[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 103 (Friday, May 27, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33690-33693]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-12597]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
[Docket No. FR-5921-N-03]
Implementation of the Privacy Act of 1974, as Amended; System of
Records Notice Amendment, Home Equity Reverse Mortgage Information
Technology
AGENCY: Office of Housing, HUD.
ACTION: System of records notice amendment.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, the Department of
Housing and Urban Development is giving notice that it intends to amend
one of its systems of records published in the Federal Register at 77
FR 61620 on October 10, 2012, the Home Equity Reverse Mortgage
Information Technology (HERMIT). This notice will be written to include
updates to the former notice routine uses and records categories
statements. This notice also incorporates administrative and format
changes to convey already published information in a more synchronized
format. A more detailed description of the revision created by this
notice is defined under this notice supplementary information caption.
DATES:
Effective Date: The notice shall be effective immediately upon
publication of this notice in the Federal Register, except for the new
routine use created, which will become effective June 27, 2016, unless
comments are received that would result in a contrary determination.
Comments Due Date: June 27, 2016.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding
this notice to the Rules Docket Clerk, Office of the General Counsel,
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street SW.,
Room 10276, Washington, DC 20410-0500. Communication should refer to
the above docket number and title. Faxed comments are not accepted. A
copy of each communication submitted will be available for public
inspection and copying between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays at the above
address.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Frieda B. Edwards, Acting Chief
Privacy Officer, 451 Seventh Street SW., Room 10139, Washington, DC
20410, telephone number 202-402-6828 (this is not a toll-free number).
Individuals who are hearing- and speech-impaired may access this number
via TTY by calling the Federal Relay Service telephone number at 800-
877-8339 (this is a toll-free number).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The HERMIT notice amendment will identify:
(1) New disclosure requirements, by adding routine use number eight to
clarify that records may be provided from this system to housing
counselors when needed to comply with new housing counseling policies
and training and certification related requirements; (2) updates to the
record categories to include a ``Loan Production'' category, which will
distinguish when specific records are collected by this system during
this phase; (3) new records on the certificate of qualification to
verify that a housing counselor is certified by HUD as a component to
provide counseling services. Publication of this notice allows the
Department to keep an up-to-date accounting of its system of records
publications. This publication meets the threshold requirements
pursuant to the Privacy Act and OMB Circular A-130. A report was
submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Senate
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and the House
Committee on Government Reform as instructed by Paragraph 4c of
Appendix I to OMB Circular No. A-130, ``Federal Agencies
Responsibilities for Maintaining Records About Individuals,'' July 25,
1994 (59 FR 37914).
[[Page 33691]]
Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552a; 88 Stat. 1896; 42 U.S.C. 3535(d).
Dated: April 28, 2016.
Patricia A. Hoban-Moore,
Senior Agency Official for Privacy.
SYSTEM OF RECORDS NO.:
HSNG/HWAT.01.
SYSTEM NAME:
Home Equity Reverse Mortgage Information Technology (HERMIT)--P271.
SYSTEM LOCATION:
The system is accessible at workstations located at the following
locations: Department of Housing and Urban Development Headquarters,
451 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20410; HUD's Field and Regional
Office locations: The National Servicing Center, 2 West 2nd Street,
Suite 400, Tulsa, OK 74103; Atlanta Homeownership Center, Five Points
Plaza, 40 Marietta Street, Atlanta, GA 30303; Philadelphia
Homeownership Center, Wanamaker Building, 100 Penn Square East,
Philadelphia, PA 19107; Denver Homeownership Center, Processing and
Underwriting, 20th floor, 1670 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202; and Santa
Ana Homeownership Center, Santa Ana Federal Building, 34 Civic Center
Plaza, Room 7015, Santa Ana, CA 92701. The system is externally hosted
at the business service provider's site (contractor primary) and
disaster recovery facilities.
CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
HECM mortgagees and HECM mortgagors for Home Equity Conversion
Mortgages insured under HUD's HECM mortgage insurance program and FHA-
Approved Housing Counselors who participate in the HECM program. Note:
The Privacy Act applies to the extent that the information collected
pertains to an individual; information pertaining to corporations and
other business entities and organizations are not subject to the
Privacy Act.
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
HERMIT information is collected on individual program participants.
Loan Production: HERMIT loan production records include
personally identifiable information (PII) data pertaining to HECM
Housing Counseling data: Full name of HECM housing counselor, HECM
Certificate of Counseling, HECM counselor ID numbers, and borrowers'
full names, property addresses, birthdates, Social Security numbers,
and phone numbers.
Insurance-in-Force (IIF)/Premiums: HERMIT insurance-in-
force and premium records include PII data pertaining to borrowers'
full names, property addresses, birthdates, Social Security numbers,
phone numbers and dates of death; maximum claim amount (MCA), property
appraised values, initial and monthly mortgage insurance premiums (IMIP
and MMIP), set asides, note interest rates and expected interest rates
and case statuses and sub-case statuses; payment plan types, and other
financial account data such as principal limits, monthly interest
accruals, late charge and interest charge fees, historical transaction
records for HECM cases, property taxes and hazard insurance amounts,
business partners' banking information (routing and account numbers);
and accounting data including accounts receivable and payable due to
and from HUD.
HECM Claims: Borrowers' names, addresses, Social Security
numbers; MCAs, due and payable approvals; death notifications, deed-in-
lieu; foreclosure actions, extension approvals, interest rates and
account statuses; payment and other financial account data such as
unpaid loan balances, interest accrued, service fees, expenses incurred
for foreclosure and acquisition, protection and preservation, attorney
fees, special assessments; disbursements for taxes, insurance,
utilities, eviction fees, and any other miscellaneous disbursements;
initial and monthly mortgage insurance premiums (IMIP and MMIP),
appraisals, closing costs; claims filed and paid; indemnifications and
claim blocks; business partner banking information tax identification
number (TIN), routing and account numbers), mortgagee reference number;
accounting data, including established accounts receivables and
payables; and information for reporting and assumption of servicing
activities in cases of investor claim or default.
HECM Loan Servicing: Borrowers' and authorized contacts'
names and addresses, birthdates, ages, Social Security numbers, phone
numbers; email addresses; marital statuses, genders, preferred
languages, banking information (institutional information, routings
account numbers and account types) maximum loan amounts, premium
collections, interest rates and account statuses; payments and other
financial account data such as loan balances, loan history, interest
accrued, fees incurred, claims filed and paid, real estate property
information, property taxes and insurance amounts, accounting data,
including debits and credits to HUD accounts based on transaction
events, vendor information; and information for reporting and assuming
servicing activities in case of servicer or investor claim or default.
AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
Section 255 of the National Housing Act of 1934 authorizes the
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) reverse mortgage program for the
elderly, the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program (12 U.S.C.
1715Z-20). The Housing and Community Development Act of 1987 (42 U.S.C.
3543) specifically provides authority to collect Social Security
numbers.
PURPOSE:
HERMIT integrates the endorsement; insurance servicing; claims
payment; notes servicing, accounting, and reporting requirements of
FHA's HECM insurance program. The HECM program promotes continued
homeownership for the elderly by allowing elderly borrowers to access
the equity in their homes while continuing to live in the property.
HERMIT allows the Secretary to maintain the ``public trust'' over the
HECM program by seamlessly, accurately, and timely managing the HECM
program in an automated environment. HERMIT allows HECM program
personnel to collect and maintain the data necessary to support
activities related to the endorsement of loans and collection of IMIP
and MMIP. The claims process includes the filing of claims for
insurance benefits and disbursement of funds to lenders of loans
insured under the HECM program. Servicing activities include
maintaining the data necessary to support performance requirements of
servicing for FHA-insured and Secretary-held first and second
mortgages. The major activities include acceptance of assignment and
title review, servicing requests for HECM endorsed cases from
mortgagees (due and payable, short sale, preservation and protection
costs, subordination extension requests, and partial releases),
accounting functions, collections according to the Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act, disbursement of payment, annual recertification,
foreclosure activities, bankruptcy activities, and compliance
monitoring. HERMIT provides HECM mortgagees with the ability to
interact with HUD's National Servicing Center (NSC) to improve HECM
loan servicing and to provide an automated claims filing process.
ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C.
Section 552a(b) of the Privacy Act, all or
[[Page 33692]]
a portion of the records or information contained in this system may be
disclosed outside HUD as a routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3)
as follows:
(1) To servicing mortgagee to give notice of miscalculations or
other errors in subsidy computation, to pay claims, or for other
servicing-related functions.
(2) To taxing authorities, insurance companies, homeowners
associations, or condominium associations for maintaining the property
while HUD is the servicer of record to ensure property taxes are
current.
(3) To the U.S. Department of the Treasury for collection and
disbursement transactions (Pay.gov, Automated Clearing House (ACH)).
(4) To title insurance companies or financial institutions to allow
HUD to respond to inquiries for payoff figures on HECM assigned loans.
(5) To recorders' offices for recording legal documents and
responses to bankruptcy courts or other legal responses required during
the servicing of the insured loan to allow HUD to release mortgage
liens, respond to bankruptcies or deaths of mortgagors to protect the
interest of the Secretary of HUD.
(6) To the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate possible
fraud revealed in the course of servicing efforts to allow HUD to
protect the interest of the Secretary.
(7) To an Administrative Law Judge and to the interested parties to
the extent necessary for conducting administrative proceedings where
HUD is a party.
(8) To welfare agencies for fraud investigation to allow HUD to
respond to state government inquiries when a HECM mortgagor is
committed to a nursing home.
(9) To housing counselors to comply with new HECM housing
counseling policies to include training and certification.
(10) To FHA-approved HECM mortgagees to comply with new HECM
statutory requirements and FHA HECM policies issued via mortgagee
letters and updates to Housing handbooks.
(11) To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons to the extent
such disclosures are compatible with the purpose for which the records
in this system were collected, as set forth by Appendix I \1\--HUD's
Routine Use Inventory Notice published in the Federal Register.
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\1\ http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=append1.pdf.
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(12) To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when:
(a) HUD suspects or has confirmed that the security or
confidentiality of information in a system of records has been
compromised;
(b) HUD has determined that as a result of the suspected or
confirmed compromise there is a risk of harm to economic or property
interests, identity theft, or fraud, or harm to the security or
integrity of systems or programs (whether maintained by HUD or another
agency or entity) that rely upon the compromised information; and
(c) The disclosure made to such agencies, entities, and persons is
reasonably necessary to assist in connection with HUD's efforts to
respond to the suspected or confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize,
or remedy such harm for purposes of facilitating responses and
remediation efforts in the event of a data breach.
(13) The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and
the General Services Administration (GSA) for records having sufficient
historical or other value to warrant its continued preservation by the
United States Government, or for inspection under authority of Title
44, Chapter 29, of the United States Code.
(14) A congressional office from the record of an individual, in
response to an inquiry from the congressional office made at the
request of that individual.
POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING,
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
Storage:
Records in this system are stored electronically in secure
facilities. Electronic files are stored in case files on secure servers
and backup files are stored on tapes. Electronic files are replicated
at a disaster recovery offsite location in case of loss of computing
capability or other emergency at the primary facility. HERMIT does not
have paper records.
RETRIEVABILITY:
Electronic records are retrieved by name, SSN, Loan Skey, home
telephone number, personal email address, FHA case number and mortgagee
TIN.
SAFEGUARDS:
Access to electronic records is by: (1) User ID and password and
(2) code identification card access, and limited to authorized users
with an approved need-to-know. In addition to the safeguards provided
by access controls, all electronic data is encrypted while stored on
any systems media within HERMIT or in any transport mode. Servers are
contained in a secured facility with twenty four hours and seven days a
week security, including security guards, electronic access and
surveillance capabilities (Close Caption Television (CCTV) and
recorders, motion detectors, hand geometry readers, and/or fiber vault)
at an offsite location. HERMIT does not have paper records.
RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
In accordance with General Records Schedule 1.1, Financial
Management and Reporting Records, Items 010 and 011, the records are
maintained for six years or when business use ceases. Paper records are
not in use. Backup and Recovery digital media will be destroyed or
otherwise rendered irrecoverable per NIST SP 800-88 ``Guidelines for
Media Sanitization'' (September 2006).
SYSTEM MANAGER AND ADDRESS:
Director, Office of Housing, Office of Finance and Budget,
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street SW.,
Washington, DC 20410.
NOTIFICATION AND RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
For Information, assistance, or inquiries about the existence of
records contact Frieda B. Edwards, Acting Chief Privacy Officer, 451
Seventh Street SW., Room 10139, Washington, DC 20410, telephone number
202-402-6828. When seeking records about yourself from this system of
records or any other HUD system of records, your request must conform
with the Privacy Act regulations set forth in 24 CFR part 16. You must
first verify your identity by providing your full name, current
address, and date and place of birth. You must sign your request, and
your signature must either be notarized or submitted under 28 U.S.C.
1746, a law that permits statements to be made under penalty of perjury
as a substitute for notarization. In addition, your request should:
(1) Explain why you believe HUD would have information on you.
(2) Identify which HUD office you believe has the records about
you.
(3) Specify when you believe the records would have been created.
(4) Provide any other information that will help the FOIA staff
determine which HUD office may have responsive records.
If you are is seeking records pertaining to another living
individual, you must obtain a statement from that individual certifying
their agreement for you to access their records. Without the above
information, the HUD FOIA Office may not be able to conduct an
[[Page 33693]]
effective search, and your request may be denied due to lack of
specificity or lack of compliance with applicable regulations.
CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
The Department's rules for contesting contents of records and
appealing initial denials appear in 24 CFR part 16, Procedures for
Inquiries. Additional assistance may be obtained by contacting Frieda
B. Edwards, Acting Chief Privacy Officer, 451 Seventh Street SW., Room
10139, Washington, DC 20410, or the HUD Departmental Privacy Appeals
Officers, Office of General Counsel, Department of Housing and Urban
Development, 451 Seventh Street SW., Room 10110, Washington, DC 20410.
RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
Records in the system are obtained from FHA-approved HECM
mortgagees and third party providers, mortgagors, taxing authorities,
insurance companies, and Housing counselors. FHA-approved HECM
mortgagees collect the personal information from program participants
(mortgagors) and enter the information into the FHA Connection--HUD's
forward facing Web page portal. The FHA Connection transfers HECM
information to the Computerized Homes Underwriting Management System
(CHUMS). CHUMS updates HERMIT via an authorized interface to provide
HECM information.
SYSTEMS EXEMPTED FROM CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE ACT:
None.
[FR Doc. 2016-12597 Filed 5-26-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P