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CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU

INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST – SUPPORTING STATEMENT

“POLICY TO ENCOURAGE TRIAL DISCLOSURE PROGRAMS; INFORMATION 

COLLECTION”

(OMB CONTROL NUMBER: 3170-XXXX)

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Circumstances Necessitating the Data Collection

The Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act) 

authorizes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) to provide certain legal 

protections to companies to conduct trial disclosure programs. See 15 U.S.C. 5532(e). Section 

5532(e) requires that the Bureau’s exercise of this authority be subject to “specified standards 

and procedures.” See 15 U.S.C. 5532(e)(1). On December 17, 2012, the Bureau published a 

proposed policy to meet this requirement. The Bureau has since revised the proposed policy. 

The Bureau has attached the revised proposal to this Supporting Statement as Exhibit A 

(Proposed Policy). As the Proposed Policy explains, approved trial disclosure programs enable 

companies to test the effectiveness of disclosures that would otherwise violate federal disclosure 

requirements. 

The Proposed Policy invites companies that want to conduct such trial disclosure programs to 

submit their proposals to the Bureau for consideration. The Proposed Policy also lays out a 

number of eligibility criteria for such proposals to meet. (See Ex. A, Section A, “Eligibility.”) 

These criteria call for the submission of certain information with the proposal, such as the 

revised disclosures to be tested, the name of the company that will use them in the test, the 

reasons that the company expects the disclosures to be an improvement over current disclosures, 

the metrics for testing the effectiveness of the revised disclosures, and so on. 

There are two main purposes for the use of these eligibility criteria. First, the specific criteria are 

intended to help the Bureau identify trial disclosure proposals that hold the potential to 

demonstrate improvements in disclosure to consumers, while controlling appropriately for risks 

to consumers. Second, by using standardized criteria across all submitters, the Bureau will be 

better placed to assess the merits of different proposals relative to each other. 

2. Use of the Information

The Proposed Policy makes clear that trial disclosure proposals will not be considered for 

approval unless they meet the listed eligibility criteria. The proposer of the program should

supply the information listed under the “Eligibility” section of the Proposed Policy. The 

suggested means is via email, although arrangements can be made for the use of regular mail. 

The Bureau will use this information to filter trial disclosure proposals into two streams. 

Proposals in the first stream will be eligible for further Bureau consideration and potentially 

Bureau approval under Section 5532(e). (Section B of the Proposed Policy describes the factors 
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that the Bureau will consider when assessing eligible proposals for approval. See Ex. A.) 

Proposals in the second stream will be ineligible for approval. 

In addition to providing a standardized basis for assessing eligibility, the criteria, as noted above, 

serve to identify proposed programs that carry the potential for developing and verifying 

disclosure improvements, while controlling for risks to consumers. The criteria control 

consumer risk in two ways. First, the criteria direct proposers to describe the scope of the 

proposed trial program: what will be tested, on whom, for how long, and subject to a waiver of 

which federal disclosure statutes and rules. Second, the criteria direct proposers to identify risks 

to consumers, and the steps that the program will take to mitigate those risks effectively.

 

3. Use of Information Technology

The Proposed Policy will use a designated email address for the submission of information that 

establishes program eligibility. (There is no standard form involved. Submitters must provide 

documentation showing that they meet the eligibility criteria stated in the Proposed Policy.)

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

The information is particular to each test disclosure program proposal. It is not collected by 

other regulators or any other party.

5. Efforts to Minimize Burdens on Small Entities

The Bureau does not anticipate significant impact on small businesses or small entities. 

Submissions of proposals are entirely voluntary. In addition, the burden of providing the 

eligibility information is not significant. The Bureau anticipates that some smaller entities, 

including start-up ventures, will have interest in the program. The concept behind the program is 

too new to offer any basis for assessing how many proposals will come from institutions of 

different size.

6. Consequences of Less Frequent Collection and Obstacles to Burden Reduction

Information about eligibility will be provided only by those companies who wish to submit 

proposed trial disclosure programs. There is no requirement on any party to propose such 

programs. 

There is no meaningful way for the Bureau to conduct the collection less frequently unless the 

Bureau were to dispense with eligibility criteria altogether, which would risk the approval of 

inappropriate and risky programs and might potentially conflict with the statutory requirement to 

approve programs “subject to specified standards and procedures.” No commenter suggested the 

elimination of the eligibility criteria – or of any particular criterion. 

7. Circumstances Requiring Special Information Collection
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There are no special circumstances. The collection of information is conducted in a manner 

consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).

8. Consultation Outside the Agency

In accordance with 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1), on December 17, 2012, the Bureau published a notice in 

the Federal Register allowing the public 60 days to comment on the proposed policy. (See 77 

FR 74625). The Bureau received a number of comments in response. Most of these comments 

concerned the proposal overall, and not the specific component deemed to be an information 

collection. (The Bureau also held a number of stakeholder meetings and external conference 

calls about the proposed policy. These were intended to call attention to the proposed policy and 

to invite comments in response to it.) The Bureau responded to comments as explained in detail 

in the revised proposed policy, which is attached hereto. (See Ex. A). 

Further, in accordance with 5 CFR 1320.5(a)(1)(iv), the Bureau has published a notice in the 

Federal Register allowing the public 30 days to comment on the submission of this information 

collection request to the Office of Management and Budget. In addition, the Bureau intends to 

publish a blog posting that will alert the public both to the Bureau’s disclosure of the Proposed 

Policy and to the opportunity to comment on the submission of this information collection 

request. 

9. Payments or Gifts to Respondents

No payments or gifts are provided to respondents.

10. Assurances of Confidentiality

The Proposed Policy describes the information that the Bureau will disclose about approved trial 

disclosure programs. (See Ex. A, Section D.) Some of that information will reflect information 

submitted to satisfy the eligibility criteria, such as the identity of testing companies and the 

disclosure to be used. Eligibility criteria information not disclosed in this manner will be subject 

to disclosure under the Bureau’s Rule on Disclosure of Records and Information. See 12 CFR 

1070 et seq. For example, the rule requires the Bureau to make available records requested by 

the public unless they are subject to a FOIA exemption or exclusion. See 12 CRF 1070.14.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

This information collection does not include questions of a sensitive nature.

12. Estimated Burden of Information Collection

As indicated in the original version of the Proposed Policy, the Bureau estimates that it will 

receive between 2 and 10 responses annually. It also estimates that the burden to make a 

submission on the eligibility criteria will be between 2 to 10 hours per respondent. No 

commenter questioned these estimates.
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The Bureau, therefore, estimates that the total annual burden for the information collections 

contained in the Proposed Policy would not exceed 100 hours. 

10 respondents x 10 hours per response = 100 hours.

13. Estimated Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents or Recordkeepers 

There are no capital/start-up or ongoing operation/maintenance costs associated with this 

information collection.

14. Estimated Cost to the Federal Government

The only costs involved for the Bureau are those required to review the submission to verify that 

a program is eligible for further consideration. While the overall assessment of a given program 

proposal may require significant analysis, the verification that the objective eligibility criteria are 

met will involve a straightforward binary determination for each criterion based on a review of 

the submission. We estimate that this will not take more than a single employee more than two 

to three hours per submission. Therefore, the Bureau will incur no additional or unique costs as 

a result of this collection of information.

15. Program Changes or Adjustments

Not applicable. This is a new collection. 

16. Plans for Tabulation, Statistical Analysis, and Publication

As noted, the complete package of information submitted to demonstrate compliance with the 

eligibility criteria are not intended for tabulation or publication. Certain items of information 

contained in such a submission—including the identity of the testing party, the disclosure to be 

tested, the duration of its intended use—will be disclosed by the Bureau if the program proposal 

is specifically approved by the Bureau. This is described in Section D of the Proposed Policy at 

Exhibit A. As noted there, the Bureau will make this disclosure on its website.

17. Display of Expiration Date

In accordance with 5 CFR 1320.8(c)(1)(iii), the Bureau will display the OMB control number 

and expiration date in the notice of final policy when published in the Federal Register.

18. Exceptions to the Certification Requirement

The Bureau certifies that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies 

with 5 CFR 1320.9 and is not seeking any exception to the requirements as contained therein.