms to confirm the
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| consumer's income with the United States Internal Revenue Service or a state department of revenue or taxation on a dollar-for-dollar, pass-through basis of the expenses incurred by the EISA provider;
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(4) a late payment fee in the amount of $15 or 5% of
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| the late payment, whichever is less, for any payment that is more than 15 days past due; no late payment fee may be charged more than once per late payment;
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(5) an amount not exceeding $25, plus any actual
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| expenses incurred in connection with a check or draft that is not honored because of insufficient or uncollected funds or because no such account exists; and
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(6) other fees authorized by the Secretary.
In determining whether to authorize a charge, the Secretary shall consider whether the charge benefits the consumer and is reasonable.
(b) Before or after default in payment of a scheduled payment of an EISA, the parties to the EISA may agree in writing to a deferral of all or part of one or more unpaid payments and the EISA provider may make, at the time of deferral and receive at that time or at any time thereafter, a deferral charge not exceeding an amount equal to 5% of the missed payment, except that this subsection (b) shall not apply to voluntary payment relief pauses.
(Source: P.A. 104-383, eff. 8-15-25.)
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(110 ILCS 992/7-75) Sec. 7-75. Required disclosures. (a) An EISA provider shall disclose the following information to each consumer, clearly and conspicuously, in a form that the consumer can keep at the time the transaction is consummated: (1) the date of the EISA; (2) the dollar amount of the amount financed; (3) the sales price of the transaction if different |
| from the amount financed;
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(4) the EISA payment calculation method, including
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| any percentages used in the EISA payment calculation method, which shall be rounded to the nearest one-hundredth of 1% if the percentage is not a whole number;
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(5) the maximum number of payments expressed as a
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(6) the maximum duration expressed as a whole number
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(7) the income threshold expressed as a dollar amount
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| and a statement that payments will only be required during periods when the consumer's income is equal to or exceeds the income threshold;
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(8) an itemization of the amount financed and, if the
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| EISA provider is a seller of goods or services, an itemization of the amount of any down payment and any additional fees or costs;
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(9) the definition of "income" to be used for the
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| purposes of calculating the consumer's obligations under the EISA;
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(10) a description of the terms under which the
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| obligations of the consumer under the EISA will be extinguished before the full EISA duration;
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(11) a payment schedule that shows the date on which
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| the first payment will be due and reflects each date thereafter during the EISA duration that a payment may be due;
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(12) an itemization of any permissible fees
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| associated with the EISA;
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(13) a description of the methods used by the EISA
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| provider to engage in a process of reconciliation and verification to determine if the consumer's payments are more than, equal to, or less than the payments owed by the consumer under the consumer's EISA; this description shall include the following:
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(i) a description of the frequency or triggers
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| for the commencement of the income verification process;
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(ii) a description of the requirements and timing
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| of the process in which the consumer must participate in order for the EISA provider to verify the consumer's income; and
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(iii) a description of any records or forms,
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| including tax records, that the consumer may be required to execute or submit;
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(14) the name and address of the EISA provider;
(15) a table that displays the dollar amounts of each
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| payment, the number of payments, the effective annual percentage rate, and the total of all payments that a consumer would be required to pay under the EISA at a range of annual income levels based on the EISA duration and that includes a statement that "This comparison table is for illustrative purposes only and may not reflect the amounts that you are likely to pay under this educational income share agreement. This table assumes you have the same income over the entire term of your educational income share agreement. It does not take into account changes in income. Your income will likely change over time. This table does not represent the income or range of incomes that you are likely to earn in the future.". In computing the APR, the EISA provider shall use the amount financed and may assume that the EISA will be disbursed in the amount and with the disbursement schedule that it reasonably expects to follow for such EISA and that payments would commence on the date set forth in the EISA. The income used in this disclosure shall include, at minimum, the obligations at the following incomes:
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(i) no income;
(ii) income equal to the annual equivalent of the
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(iii) various income scenarios with at least
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| calculations at annual incomes of $40,000, $60,000, $80,000, $100,000, $125,000, $150,000, $175,000, and $200,000; and
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(iv) if known by the EISA provider, the
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| consumer's current income;
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(16) a statement that the EISA is not a fixed payment
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| installment loan and that the amount the consumer will be required to pay under the EISA:
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(i) may be more or less than the amount financed
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| by the EISA provider; and
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(ii) will vary in proportion with the consumer's
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(17) a statement relating to the bankruptcy treatment
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| of the EISA consistent with the requirements set forth in 12 CFR 1026.47(a)(3)(iv), as it may be amended or interpreted.
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(b) The disclosures required by this Section shall be grouped together and segregated from all other information.
(c) The disclosures required by this Section may be provided to a consumer in electronic form, subject to compliance with the consumer's consent and other applicable provisions of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, 15 U.S.C. 7001 et seq., and applicable State law.
(d) If model documents are established pursuant to any federal law covering income share agreements, compliance with those forms shall be considered compliance with this Act with respect to the disclosure requirements contained in this Act.
(Source: P.A. 104-383, eff. 8-15-25.)
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(110 ILCS 992/7-85) Sec. 7-85. Assumption of increase in future income. (a) If a consumer fails to provide income documentation as reasonably required by an EISA, an EISA provider may assign an amount of income to the consumer and compute the consumer's monthly payment amount by any of the following methods, to the extent disclosed in the EISA: (1) assigning an income amount obtained from a |
| reasonably reliable third party or a credit reporting agency;
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(2) if the consumer previously provided income
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| documentation or has had an income assigned in the prior 12-month period that has increased by an amount not to exceed 10%, but such increase may not be applied more than once per 12-month period;
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(3) contacting the Department of Revenue or the
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| Internal Revenue Service to obtain the most recent information available about the student's income; or
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(4) assigning a reasonable qualified income based on
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| the incomes of the nearest reasonably relevant quantile of income of consumers who attended the same or a reasonably comparable covered educational program or course of study, as determined by information published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics or other reasonably reliable publicly available data sources.
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(b) If an EISA provider assigns an income to a consumer's EISA, then it shall notify the consumer in the monthly billing statement, and in each billing statement thereafter while the assigned income remains applicable to the consumer's EISA, that income has been assigned and of the consumer's rights under this Section.
(c) If the consumer does provide income information as reasonably required by the EISA within one year of the date on which the EISA provider notified the consumer that assigned income will be applied to the EISA, then, within 15 days after the EISA provider's receipt of such information, the EISA provider shall update each prior instance in which assigned income was applied using the income information provided by the consumer; if the consumer provides income information more than one year after the EISA provider first assigned income to the consumer's EISA, then the EISA provider may, but is not obligated to, update each prior instance in which assigned income was applied using the income information provided by the consumer.
(d) An EISA provider that assigns income to an EISA shall retain all applicable records relating to the method and data sources used to make such estimation for 3 years after the end of that EISA.
(Source: P.A. 104-383, eff. 8-15-25.)
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(110 ILCS 992/7-95) Sec. 7-95. Adjustment of dollar amounts. (a) From time to time, the dollar amounts in this Act designated as subject to change shall change, as provided in this Section, according to and to the extent of changes in the index. (b) The index for December of the year preceding the year in which this Act becomes effective is the reference base index. (c) The designated dollar amounts shall change on July 1 of each even-numbered year if the percentage of change, calculated to the nearest whole percentage point, between the index and the end of the preceding year and the reference base index is 10% or more, but: (1) the portion of the percentage change in the index |
| in excess of a multiple of 10% shall be disregarded and the dollar amounts shall change only in multiples of 10% of the amounts provided in this Act on the date of enactment; and
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(2) the dollar amounts shall not change if the
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| amounts required by this Section are those currently in effect pursuant to this Act as a result of earlier application of this Section.
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(d) If the index is revised, the percentage of change pursuant to this Section shall be calculated on the basis of the revised index. If a revision of the index changes the reference base index, a revised reference base index shall be determined by multiplying the reference base index then applicable by the rebasing factor furnished by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If the index is superseded, the index referred to in this Section is the one represented by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as reflecting most accurately changes in the purchasing power of the dollar for consumers.
(e) The Department shall adopt a rule setting forth, on or before April 30 of each year in which dollar amounts are to change, the changes in dollar amounts required by this Section. As soon as practical after the changes occur, the Department shall adopt a rule setting forth the changes in the index required by subsection (d), including, if applicable, the numerical equivalent of the reference base index under a revised reference base index and the designation or title of any index superseding the index.
(f) A person does not violate this Act with respect to a transaction otherwise complying with this Act if the person relies on dollar amounts either determined according to subsection (c) or appearing in the last rule of the Department announcing the then-current dollar amounts.
(Source: P.A. 104-383, eff. 8-15-25.)
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