Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 56 / Tuesday, March 24, 2015 / Notices 15583 

32 45 CFR 164.514. 

Database where consent for publication 

is first obtained from the consumer. 

Only those narratives for which opt-in 

consumer consent is obtained and a 

robust personal information scrubbing 

standard and methodology is applied 

will be eligible for disclosure. 

B. Consumer Consent To Disclose 

Narratives 

The Bureau intends to disclose only 

narratives for which informed consent 

has been obtained and that have been 

scrubbed for personal information. To 

obtain informed consumer consent, the 

Bureau plans to give consumers who 

submit a complaint the opportunity to 

check a consent box, with 

accompanying language that will state, 

among other things, and in plain 

language, that: (1) Whether or not 

consent is given will not otherwise 

impact how the Bureau handles the 

complaint; (2) if given, the consumer 

may thereafter inform the Bureau that 

the consumer withdraws consent at any 

time and the narrative will be removed 

from the Consumer Complaint Database; 

and (3) the Bureau will take reasonable 

steps to remove personal information 

from the complaint to address risk of reidentification. 

C. Personal Information Scrubbing 

Standard and Methodology 

Sharing data containing personal 

information presents a tension between 

data utility and individual privacy. As 

a particular personal information 

scrubbing standard becomes more or 

less stringent, the utility of a given deidentified dataset may become 

respectively less or more useful. 

Within its judgment and discretion, 

and in order to address the risk of reidentification, the Bureau intends to 

apply to all publicly-disclosed 

narratives a robust personal information 

scrubbing standard and methodology. In 

designing its scrubbing standard, the 

Bureau relied heavily on guidance by 

the Department of Health and Human 

Services regarding de-identification of 

health data, as outlined in the Health 

Insurance Portability and 

Accountability Act (‘‘HIPAA’’) Privacy 

Rule.32 The Bureau’s current scrubbing 

standard is modeled after the HIPAA 

Safe Harbor Method, which is generally 

considered to represent a best practice 

for de-identifying data. In addition to 

adopting (and removing) most of the 

specific HIPAA identifiers, the Bureau 

also plans to remove: (1) Demographic 

information such as gender, age, race, 

and ethnicity; (2) appropriate analogues 

to HIPAA identifiers in the consumer 

financial domain, e.g., credit card 

numbers; and (3) identifiers which the 

Bureau knows appear in complaints and 

could reasonably be used to identify 

individuals, e.g., personal information 

pertaining to third parties other than the 

company that is the subject of the 

complaint. All consumer complaint data 

shared via the Consumer Complaint 

Database will be subject to this standard 

and methodology, including, e.g., ZIP 

code. The Bureau plans to make this 

scrubbing standard available on the 

Bureau’s Web site. The scrubbing 

methodology contemplates a computerbased automated step and a quality 

assurance step or steps performed by 

human reviewers. 

D. Company Response 

The Bureau plans to give companies 

the opportunity to respond publicly to 

the substance of the consumer 

complaints they receive from the 

Bureau. Within the secure web portal 

companies use to respond to 

complaints, the Bureau intends to add a 

set list of structured company response 

options; a responding company will be 

given an opportunity to recommend to 

the Bureau which option, if any, it 

would like included as a public-facing 

response to address the substance of the 

consumer’s complaint. Companies will 

be under no obligation to avail 

themselves of this opportunity. 

E. Continuous Improvement 

The Bureau plans to implement a 

testing and continuous improvement 

process to ensure that as applied, the 

Bureau’s standard and methodology for 

scrubbing personal information 

adequately protects consumers. The 

Bureau intends to continue to adjust its 

scrubbing standard and methodology, 

guided by the goal of simultaneously 

maximizing data utility and individual 

privacy. 

VI. Effect of Policy Statement 

This Policy Statement is intended to 

provide information regarding the 

Bureau’s plans to exercise its discretion 

to publicly disclose certain data derived 

from consumer complaints. The Policy 

Statement does not impose any legal 

obligations on third parties, nor does it 

create or confer any substantive or 

procedural rights on third parties that 

could be enforceable in any 

administrative or civil proceeding. 

Dated: March 12, 2015. 

Richard Cordray, 

Director, Bureau of Consumer Financial 

Protection. 

[FR Doc. 2015–06722 Filed 3–23–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4810–AM–P 

BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL 

PROTECTION 

[Docket No. CFPB–2015–0013] 

Request for Information Regarding the 

Consumer Complaint Database 

AGENCY: Consumer Financial Protection 

Bureau. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

information. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Consumer 

Financial Protection (the ‘‘Bureau’’) is 

issuing a Notice and Request for 

Information (‘‘RFI’’) to solicit and 

collect input from the public on the 

potential collection and sharing of 

consumer compliments about providers 

of consumer financial products and 

services and more information about a 

company’s complaint handling. 

DATES: Submit comments on or before 

May 26, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit responsive 

information and other comments, 

identified by Docket No. CFPB–2015– 

0013, by any of the following methods: 

• Electronic: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Mail: Monica Jackson, Office of the 

Executive Secretary, Consumer 

Financial Protection Bureau, 1700 G 

Street NW., Washington, DC 20552. 

• Hand Delivery/Courier: Monica 

Jackson, Office of the Executive 

Secretary, Consumer Financial 

Protection Bureau, 1275 First Street NE., 

Washington, DC 20002. 

Instructions: The Bureau encourages 

the early submission of comments. All 

submissions must include the document 

title and docket number. Because paper 

mail in the Washington, DC area and at 

the Bureau is subject to delay, 

commenters are encouraged to submit 

comments electronically. In general, all 

comments received will be posted 

without change to http:// 

www.regulations.gov. In addition, 

comments will be available for public 

inspection and copying at 1275 First 

Street NE., Washington, DC 20002, on 

official business days between the hours 

of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time. You 

can make an appointment to inspect the 

documents by telephoning (202) 435– 

7275. 

All submissions, including 

attachments and other supporting 

materials, will become part of the public 

record and subject to public disclosure. 

Sensitive personal information, such as 

account numbers or Social Security 

numbers, should not be included. 

Submissions will not be edited to 

remove any identifying or contact 

information. 

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15584 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 56 / Tuesday, March 24, 2015 / Notices 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

submission process questions please 

contact Monica Jackson, Office of the 

Executive Secretary, at (202) 435–7275. 

For inquires related to the substance of 

this request, please contact Scott Pluta, 

at (202) 435–7306. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Authority: 12 U.S.C. 5511(c). 

Background: The Bureau, established 

under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street 

Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 

2010 (‘‘Dodd-Frank Act’’), hears directly 

from the American public about their 

experiences with the nation’s consumer 

financial marketplace. An important 

element of the Bureau’s mission is the 

handling of individual consumer 

complaints regarding consumer 

financial products and services. In June 

2012, the Bureau began making certain 

de-identified individual-level complaint 

data available via its Web-based, public 

facing database (the ‘‘Consumer 

Complaint Database’’). Since launch, the 

Consumer Complaint Database has been 

expanded multiple times to include 

additional consumer financial products 

and data fields. Concurrent with this 

RFI, the Bureau is publishing a final 

policy statement to provide guidance on 

how the Bureau plans to exercise its 

discretion to disclose publicly 

unstructured consumer complaint 

narrative data via the Consumer 

Complaint Database. As part of the 

public comment process associated with 

that policy, several trade associations 

and companies commented that the 

Consumer Complaint Database should 

include positive feedback in 

conjunction with complaint narratives. 

One commenter suggested that if the 

Database is to function as a marketplace 

of ideas, then it should reflect the entire 

market and not solely consumers 

submitting complaints. Several trade 

associations stated that if the database is 

to be likened to private Web-based 

review sites, then positive feedback is 

necessary. 

Current Bureau Operations: The 

Bureau currently collects and shares 

some positive feedback regarding 

company complaint handling. For 

example, the public Consumer 

Complaint Database currently shares 

information that can be used to 

highlight a company’s positive 

complaint handling relative to its peers, 

e.g., whether company responses are 

timely or disputed by the consumer. 

Positive Consumer Feedback: Broadly 

speaking, the Bureau conceives of two 

potential avenues for sharing positive 

consumer feedback about companies: (1) 

By providing more information about a 

company’s complaint handling, and (2) 

by collecting and providing consumer 

compliments (independent of the 

complaint process). Each will be 

discussed in turn. 

1. Company Complaint Handling 

In 2014, the Bureau sent 

approximately 156,600 consumer 

complaints to companies for response. 

In 2013 and 2012, that figure was 

113,200 and 75,400, respectively. When 

a company receives a complaint from 

the Bureau, it has 15 calendar days for 

its initial response and up to 60 

calendar days to provide a final 

response. The company reviews the 

information, communicates with the 

consumer as needed, and determines 

what action to take in response. Once 

the company responds, the Bureau 

alerts the consumer and invites him or 

her to review the response and provide 

feedback. 

The data shared via the Consumer 

Complaint Database can reveal positive 

company behavior. The purposes of 

publishing the Consumer Complaint 

Database include providing consumers 

with timely and understandable 

information about consumer financial 

products and services, and improving 

the functioning, transparency, and 

efficiency of markets for such products 

and services. Consumer complaints are 

a natural part of doing business. 

Therefore, it is not the existence of a 

routine complaint, by itself, that draws 

the attention of the market, but instead 

it is factors such as the number of 

complaints relative to comparable 

companies, how a company handles its 

complaints, the patterns and categories 

that identify and show the frequency of 

certain complaints, and perhaps the 

occasional notable fact pattern. The 

Bureau believes there are opportunities 

to highlight positive company behavior 

within at least the first two of these 

characteristics—relative volume and 

quality of response to the consumer. 

With this RFI, the Bureau is specifically 

interested in responses that identify 

potential ways the Bureau could record, 

calculate, standardize, sort, share, and 

visualize the data associated with the 

consumer complaints the Bureau sends 

to companies in ways that reveal 

positive company behavior. The 

following represents a non-exhaustive 

list of potential metrics that the Bureau 

could share on its Web site: 

i. Total number of complaints, by 

product and issue. 

ii. Normalized number of complaints 

by company, by product and issue. 

iii. Company Final Responses. 

Controlling for other variables, e.g., 

product and issue, comparison of how 

companies choose to close complaints. 

iv. Timeliness and speed: 

a. Average time between complaint 

receipt and initial/final response. 

b. Frequency of exceeding either the 

15 or 60 day allowance. 

v. Consumer Sentiment Analysis. 

Refers to the use of automated textual 

analysis to identify and extract 

subjective information in source 

materials, e.g., classifying the various 

complaint narratives fields across a 

spectrum of emotional states. 

The Bureau also seeks comment on a 

potential adjustment of the consumer 

‘‘dispute’’ function. Under one potential 

scenario, the dispute function would be 

replaced with a two-part consumer 

feedback process. The consumer would 

have the ability to rate the company’s 

handling of his or her complaint on a 

one to five scale of satisfaction and 

provide a description in support of the 

rating. Positive feedback about the 

company’s handling of the consumer’s 

complaint would be reflected by both 

high satisfaction scores and by the 

narrative in support of the score. The 

Bureau would consider whether and 

how these data elements could be 

disclosed to the public. 

The Bureau is also seeking input on 

the most effective and user-friendly 

ways to make the above data available 

to the public. The ability to download 

the raw data may be an option. Other 

options may include comparison tools, 

dashboards, and visualizations. Lastly, 

the Bureau could release tables listing, 

e.g., the ‘‘Top Ten’’ (and bottom) 

companies across some number of the 

above metrics. The Bureau is interested 

in hearing not only whether the public 

believes these to be good ideas, but 

mechanically how they could work. The 

following represents some of the issues 

to be considered: 

• Timing. How often should the lists 

be updated, e.g., daily, weekly, monthly, 

quarterly? 

• Normalization. Should the lists 

include normalized results or just those 

metrics that do not require 

normalization, e.g., time from receipt to 

final company response? 

• Size Threshold. Should there be a 

minimum complaint volume threshold 

to be included on the list? 

• Metrics. Which metric should be 

subject to listing, e.g., volume of 

normalized complaints, types of 

resolutions, consumer satisfaction/ 

dispute rates, consumer sentiment? 

2. Compliments 

Outside of the Bureau’s current 

complaint handling operation, another 

possible avenue for highlighting 

positive company behavior would be to 

solicit, collect, and share consumer 

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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 56 / Tuesday, March 24, 2015 / Notices 15585 

compliments. This could entail a new 

submission type, channel, and process 

for the Bureau as well as a new database 

to list such compliments. The Bureau is 

seeking input from the public on this 

idea generally, as well as focused 

comments across the following 

elements: 

a. Channel 

The Bureau maintains a feature on its 

Web site called Tell Your Story, which 

gives consumers the opportunity to 

share their experiences with consumer 

financial products and services. These 

submissions are reviewed by CFPB staff 

and help the Bureau understand current 

issues in the financial marketplace. This 

channel could operate as-is and 

instances of consumer compliments 

could be shared with the public (with 

the appropriate consumer consent). 

Alternatively, Tell Your Story could be 

altered to solicit consumer compliments 

more directly. Or a new channel could 

be launched that is specifically designed 

to intake only consumer compliments. 

The Bureau requests public comment on 

the possibility of expanding the Tell 

Your Story channel, and/or specific 

suggestions for alternate channels to 

facilitate positive feedback. 

b. Operations 

As detailed previously, consumer 

complaints follow a specific process 

path, from the consumer to the Bureau 

to the company and back to the 

consumer. If the Bureau established a 

new database to intake and publish 

consumer compliments, should the 

same process apply? How should the 

Bureau confirm that a commercial 

relationship exists between the 

consumer submitting the compliment 

and the company? Specifically, should 

consumer compliments be sent to the 

relevant company for the company to 

confirm that a commercial relationship 

exists between the consumer and the 

company? Are there any other 

operational considerations that would 

benefit the public that the Bureau 

should consider when designing, 

developing, and implementing a system 

for collecting consumer compliments? 

c. Disclosure 

The Consumer Complaint Database 

does not disclose every complaint the 

Bureau receives. Examples of 

complaints that are withheld from 

disclosure include complaints where 

the commercial relationship could not 

be confirmed, complaints that are 

referred to other regulators, complaints 

where the information is incomplete, 

complaints involving ongoing litigation 

with the company, and anonymous 

complaints. As with complaints, the 

Bureau would have to determine (1) 

what elements of a consumer 

compliment to disclose publicly, and (2) 

which compliments should be excluded 

from disclosure, and (3) how scrubbing 

and consent should be applied. The 

Bureau is seeking input from the public 

on these questions. 

Creative and Innovative Solutions. 

The above framework for considering 

positive company feedback should be 

considered as just that, a framework. 

The Bureau is seeking innovative and 

creative input on the idea of 

highlighting positive consumer 

experiences and company performance. 

Therefore, while the above provides 

some focus for this solicitation, the 

Bureau is hopeful that it will receive a 

number of innovative ideas that it can 

evaluate and potentially implement. 

Dated: March 12, 2015. 

Richard Cordray, 

Director, Bureau of Consumer Financial 

Protection. 

[FR Doc. 2015–06707 Filed 3–23–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4810–AM–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Office of the Secretary 

[Docket ID: DoD–2015–OS–0023] 

Privacy Act of 1974; System of 

Records 

AGENCY: United States European 

Command, DoD. 

ACTION: Notice to add a new system of 

records. 

SUMMARY: The United States European 

Command proposes to add a new 

system of records, AEUCOM 01, entitled 

‘‘United States European Command 

(USEUCOM) Security Clearance 

Database’’ in its existing inventory of 

records systems subject to the Privacy 

Act of 1974, as amended. This system 

will be used to verify current access for 

personnel assigned to or visiting 

USEUCOM. It will also be used as an 

electronic request manager for 

scheduling Sensitive Compartmented 

Information indoctrinations, issuing 

badges, requesting access to spaces, and 

processing clearance certifications for 

visitors to USEUCOM or for USEUCOM 

personnel visiting other organizations. 

DATES: Comments will be accepted on or 

before April 23, 2015. This proposed 

action will be effective the day 

following the end of the comment 

period unless comments are received 

which result in a contrary 

determination. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by dock number and title, by 

any of the following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. 

Follow the instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Mail: Federal Docket Management 

System Office, 4800 Mark Center Drive 

East Tower, 2nd Floor, Suite 02G09, 

Alexandria, VA 22350–3100. 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the agency name and 

docket number for this Federal Register 

document. The general policy for 

comments and other submissions from 

members of the public is to make these 

submissions available for public 

viewing on the Internet at http:// 

www.regulations.gov as they are 

received without change, including any 

personal identifiers or contact 

information. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

Mayra Lazala-Stock, USEUCOM FOIA/ 

PA Support Specialist, USEUCOM, Unit 

30400, APO AE 09131–0400, telephone: 

011–49–711–680–7161. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

United States European Command 

notices for systems of records subject to 

the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), 

as amended, have been published in the 

Federal Register and are available from 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT or 

from the Defense Privacy and Civil 

Liberties Division Web site at http:// 

dpcld.defense.gov. 

The proposed systems reports, as 

required by 5 U.S.C. 552a(r) of the 

Privacy Act, were submitted on January 

27, 2015, to the House Committee on 

Oversight and Government Reform, the 

Senate Committee on Homeland 

Security and Governmental Affairs, and 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) pursuant to paragraph 4c of 

Appendix I to OMB Circular No. A–130, 

‘‘Federal Agency Responsibilities for 

Maintaining Records About 

Individuals,’’ dated February 8, 1996 

(February 20, 1996, 61 FR 6427). 

Dated: March 19, 2015. 

Aaron Siegel, 

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison 

Officer, Department of Defense. 

AEUCOM 01 

SYSTEM NAME: 

United States European Command 

(USEUCOM) Security Clearance 

Database 

SYSTEM LOCATION: 

ECJ6 HQ USEUCOM, Patch Barracks 

Stuttgart, Unit 30400, APO, AE 09131– 

0400, Germany 

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