[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 94 (Tuesday, May 16, 1995)] [Notices] [Pages 26041-26044] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 95-12020] ======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT Office of the Assistant Secretary for Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner [Docket No. R-95-1765; FR-3823-N-02] Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB AGENCY: Office of Administration, HUD. ACTION: Notice. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The proposed information collection requirement described below has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for expedited review, as required by the Paper Reduction Act. The Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal. ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding this proposal. Comments must be received within seven days from the date of this Notice. Comments should refer to the proposal by name and should be sent to: Joseph F. Lackey, Jr., OMB Desk Officer, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20503. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kay F. Weaver, Reports Management Officer, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, Southwest, Washington, DC 20410, telephone (202) 708-0050. This is not a toll-free number. Copies of the proposed form and other available documents submitted to OMB may be obtained from Ms. Weaver. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This Notice informs the public that the Department of Housing and Urban Development has submitted to OMB, for expedited processing, an information collection package with respect to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Title I insurance program. HUD is requesting a 7-day OMB review of this information collection. [[Page 26042]] Section 201.31 of the Title I regulations, relating to payments of insurance charges, has been amended by a final rule that was published in the Federal Register on March 14, 1995 at 60 FR 13854. This rule permits the Secretary to require Title I lenders to pay insurance charges through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) program. The funds for the development of the Title I insurance charge payments system were appropriated by the Deficit Reduction act of 1984). The ACH program is designed to process the collection of Title I charges and accounting data from the lender electronically in lieu of sending checks and HUD forms by mail. The ACH program provides lenders with numerous tangible benefits that should reduce their servicing cost. The advantage of ACH are: (1) Control of payment timing; (2) Banking costs are reduced; (3) Accounting reconciliation is reduced; (4) On-line edits can reduce data errors created by manual recording; (6) ACH payments are fully traceable; (7) The premium payments are drawn down electronically from the lender's designated bank account. The Department has submitted the proposal for the collection of information, as described below, to OMB for review, as required by the Paper work Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35): (1) the title of the information collection proposal; (2) the office of the agency to collect the information; (3) the description of the need for the information and its proposed use; (4) the agency form number, if applicable (5) what members of the public will be affected by the proposal; (6) how frequently information submission will be required; (7) an estimate of the total number of hours needed to prepare the information submission including number of respondents, frequency of response, and hours of response; (8) whether the proposal is new or an extension, reinstatement, or revision of an information collection requirement; and (9) the names and telephone numbers of an agency official familiar with the proposal and of the OMB Desk Officer for the Department. Authority: Section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3507; Section 7(d) of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act, 42 U.S.C. 3535(d). Dated: May 10, 1995. Nicolas P. Retsinas, Assistant Secretary for Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner. Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB Proposal: ACH Program Application Title I Insurance Charge Payments System. Office: Title I Accounting and Servicing Division. Description of the Need for the Information and Its Proposed Use: This information collection is required in connection with the issuance of the Title Letter, which announces the Secretary requiring Title I lenders to pay insurance charges through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) program and the instructions for implementing this rule. The collection of information is needed by the collection agent in order to perform the initial ``set-up'' of the Title I lenders into the ACH system. Form Number: HUD-56150. Respondents: Title I lenders. Frequency of Submission: One Time Only. Reporting Burden: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Number of Frequency of Hours per Burden respondents x response x response = hours ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Application initial ``set-up''......... 3,000 1 0.25 750 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Estimated Burden Hours: 750. Status: New Collection. Contact: Sharron Lipcomb, HUD (202) 708-3611, Joseph F Lackey, Jr., OMB (202) 395-7316. Dated: May 10, 1995. Supporting Statement--Title I Insurance Section and Recordkeeping Requirements A. Justification for the Collection of Information 1. Why the Collection of Information Is Necessary The Department, with guidance from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, has developed an electronic payment system utilizing the Automated Clearing House (ACH). The program is designed to process the collection of Title I insurance charges electronically in lieu of sending checks and HUD-646 forms by mail. Section 201.31 of the Title I regulations, relating to payments of insurance charges, has been amended by the final rule that was published in the Federal Register on March 14, 1995 at 60 FR 13854. This rule permits the Secretary to require Title I lenders to pay insurance charges through the ACH program. A copy of the final rule is attached. The collection of information is needed by the collection agent in order to perform the initial ``set-up'' of the Title I lenders into the ACH system. 2. Use and Need of Information Collected The collection of information is necessary for obtaining needed data from Title I lenders for the initial ``set-up'' in the ACH program by the collection agent. This collection requirement is an ACH preliminary application, HUD-56150, that will be located in the Automated Clearing House (ACH) Title I Insurance Charge Payments User's Manual. 3. Use of Modern Technology Electronic transfer of funds is a recent technology that allows the federal environment a capability that will effectively eliminate the need to either create or accommodate paper transactions as a standard practice of conducting business. The ACH program allows Title I Accounting and Servicing Division to collect insurance charge payments without so much as a sliver of paper being exchanged between the lender and the government. 4. Efforts to Identify Duplication We have carefully reviewed the form and their use, and find no duplication of information. 5. Impact on Small Business Title I lenders with portfolios of fewer than 200 loans may request extensions of up to 12 months to begin making their payments electronically due to technical operational concerns on these lenders. 6. Consequence to Federal Programs This collection of information is for the initial ``set-up'' into the ACH program. The burden involved is considered to be the minimum amount consistent with statutory and regulatory requirements. [[Page 26043]] 7. Special Circumstances for Collection of Information Inconsistent With the Guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.6 Not applicable. 8. Consulting With Persons Outside of HUD Concerning Collection of Information We consulted with the following Title I lenders who voluntarily applied for the Title I ACH program Master Financial Inc., 333 South Anita Drive, Suite 150, Orange, CA 92668, Mr. Christopher Mullins, Vice President, Tel (714) 456-1025 American Savings Mortgage Corp., 108 This Way, P.O. Box 2600, Lake Jackson, TX 77566, Mr. Jerry Nelson, President, Rel. (409) 297-0154 There were no problems with filling out the form. It took approximately 10 minutes per contract number. Most lenders have only one contract number. 9. Assurance of Confidentiality for Respondents All data used by the HUD staff and the collection agent staff is considered confidential and is used for the purpose of lender ``set- up'' into the ACH program. We agree that no employees will disclose or allow disclosure of any such data or derivatives thereof to third parties, except as may be required in the performance of this task. The original application of each client is kept in a locked file with access limited to HUD staff. The collection agent secures a copy of the original application until the lender is ``set-up'' on the ACH system. The form is then secured in a locked file. 10. Additional Justification for Questions of a Sensitive Nature We do not have any questions of a sensitive nature. 11. Annualized Cost to the Federal Government The annualized cost to the federal government for all collections will be ADP staff at $20.00 per staff hour x 0.25 hour, or $5.00 cost per respondent. The annualized cost for 3,000 respondents would be $15,000. This is a one time cost to the government for the initial ``set-up'' in the ACH program. Annualized Cost to the Respondents We estimate the annual cost to be $15.00 per staff hour x 0.25 burden hours, or $3.75 cost per respondent. The annualized cost for 3,000 respondents would be $11,250. This is a one time cost to the respondent for the initial ``set-up'' in the ACH program. The estimate of annualized cost per respondent will vary depending on the number of contract numbers and the method of transmission. The application form takes approximately 10 minutes to complete for the terminal input method. Those lenders using the CPU to CPU transmission will take approximately 15 minutes. This form must be submitted for each contract number. Most of our 3,000 lenders have only one contract number. 12. Burden of Collection of Information HUD fully intends to implement the ACH payment system as the sole method for collecting the Title I insurance charge payments. There are approximately 3,000 Title I lenders. The lenders are required to complete the application form for each contract number to be ``set-up'' on the ACH program. It takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete the form depending on the preferred method of transmission. Description of Information Collection Requirement: One-time application for electronic transmission of funds. Number of Respondents: 3,000 Number of Responses per Respondent: 1 Total Annual Respondents: 3,000 Hours per Response: 0.25 Total Hours: 750 13. Change in Burden This is a new requirement to collect data needed to establish a new process for collecting funds. This collection of information will enable HUD to eliminate the form HUD-646. The application form, HUD- 56150, for the initial ``set-up'' in the ACH program will reduce each lenders paperwork burden by 36 pages a year, or 108,000 decrease in burden for information collection of Title I insurance charge payments. 14. Publishing and Collecting of Information for Statistical Use Not applicable. BILLING CODE 4210-27-M [[Page 26044]] [GRAPHIC][TIFF OMITTED]TN16MY95.251 [FR Doc. 95-12020 Filed 5-15-95; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4210-27-C