(a) Group process, generally. Upon consideration of factors including, but not limited to, the existence of common facts and claims by borrowers, the likelihood of actionable acts or omissions that were pervasive or widely disseminated, and the promotion of compliance by an institution or other title IV, HEA program participant, the Secretary may determine whether a group of borrowers from one institution or commonly owned institutions identified by the Secretary has a borrower defense under this subpart.

(b) Group process initiated by the Secretary. The Secretary may identify and form a group based upon information from sources that include but are not limited to—

(1) Actions by the Federal Government, State attorneys general, other State agencies or officials, or other law enforcement activity;

(2) Lawsuits related to educational programs filed against the institutions that are the subject of the claims or judgments rendered against the institutions; or,

(3) Individual borrower defense claims pursuant to § 685.403.

(c) Group process initiated in response to a third-party requestor application. The Secretary will consider a request to form a group from a third-party requestor that complies with the requirements of this section. To comply with the requirements of this section, the requestor—

(1) Submits an application to the Secretary, under penalty of perjury, and on a form approved by the Secretary that—

(i) Identifies the requested group, including at minimum:

(A) The name of the institution or commonly owned institutions;

(B) The campuses or programs which are the subject of the claim, if applicable;

(C) A description of the conduct that forms the basis for the group borrower defense claim under the Federal standard in § 685.401(b);

(D) An analysis of why the conduct should result in an approved group borrower defense claim under the Federal standard in § 685.401(b); and,

(E) The period during which the activity in (c)(1)(i)(C) of this section occurred;

(ii) Provides evidence beyond sworn borrower statements that supports each element of the claim made in this paragraph (c)(1), including but not limited to evidence demonstrating the actionable acts or omissions asserted were pervasive or widely disseminated;

(iii) Provides the names and other identifying information of borrowers in the group to the extent available; and

(iv) For requests submitted by a legal assistance organization, includes a certification that the requestor has entered into a legal representation authority with each borrower identified as a member of the group; and,

(2) Provides any other information or supporting documentation reasonably requested by the Secretary within 90 days of the Secretary's request.

(3) The Secretary may consolidate multiple group applications related to the same institution or commonly owned institutions.

(4) Once the Secretary determines that the third-party requestor's application is materially complete, the Secretary will provide notice to the institution of the third-party requestor's application. The institution will have 90 days to respond to the Secretary regarding the third-party requestor's application request to form a group under this paragraph (c).

(5) The Secretary will provide a response to any materially complete third-party requestor group request under this paragraph (c) within two years of receipt. That response will be sent to the third-party requestor and the institution and includes:

(i) Whether the Secretary will choose to form a group and a definition of the group formed; and

(ii) Any additional information needed from the third-party requestor to continue the third-party requestor requested group process.

(6)(i) If the Secretary denies in whole or in part a third-party requestor's request to form a group under the process described in this paragraph (c), for reasons other than that the Secretary already has formed a group that includes the members of the proposed group or has findings that cover the members of the proposed group, the third-party requestor submitting the group claim may request that the Secretary reconsider the decision upon the identification of new evidence that was not previously available to the Secretary in forming the group.

(ii) The third-party requestor submitting the group claim under this paragraph (c) must request reconsideration of the group formation no later than 90 days from the date of the Secretary's initial decision regarding formation of the group.

(iii) The Secretary will provide a response to the third-party requestor that requested reconsideration of the group's formation and the institution after reaching a decision on the reconsideration request.

(d) Process after group formation. Upon formation of a group of borrowers under this section, the Secretary—

(1) Designates a Department official to present the group's claim in the institutional response process described in § 685.405;

(2) For borrowers who have an application pending with the Secretary prior to the formation of the group, notifies those borrowers that they are an identified member of the group formed under this section and follows § 685.403(d) or (e) as appropriate;

(3) For borrowers whose names were submitted by the third-party requestor and that can be identified by the Secretary, or that can otherwise be identified by the Secretary, if the borrower is not in default and does not have a separate application pending with the Secretary, follows the procedures under § 685.403(d) except that interest on the loan will stop accumulating immediately;

(4) For borrowers whose names were submitted by the third-party requestor and that can be identified by the Secretary, or that can otherwise be identified by the Secretary, if the borrower is in default and does not have a separate application pending with the Secretary, follows the procedures under § 685.403(e) except that the interest on the loan will stop accumulating immediately;

(5) For possible group members that the Secretary cannot identify, takes reasonable steps to identify and notify potential members of the group, and if the Secretary ultimately is able to identify any additional members, follows the process under paragraphs (d)(3) and (4) of this section to allow those additional members to opt-in the group formed; and,

(6) If the Secretary later identifies a borrower that should have received the benefits as described under paragraph (d)(3) or (4) of this section, either prior to the adjudication of the group or after an adjudication that results in the approval of a group borrower defense, retrospectively applies the benefits available to the borrower under those subparagraphs and no other consequences will apply.