Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Extension

AGENCY:

Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “Commission”).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The FTC intends to ask the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) to extend through April 30, 2015, the current Paperwork Reduction Act (“PRA”) clearance for the information collection requirements in four consumer financial regulations enforced by the Commission. Those clearances expire on April 30, 2012.

DATES:

Comments must be filed by May 29, 2012.

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 “Regs BEMZ, PRA Comments, P084812” on your comment and file your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/RegsBEMZpra2 by following the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, mail or deliver 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for additional information or copies of the proposed information requirements should be addressed to Carole Reynolds or Soyong Cho, Attorneys, Division of Financial Practices, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20580, (202) 326-3224.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The four regulations covered by this notice are:

(1) Regulations promulgated under The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, 15 U.S.C. 1691 et seq. (“ECOA”) (“Regulation B”) (OMB Control Number: 3084-0087);

(2) Regulations promulgated under The Electronic Fund Transfer Act, 15 U.S.C. 1693 et seq. (“EFTA”) (“Regulation E”) (OMB Control Number: 3084-0085);

(3) Regulations promulgated under The Consumer Leasing Act, 15 U.S.C. 1667 et seq. (“CLA”) (“Regulation M”) (OMB Control Number: 3084-0086); and

(4) Regulations promulgated under The Truth-In-Lending Act, 15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq. (“TILA”) (“Regulation Z”) (OMB Control Number: 3084-0088).

The FTC enforces these statutes as to all businesses engaged in conduct these laws cover unless these businesses (such as federally chartered or insured depository institutions) are subject to the regulatory authority of another federal agency.

Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”), Public Law 111-203,124 Stat. 1376 (2010), almost all rulemaking authority for the ECOA, EFTA, CLA, and TILA transferred from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on July 21, 2011 (“transfer date”). To implement this transferred authority, the CFPB has published for public comment interim final rules for new regulations in 12 CFR part 1002 (Regulation B), 12 CFR part 1005 (Regulation E), 12 CFR part 1013 (Regulation M), and 12 CFR part 1026 (Regulation Z) for those entities under its rulemaking jurisdiction. Although the Dodd-Frank Act transferred most rulemaking authority under ECOA, EFTA, CLA, and TILA to the CFPB, the Board retained rulemaking authority for certain motor vehicle dealers under all of these statutes and also for certain interchange-related requirements under EFTA.

As a result of the Dodd-Frank Act, the FTC and the CFPB now share the authority to enforce Regulations B, E, M, and Z for entities for which the FTC had enforcement authority before the Act, except for certain motor vehicle dealers. Because of this shared enforcement jurisdiction, the two agencies have divided the FTC's previously-cleared PRA burden between them, except that the FTC retained all of the part of that burden associated with certain motor vehicle dealers (for brevity, referred to in the burden summaries below as a “carve-out”). The division of PRA burden hours not attributable to certain motor vehicle dealers is reflected in the CFPB's recent PRA clearance requests to OMB, as well as in the FTC's burden estimates below.

As a result of the Dodd-Frank Act, the FTC generally has sole authority to enforce Regulations B, E, M, and Z regarding motor vehicle dealers predominantly engaged in the sale and servicing of motor vehicles, the leasing and servicing of motor vehicles, or both. Because the FTC has exclusive jurisdiction to enforce these rules for such motor vehicle dealers, it is including the entire PRA burden for them in the burden estimates below.

Under the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521, Federal agencies must get OMB approval for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. “Collection of information” includes agency requests or requirements to keep records or provide information to a third party. See 44 U.S.C. 3502(3); 5 CFR 1320.3(c). The regulations impose certain recordkeeping and disclosure requirements associated with providing credit or with other financial transactions.

On February 7, 2012, the Commission sought comment on the information collection requirements associated with these four regulations. 77 FR 6114. The Commission received one comment from the National Automobile Dealers Association (“NADA”) pertaining to regulatory burden affecting Regulations B, M, and Z.

NADA stated, as a general matter, that the FTC staff estimates greatly underestimate the recordkeeping, disclosure, and other related compliance requirements for NADA members for the rules at issue, particularly Regulations B, M, and Z. NADA provided two illustrations of this point for Regulations M and Z (discussed and analyzed below under their applicable sub-headings), but did not provide sufficient specific information from which staff could revisit and revise its estimates. Pursuant to the OMB rules, 5 CFR part 1320, that implement the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., the FTC is providing this second opportunity for NADA and the general public to comment while the FTC seeks OMB approval to renew the pre-existing clearance for these rules.

Although all four of the regulations require covered entities to keep certain records, FTC staff believes these records are kept in the normal course of business even absent the particular recordkeeping requirements. Covered entities, however, may incur some burden associated with ensuring that they do not prematurely dispose of relevant records (i.e., during the time span they must retain records under the applicable regulation).

The regulations also require covered entities to make disclosures to third-parties. Related compliance involves set-up/monitoring and transaction-specific costs. “Set-up” burden, incurred only by covered new entrants, includes their identifying the applicable required disclosures, determining how best to comply, and designing and developing compliance systems and procedures. “Monitoring” burden, incurred by all covered entities, includes their time and costs to review changes to regulatory requirements, make necessary revisions to compliance systems and procedures, and to monitor the ongoing operation of systems and procedures to ensure continued compliance. “Transaction-related” burden refers to the time and cost associated with providing the various required disclosures in individual transactions. While this burden varies with the number of transactions, the figures shown for transaction-related burden in the tables that follow are estimated averages.

The required disclosures do not impose PRA burden on some covered entities because they make those disclosures in their normal course of activities. For other covered entities that do not, their compliance burden will vary widely depending on the extent to which they have developed effective computer-based or electronic systems and procedures to communicate and document required disclosures.

Calculating the burden associated with the four regulations' disclosure requirements is very difficult because of the highly diverse group of affected entities. The “respondents” included in the following burden calculations consist of, among others, credit and lease advertisers, creditors, owners (such as purchasers and assignees) of credit obligations, financial institutions, service providers, certain government agencies and others involved in delivering electronic fund transfers (“EFTs”) of government benefits, and lessors. The burden estimates represent FTC staff's best assessment, based on its knowledge and expertise relating to the financial services industry. Staff considered the wide variations in covered entities' (1) Size and location; (2) credit or lease products offered, extended, or advertised, and their particular terms; (3) EFT types used; (4) types and frequency of adverse actions taken; (5) types of appraisal reports utilized; and (6) computer systems and electronic features of compliance operations.

The cost estimates that follow relate solely to labor costs, and they include the time necessary to train employees how to comply with the regulations. Staff calculated labor costs by multiplying appropriate hourly wage rates by the burden hours described above. The hourly rates used were $49 for managerial oversight, $30 for skilled technical services, and $16 for clerical work. These figures are averages drawn from Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Further, the FTC cost estimates assume the following labor category apportionments, except where otherwise indicated below: recordkeeping—10% skilled technical, 90% clerical; disclosure—10% managerial, 90% skilled technical.

The applicable PRA requirements impose minimal capital or other non-labor costs. Affected entities generally already have the necessary equipment for other business purposes. Similarly, FTC staff estimates that compliance with these rules entails minimal printing and copying costs beyond that associated with documenting financial transactions in the ordinary course of business.

1. Regulation B

The ECOA prohibits discrimination in the extension of credit. Regulation B implements the ECOA, establishing disclosure requirements to assist customers in understanding their rights under the ECOA and recordkeeping requirements to assist agencies in enforcement. Regulation B applies to retailers, mortgage lenders, mortgage brokers, finance companies, and others.

Recordkeeping

FTC staff estimates that Regulation B's general recordkeeping requirements affect 530,479 credit firms subject to the Commission's jurisdiction, at an average annual burden of 1.25 hours per firm for a total of 663,099 hours. Staff also estimates that the requirement that mortgage creditors monitor information about race/national origin, sex, age, and marital status imposes a maximum burden of one minute each (of skilled technical time) for approximately 2.25 million credit applications (based on industry data regarding the approximate number of mortgage purchase and refinance originations), for a total of 37,500 hours. Staff also estimates that recordkeeping of self-testing subject to the regulation would affect 1,375 firms, with an average annual burden of one hour (of skilled technical time) per firm, for a total of 1,375 hours, and that recordkeeping of any corrective action as a result of self-testing would affect 10% of them, i.e., 138 firms, with an average annual burden of four hours (of skilled technical time) per firm, for a total of 552 hours. Keeping records of race/national origin, sex, age, and marital status requires an estimated one minute of skilled technical time. Recordkeeping for the self-test responsibility and of any corrective actions requires an estimated one hour and four hours, respectively, of skilled technical time.

Disclosure

Regulation B requires that creditors (i.e., entities that regularly participate in the decision whether to extend credit under Regulation B) provide notices whenever they take adverse action, such as denial of a credit application. It requires entities that extend various types of mortgage credit to provide a copy of the appraisal report to applicants or to notify them of their right to a copy of the report (and thereafter provide a copy of the report, upon the applicant's request). Finally, Regulation B also requires that for accounts which spouses may use or for which they are contractually liable, creditors who report credit history must do so in a manner reflecting both spouses' participation. Further, it requires creditors that collect applicant characteristics for purposes of conducting a self-test to disclose to those applicants that: (1) Providing the information is optional; (2) the creditor will not take the information into account in any aspect of the credit transactions; and (3) if applicable, the information will be noted by visual observation or surname if the applicant chooses not to provide it.

Burden Totals

Recordkeeping: 702,526 hours (625,977 + 76,549 carve-out for motor vehicles); $12,720,734 ($11,384,370 + $1,336,364 carve-out for motor vehicles), associated labor costs.

Disclosures: 1,164,458 hours (1,032,206 + 132,252 carve-out for motor vehicles); $37,146,214 ($32,927,360 + $4,218,854 carve-out for motor vehicles), associated labor costs.

2. Regulation E

The EFTA requires that covered entities provide consumers with accurate disclosure of the costs, terms, and rights relating to EFT and certain other services. Regulation E implements the EFTA, establishing disclosure and other requirements to aid consumers and recordkeeping requirements to assist agencies with enforcement. It applies to financial institutions, retailers, gift card issuers and others that provide gift cards, service providers, various federal and state agencies offering EFTs, remittance transfer providers, etc. Staff estimates that Regulation E's recordkeeping requirements affect 391,120 firms offering EFT services to consumers and that are subject to the Commission's jurisdiction, at an average annual burden of one hour per firm, for a total of 391,120 hours. This is further detailed below.

Burden Totals

Recordkeeping: 391,120 hours (375,881 + 15,239 carve-out); $6,805,488 ($6,540,328 + $265,160 carve-out), associated labor costs.

Disclosures: 4,019,797 hours (4,002,868 + 16,929 carve-out); $128,236,961 ($127,696,924 + $540,037 carve-out), associated labor costs.

3. Regulation M

The CLA requires that covered entities provide consumers with accurate disclosure of the costs and terms of leases. Regulation M implements the CLA, establishing disclosure requirements to help consumers comparison shop and understand the terms of leases and recordkeeping requirements. It applies to vehicle lessors (such as auto dealers, independent leasing companies, and manufacturers' captive finance companies), computer lessors (such as computer dealers and other retailers), furniture lessors, various electronic commerce lessors, diverse types of lease advertisers, and others.

Staff estimates that Regulation M's recordkeeping requirements affect approximately 54,442 firms within the FTC's jurisdiction leasing products to consumers at an average annual burden of one hour per firm, for a total of 54,442 hours.

In its comment NADA observed that preliminary reports from dealers suggest that the FTC estimate for Regulation M advertising compliance, as applied to lease advertisements for motor vehicle dealers, is understated. NADA, however, focused on the FTC estimate of 15 seconds for required disclosures in individual transactions, here, for advertisements. It is “set-up/monitoring” burden, defined above, though, that addresses the time (and associated labor cost) applicable to systems review and monitoring for continued compliance. For lease advertising, estimated setup/monitoring burden is a half-hour.

As noted above, the Commission's jurisdiction covers a highly diverse universe of entities. The population of affected motor vehicle dealers is one component of a much larger universe of such entities. Thus, the FTC's estimates may understate some entities' actual experience and perhaps overstate others'. On balance, though, FTC staff believes these estimates are a fair reflection for the overall universe affected, and the estimates factor into consideration that PRA “burden” does not include effort expended in the ordinary course of business, independent of regulatory requirements.

Burden Totals

Recordkeeping: 54,442 hours (40,558 + 13,884 carve-out); $947,288 ($705,712 + $241,576 carve-out), associated labor costs.

Disclosures: 68,403 hours (42,139 + 26,264 carve-out); $2,182,050 ($1,344,228 + $837,822 carve-out), associated labor costs.

4. Regulation Z

Congress enacted the TILA to foster comparison credit shopping and informed credit decision making by requiring creditors and others to provide accurate disclosures regarding the costs and terms of credit to consumers. Regulation Z implements the TILA, establishing disclosure requirements to assist consumers and recordkeeping requirements to assist agencies with enforcement. These requirements pertain to open-end and closed-end credit and apply to various types of entities, including mortgage companies; finance companies; auto dealerships; private education loan companies; merchants who extend credit for goods or services; credit advertisers; acquirers of mortgages; and others.

In its comment, NADA stated that Regulation Z closed-end credit advertising requires much more than one minute of review for individual dealers to gauge compliance with disclosure requirements. As with its point about the FTC's estimate for lease advertising under Regulation M, NADA focused here on the FTC estimate of the time per disclosure in an individual transaction, here, for advertisements, rather than on the time for “set-up/monitoring.” Under the latter category of PRA burden, the FTC estimate is a half-hour.

NADA also stated that the estimated burden total appears to assume an average of two transactions per respondent for advertising, with an average burden per transaction of one minute. NADA stated that automobile dealers advertise hundreds, if not thousands of vehicles per year in print, on television, radio, and on sometimes numerous Web sites and other electronic media, and that many are subject to Regulation Z. Again, we note that PRA “burden” does not include effort expended in the ordinary course of business, independent of regulatory requirements. Here, too, as with the other regulations discussed above, we have sought to focus on average incremental PRA burden for the overall—and broad—universe of affected entities.

Commission staff estimates that Regulation Z's recordkeeping requirements affect approximately 530,479 entities subject to the FTC's jurisdiction, at an average annual burden of 1.25 hours per entity, for a total of 663,099 hours. This is further detailed below along with estimates for disclosures under Regulation Z.

Burden Totals

Recordkeeping: 663,099 hours (586,900 + 76,199 carve-out); $11,537,924 ($10,212,060 + $1,325,864 carve-out), associated labor costs.

Disclosures: 12,000,274 hours (10,957,621 + 1,042,653 carve-out); $382,858,568 ($349,597,924 + $33,260,644 carve-out), associated labor costs.

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 May 29, 2012. Write “Regs BEMZ, PRA Comments, P084812” 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 http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of discretion, the Commission tries to remove individuals' home contact information from comments before placing them on the Commission Web site.

Because you comment will be made public, you are solely responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any sensitive personal information, like anyone'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, like medical records or other individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not include any “[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information which is obtained from any person and which is privileged or confidential” as provided in 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). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.

If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained in FTC Rule 4.9(c)). Your comment will be kept confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the public interest.

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/RegsBEMZpra2 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 “Regs BEMZ, PRA Comments, P084812” on your comment and on the envelope, and mail or deliver it to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex J) 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580. If possible, 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 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, however, are subject to delays due to heightened security precautions. Thus, comments instead should be sent by facsimile to (202) 395-5167.

Visit the Commission Web site at to read this Notice and the news release describing it. 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 May 29, 2012. You can find more information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in the Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.