CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST

– SUPPORTING STATEMENT

Supporting Statement for Consumer Complaint Intake System Company Portal Boarding Form Information Collection System

(OMB CONTROL NUMBER: 3170

- 00XX )30 DAY NOTICE

1 Table of C ontents

Terms of Clearance

................................ ................................ ................................ ....................... 2

Abstract

................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .......... 2

A. Justification

................................ ................................ ................................ ............................ 2

1. Circumstances Necessitating the Data Collection

................................ ................................ ... 2

2. Use of the Information

................................ ................................ ................................ ............. 3 3. Use of Information Technology

................................ ................................ ............................. 3 4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

................................ ................................ ................................ 3

5. Efforts to Minimize Burdens on Small Entiti es

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

................... 4 7. Circumstances Requiring Special Informatio n Collection

................................ ...................... 4 8. Consultation Outside the Agency

................................ ................................ ........................... 4 9. Payments or Gifts to Respondents

................................ ................................ .......................... 6 10. Assurances of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents

................................ ..................... 6 11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

................................ ................................ .................... 6

12. Estimated Burden of Information Collection

................................ ................................ ....... 7 13. Estimated Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents or Recordkeepers

............................. 7

14. E stimated Cost to the Federal Government

................................ ................................ .......... 8 15. Program Changes or Adjustments

................................ ................................ ........................ 8 16. Plans for Tabulation, Statistical Analysis, a nd Publication

................................ .................. 8

Tabulation Plans

................................ ................................ ...... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Publication Plans

................................ ................................ ..... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Project Time Schedule

................................ ............................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

17. Display of Expiration Date

................................ ................................ ................................ ... 8

18. Exceptions to the Certification Requirement

....................... Error! Bookmark not defined.30 DAY NOTICE

2 

### Terms of Clearance

Not applicable. This is a request for a new OMB control number.



### Abstract

The Dodd

- Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protec tion Act, Public Law 111

- 203, Title X, provides for CFPB’s consumer complaint handling function. Among other things, the CFPB is to facilitate the centralized collection of, monitoring of, and response to complaints concerning consumer financial products and services. To support the appropriate routing of complaints to the companies that are the subjects of the complaints, the CFPB is developing a form which will allow companies to proactively participate in the CFPB’s Company Portal (Company Portal), a s ecure, web

- based interface between the CFPB’s Office of Consumer Response (Consumer Response) and companies. The Company Portal allows companies to view and respond to complaints submitted through the CFPB’s complaint handling system. Many companies have sought to register with the Company Portal before consumer complaints have been submitted to the CFPB about their companies to ensure early notice of potential complaints and allow companies’ users to acclimate to the software and security protocols neede d to access the Company Portal. The CFPB’s proposed Form, the Company Portal Boarding Form (Boarding Form), will serve to streamline information collection from these companies, result in a greatly enhanced and efficient experience from both the consumers and companies’ perspectives.



### A. Justification

1. Circumstances Necessitating the Data Collection

Following the receipt of a consumer complaint, Consumer Response verifies the identity of the company that is the subject of the complaint prior to sending the complaint to the company. Post

- complaint submission gathering of information from a company that is specifically named by a complainant in order to review the submitted complaint has not presented PRA concerns as a collection of information obtained during an agency complaint investigation. 1 However, the current approach to collecting company information, which is triggered by a consumer complaint submission, does not take into account companies who wish to proactively join the Company Portal to faci litate early notice of complaint submissions, before any complaint has been submitted against them. These companies understand that by enrolling in the Company Portal proactively, they can greatly reduce the time required to access and respond to their fi rst consumer complaint because the needed Internet website link, software, and

1 44 U.S.C. § 3518(c)(2); 5 C.F.R. § 1320.4(b).30 DAY NOTICE

3 security protocols will have already been established. The CFPB's consumer complaint intake system Company Portal Boarding Form ( Boarding Form) will serve to streamline informa tion collected from respondent companies, resulting in a greatly enhanced and efficient consumer experience.

The Company Portal Boarding Form will be used to collect information from companies that will help identify the correct company to include organiz ation information, identification of company representatives, affiliate relationships, licensure, business identification numbers and consumer market presence. Moreover, companies are encouraged to voluntarily provide their logos to help consumers identif y companies through brand recognition.

2. Use of the Information

Information collected from companies completing the Boarding Form will support due diligence authentication of company identity, inform complaint processing, and give companies’

users secur e web portal a ccess to complaint information.

3. Use of Information Technology

The CFPB has created, and will continue to improve, a system that provides companies and their representatives with the ability to submit their complaints electronically, an d give companies’ authorized users secure web portal access to complaint information. The CFPB will use enhancements such as drop down menus and error checks when possible to minimize burden.

The currently proposed Boarding Form provides a comprehensive list of questions to be posed to companies’ representatives through collections that will be primarily mail

- in (paper), facsimile, and web

- based. The form of questions will include open

- ended and closed

- ended (e.g., multiple choice) along with free

- form text boxes.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

This information collection request does not seek to duplicate any other form being developed by other Federal or State agencies. The information collections proposed will improve the processing of individua l consumer complaints and inquiries. The CFPB strives to integrate cutting

- edge technology to make the process efficient and user

- friendly for companies.

5. Efforts to Minimize Burdens on Small Entities

Some small businesses and other small entities ma y be involved in the proposed information collections. For instance, a small business engaging in offering or providing a consumer financial product or service or hired by a large financial institution to help process consumer complaints may choose to enr oll voluntarily in the Company Portal with the idea of30 DAY NOTICE

4 future use of the Company Portal to view consumer complaints. However, all of the information collections proposed under this request are voluntary and are not anticipated to burden small

businesses s ignificantly. The CFPB will minimize any burden by requesting readily available information and using the easy

- to

- complete proposed Boarding Form.

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

The collection of complaints from consumers and crafting appropriate agency responses are the primary functions of the CFPB under section 1021(c)(2) of the Dodd

- Frank Act. 2 The submission of company information by companies and their representatives using the Boarding

Form will be v oluntary. If the proposed Boarding Form collections are not conducted, the CFPB will not be able to maximize the efficiency of complaint handling in partnership with proactive companies. The Bureau is directed by the Dodd

- Frank Act to “establish... reasona ble procedures to provide a timely response to [consumer complaints] against, or inquiries concerning” companies. 3

7. Circumstances Requiring Special Information Collection

There are no special circumstances. The collection of information is conducted in a manner consistent with the guidelines in 5 C.F.R. § 1320(5)(d)(2).

8. Consultation Outside the Agency

The CFPB submitted the Company Boarding Form to be piloted under the Generic

Clearance in November 2014 . OMB provided approval to pilot the Company Boarding Form for a six month period. The CFPB has incorporated changes it learned during the course of this pilot period into the new form.

On December 4, 2014 , the CFPB published a Notice and Request for Comment (“the notice”) on the proposed Bo arding Form. 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.

The Bureau received 5 comments in response to the notice , 4 of which were responsive

. Comments included the following entities : The Association of Credit and Collection Professionals ( ACA International ) ; CashAmerica International Inc. ; American Land Title

Associati on; and American Fi nancial Services Association. The commenters were generally supportive of this type of information collection. Several commenters stated that the Boarding

Form would make the consumer complaint handling process more streamlined and eff icient

. Commenters also indica ted that this information would ensure that complaints are routed to the appropriate companies.

2 Codified at 12 U.S.C. § 5511(c)(2).

3 12 U.S.C. § 5534(a).30 DAY NOTICE

5 C ommenters stated that companies should not be required to list every subsidiary or affiliate, particularly those who do not provide consumer financial products or services. The Bureau asks that companies only list subsidiaries and affiliates that provide consumer financial products or services, and whose businesses would impact CFPB’s routing of consumer complaints.

Several c ommenters stated that the Boarding Form should be revised to only require basic questions that are essential to routing complaints to companies. These commenters suggested that information that goes beyond these basic questions, including providing a poi nt of contact at the parent company ; the tax ID and state license information for the company’s

subsidiaries and affiliates ; and the name of the individual for which the license is registered ; should be categorized as optional

. Currently, the CFPB only re quires information that would allow it to authenticate companies and route consumer complaints to them. The information that is cited by these commenters is essential to routing consumer complaints to companies. The

Bureau uses this information to authen ticate and validate companies to ensure that they receive complaints that are actually meant for them. The Bureau use s industry standards for business

- to

business authentication to determine what information is required on the Boarding Form. Gathering th is information decreases the operational burden to companies by ensuring that they only receive complaints that are meant for them.

One commenter voiced concerns about its ability to inform the CFPB of on

- going business identity fraud. The Bureau has es tablished processes for companies who experience business identity fraud. For example, if a company receives a complaint that is the result of fraud, it has the option of sending the complaint back to the CFPB with an administrative response. This admini strative response allows the company to provide a substantive explan ation

of the fraud to the CFPB. One commenter also inquired as to whether the CFPB would provide training on how to fill out the Boarding Form. The CFPB provides companies with clear

ins tructions on how to fill out the Boarding Form. The Bureau also provides on

- going support for companies who have questions about the boarding process

. Additionally, companies can seek further guidance by sending questions to CFPB _StakeholderSupport@cfpb .gov

.

CashAmerica suggested that they would like an opportunity to add additional information

to the Boarding Form , including (1) a place for businesses to list different licenses for various products that they have in different states and (2) the abili ty to provide multiple logos for companies that operate with more than one. The Bureau agrees with these comments, and asks

that these companies provide this additional information as attachments to the Boarding Form.

Several commenters also noted that t he list of company products in Section E, Question 21, is too restrictive. These commenters suggested that a box for “other” should be included, with an opportunity to write in the primary product. The CFPB agrees with these commenters, and in

response t o these comments, has added an “other” category to the list of primary products that companies can choose from. Furthermore, the CFPB has changed the question and now instead asks companies to choose as many products as applica ble to their business. This is to ensure that companies with several different products can correctly and easily fill out the Boarding Form.30 DAY NOTICE

6 American Financial Services Association (“AFSA”) inquired as to whether companies that have already boarded need to re

- register using the n ew Boar ding Form. The Bureau plans to periodically update the information for all companies over time. This will involve re

- sending the Boarding Form to ensure that complaints are routed to the appropriate company . AFSA also inquired as to what happens if a company does not provide either all or parts of the information on the Boarding Form. In instances where all the required information is not provided on the Boarding Form, the Bureau will follow up with the company to ensure that it has had an

opport unity to provide the necessary information needed to board. Companies that fail to provide all the required information on the Boarding Form will not be boarded onto the company portal, and will not receive consumer complaints that are filed against them.

Comments received in response to the above referenced 60

- day Federal Register notice are available on regulations.gov at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=CFPB

- 2014

- 00 32

9. Payment s or Gift s to Respondents

The proposed information collections do not provide any payment or gift to respondents.

10. Assurance s of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents

All information collection activities will conform to the require ments for the protection of the confidentiality of nonpublic information and personally identifiable information and for data security and integrity set forth in federal privacy laws, including the CFPB’s rules (12 C.F.R. §1070 et seq.) and the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. § 552a). 4 At the point of information collection, individuals will be provided with the CFPB’s Privacy Act statement. The CFPB will implement the appropriate security measures to ensure data is safeguarded including the use of locked file

stor age, confidentiality stamping, restricted system access, data encryption, restricted print options and disposal by cross

- cut shredding. 5 The Company Portal system will be fully compliant with the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 with th e security category of “ High , Moderate, Low.”

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

4 For the related System of Record Notice (SORN), s ee https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2014/04/16/2014

- 08555/privacy

- act

- of

- 1974

- as

amended

5 The E

- Government Act of 2002, Section 208, establishes the requirement for agencies to conduct privacy impact assessments (PIAs) and demonstrate the agencies ’ commitment to protect the privacy of any personal information collected, stored, retrieved, used and shared. For the PIA related to the Company Portal, see http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201303_CFPB_PIA

- Consumer

- Response

- System.pdf

.30 DAY NOTICE

7 While the proposed Boarding Form seeks to gather commercial information generally available to the public, the proposed Boarding Form may request that companies and t heir representatives provide sensitive information. For instance, some companies may use social security numbers as primary business entity identifiers (e.g., sole proprietorships). While it is likely social security numbers used as business identificati on numbers may be accessed by the public, company representatives’ SSNs will not be disclosed and will be held in an encrypted system for their protection.

12. Estimated Burden of Information Collection

Respondents will include companies that are the su bjects of consumer complaints and companies that are service providers of the companies that are the subjects of consumer complaints. Based on c urrent records, CFPB estimates that during the first 5 years of the new company boarding process about 1,500

com panies will submit an initial Company Boarding Form each year. We also anticipate sending a revision form to each of these companies on an annual basis. Further, there are currently 3,000 companies boarded (See OMB No. 3170

- 0042) and CFPB estimates that th at on average each company will submit two revisions per year for the 5,000 companies we will have boarded for a total of 10,000 revisions per year.

The CFPB has created a process to allow companies that need to make revisions to do so in an

efficient and streamlined manner. If a company needs to make revisions to the Boarding Form, the CFPB will provide it with a completed form, allowing the company to only fill out the sections that need to be revised. This was done to reduce the burden on companies tha t need to make revisions to the Boarding

Form.

Type of Information

Collection Estimated

Number of Respondents Frequency

of Response Estimated

Number

of Annual Responses Average

Burden

Hours

per Intake Estimated

Total

Annual

Burden

Hours Requested

Com pany Portal Boarding Form (Initial Intake) 1,500 1x 1,500 .25 375

Revisions 5,000 2 x 10,000 .08 800

Total: 1,500* //////////////// 11,500 //////////// 1,175

*Companies that submit revision are a subset of those that submitted an initial Company Boardin g Form; therefore, the estimated total of annual Respondents is about 1,500.

13. Estimated Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents

There will be no annualized capital or start

- up costs for the respondents to collect and

submit this information.30 DAY NOTICE

8 14. Est imated Cost to the Federal Government

Generally, companies will be provided a copy of the form electronically. Costs may be incurred for printing and mail distribution of the document for approximate ly 2,500 com panies at a cost of $2.20 per document (i.e ., 8 pages, copy costs at $0.15 per page, and postage is $1.00), for a total cost of $5,500.

15. Program Changes or Adjustments

This is a new form; therefore, the entire burden associated with this information collection request is considered a program c hange.

16. Plans for Tabulation , Statistical Analysis, and Publication

Data collected through the Boarding Form will be analyzed and may be provided in annual reports to be issued by the CFPB to Congress. In particular, under Section 1013(b)(3)(c)

of the Dodd

- Frank Act, the CFPB provides reports to Congress containing information and analysis about complaint numbers, types, and where applicable, resolution. The CFPB may publish trend reports based on aggregate data in summaries, reports, and briefings. Presentations of analyses may include frequency, classification, and cross

- tabulation across consumer financial products or services, demographic and economic characteristics, and financial management

behavior.

17. Display of Expiration Date

The expirat ion dates for OMB approval will be displayed or otherwise provided to respondents for all information collections proposed. Further, the OMB control number and expiration date will be displayed on the Federal government’s electronic PRA docket at www.regin fo.gov.”

18. Exceptions to the Certification Requirement

The Bureau certifies that this collection of information is consistent with the requirements of 5 C.F.R. §1320.9, and the related provisions of 5 C.F.R. §1320.8(b)(3) and is not seeking an

exempt ion to these certification requirements.

B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

This information collection does not employ statistical methods. Due to the limitations of the proposed voluntary information collections, most import antly the absence of randomized sample selections, the responses will not be representative of any larger group. Because any30 DAY NOTICE

9 aggregate results of the proposed information collections will not be statistically valid representations of a larger group, and a re not meant to be, statistical methods cannot reduce or improve the accuracy of results.