[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 112 (Tuesday, June 13, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27064-27066]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-12191]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request; Extension
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'').
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The FTC intends to ask the Office of Management and Budget
(``OMB'') to extend for an additional three years the current Paperwork
Reduction Act (``PRA'') clearance for the FTC's enforcement of the
information collection requirements in its ``Fair Credit Reporting
Risk-Based Pricing Regulations'' (``RBP Rule''), which applies to
certain motor vehicle dealers, and its shared enforcement with the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (``CFPB'') of the risk-based
pricing provisions (subpart H) of the CFPB's Regulation V regarding
other entities. That clearance expires on July 31, 2017.
DATES: Comments must be filed by July 13, 2017.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment online or on paper, by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``RBP Rule, PRA Comment,
P145403,'' on your comment and file your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/rbprulepra2 by following the
instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file your comment
on paper, write ``RBP Rule, PRA Comment, P145403'' on your comment and
on the envelope, and mail your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex
J), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your
comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of
the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor,
Suite 5610, Washington, DC 20024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Katherine White, Attorney, Division of
Privacy and Identity Protection, Bureau of Consumer Protection, (202)
326-2878, 600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Room CC-8232, Washington, DC
20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 3, 2017, the FTC sought public
comment on the information collection requirements (creditor
disclosures to consumers) associated with the RBP Rule and the
Commission's shared enforcement with the CFPB of subpart H of
Regulation V (March 3, 2017 Notice \1\) and the FTC's associated PRA
burden analysis. One relevant comment was received.\2\ The commenter,
the National Automobile Dealers Association (``NADA''), observed that
many dealers face compliance costs beyond those that the FTC had
estimated for respondents to modify and distribute notices:
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\1\ 82 FR 12452.
\2\ https://www.ftc.gov/policy/public-comments/initiative-702.
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(a) Obtaining those reports, including (i) the direct costs from
the CRA's, (ii) the personnel costs associated with obtaining the
reports, and (b) the direct and indirect costs of properly handling,
storing, and disposing of that sensitive personally identifiable
information.
Additionally, NADA contended that the FTC's estimate of hours
burden does not contemplate the burden associated with ``obtaining, and
properly handling, storing, and disposing of the information in the
[credit] reports.''
The FTC believes that its burden estimates do not need to be
increased. NADA's suggestion that compliance with the Rule compels its
members to purchase consumer credit scores is incorrect. Automobile
dealers, and all other respondents, are covered by the Rule only if
they already use consumer reports and/or credit scores to set the terms
of credit they offer to consumers. Because respondents already are
using consumer reports and have access to the information necessary to
provide the notices, the Rule does not impose, directly or indirectly,
the additional cost of purchasing consumer reports or credit scores.
NADA's comment focuses on automobile dealers that are engaged in
three-party financing transactions, in which a dealer agrees to extend
financing to a consumer and then assigns the loan to a third party,
such as a bank or financing company. In this scenario, automobile
dealers will obtain certain personal information from consumers, along
with an authorization to obtain their consumer reports, and will shop
the information to several potential financing sources. These financing
sources will pull consumer reports in order to determine the ``buy
rate'' at which the financing source would agree to purchase the
contract. The automobile dealer uses a consumer report in setting the
retail financing rate for the credit because it uses the ``buy rate''
offered by the third-party financing source to set the rate offered to
the consumer. In some instances, the dealer may not have physically
accessed the consumer report. Nevertheless, the FTC has always
maintained that the Rule covers these dealers since they are the
original creditor in a transaction that uses a consumer report in
connection with an application for, or a grant, extension, or other
provision of, credit. The FTC's interpretation of the Rule was upheld
by the DC District Court in Nat'l Auto Dealers Ass'n v. FTC, 854 F.
Supp. 2d 65 (D.D.C. May 22, 2012).
This interpretation that dealers are ``original'' creditors under
the Rule does not impose the vast costs that NADA suggests. As the
court in Nat'l Auto Dealers Ass'n noted in its decision, ``. . . given
the preexisting channels between financing sources and auto dealers (to
convey, for example, credit applications and loan rates), the dealer
could get the credit information from the financing source as well . .
. [the FTC's interpretation] does not mandate an impossibility nor does
it obligate them to purchase a consumer report.'' \3\ Indeed, the
dealer could require simply that the financing source pass on to the
dealer the credit score it obtained on the consumer. Although the Rule
does allow dealers to comply by providing all consumers with their
credit scores, nothing in the Rule mandates this course of action.
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\3\ Nat'l Auto Dealers Ass'n v. FTC, 864 F. Supp. 2d 65, n.17
(D.D.C. May 22, 2012).
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Moreover, automobile dealers already handle, maintain, store, and
dispose of sensitive personal information about consumers (e.g., credit
applications, financing contracts etc.). Thus, the FTC does not believe
that the Rule imposes an additional burden when it comes to the
handling, storing, and disposing of consumer report information.
Pursuant to the OMB regulations, 5 CFR part 1320, that implement
the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., the FTC is providing this second
opportunity for public comment while seeking OMB approval to renew
clearance for the FTC's calculated share of the associated PRA burden
for the underlying disclosure requirements.
Burden statement:The burden figures below present estimates of the
number of applicable motor vehicle dealers subject to the FTC's RBP
Rule \4\ and their assumed recurring disclosure burden, in addition to
the estimated number of and burden for other entities over which the
FTC shares enforcement burden with the CFPB under subpart H of
Regulation V. For more details about the creditor notifications
required and the basis for the calculations summarized below, see the
March 3, 2017 Notice.
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\4\ The FTC retains rulemaking authority for its RBP Rule solely
for motor vehicle dealers described in section 1029(a) of the Dodd-
Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Pub. L. 111-
203, 124 Stat. 1376 (2010)) that are predominantly engaged in the
sale and servicing of motor vehicles, the leasing and servicing of
motor vehicles, or both.
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Title: Fair Credit Reporting Risk-Based Pricing Regulations.
OMB Control Number: 3084-0145.
Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.
Estimated number of respondents: 160,250.
Estimated Annual Burden: 9,652,500 hours and $174,127,650 \5\ in
associated labor costs.
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\5\ Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economic News Release, March 31,
2017, Table 1, ``National employment and wage data from the
Occupational Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 2016'':
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.htm. This is an update of the
labor information used in the March 3, 2017 Notice. The newer table
shows $18.11 as the mean hourly wage for correspondence clerks, an
increase from $17.47 previously used.
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Estimated Capital or Other Non-Labor Costs: The FTC believes that
the FTC and CFPB rules impose negligible capital or other non-labor
costs, as the affected entities are likely to have the necessary
supplies and/or equipment already (e.g., offices and computers) for the
information collections discussed above.
Request for Comment: You can file a comment online or on paper. For
the Commission to consider your comment, we must receive it on or
before July 13, 2017. Write ``RBP Rule, PRA Comment, P145403,'' on your
comment. Your comment--including your name and your state--will be
placed on the public record of this proceeding, including to the extent
practicable, on the public Commission Web site, at https://www.ftc.gov/policy/public-comments.
Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/rbprulepra2, by following the instructions on the web-based form.
If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also
may file a comment through that Web site.
If you file your comment on paper, write ``RBP Rule, PRA Comment,
P145403'' on your comment and on the envelope, and mail your comment to
the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the
Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex J),
Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center,
400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610, Washington, DC 20024. If
possible, please submit your paper comment to the Commission by courier
or overnight service.
Comments on the information collection requirements subject to
review under the PRA should additionally be submitted to OMB. If sent
by U.S. mail, they should be addressed to Office of Information and
[[Page 27066]]
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk
Officer for the Federal Trade Commission, New Executive Office
Building, Docket Library, Room 10102, 725 17th Street NW., Washington,
DC 20503. Comments sent to OMB by U.S. postal mail are subject to
delays due to heightened security precautions. Thus, comments instead
can also be sent via email to [email protected].
Because your comment will be placed on the publicly accessible FTC
Web site at https://www.ftc.gov/, you are solely responsible for making
sure that your comment does not include any sensitive or confidential
information. In particular, your comment should not include any
sensitive personal information, such as your or anyone else's Social
Security number; date of birth; driver's license number or other state
identification number, or foreign country equivalent; passport number;
financial account number; or credit or debit card number. You are also
solely responsible for making sure that your comment does not include
any sensitive health information, such as medical records or other
individually identifiable health information. In addition, your comment
should not include any ``trade secret or any commercial or financial
information which . . . is privileged or confidential''--as provided by
Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2),
16 CFR 4.10(a)(2)--including in particular competitively sensitive
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas,
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
Comments containing material for which confidential treatment is
requested must be filed in paper form, must be clearly labeled
``Confidential,'' and must comply with FTC Rule 4.9(c). In particular,
the written request for confidential treatment that accompanies the
comment must include the factual and legal basis for the request, and
must identify the specific portions of the comment to be withheld from
the public record. See FTC Rule 4.9(c). Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the General Counsel grants your request in
accordance with the law and the public interest. Once your comment has
been posted on the public FTC Web site--as legally required by FTC Rule
4.9(b)--we cannot redact or remove your comment from the FTC Web site,
unless you submit a confidentiality request that meets the requirements
for such treatment under FTC Rule 4.9(c), and the General Counsel
grants that request.
Visit the FTC Web site to read this Notice. The FTC Act and other
laws that the Commission administers permit the collection of public
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that
it receives on or before July 13, 2017. For information on the
Commission's privacy policy, including routine uses permitted by the
Privacy Act, see https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy.
David C. Shonka,
Acting General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2017-12191 Filed 6-12-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P