[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 185 (Tuesday, September 26, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44873-44875]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-20530]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency


Agency Information Collection Activities: Information Collection 
Revisions; Comment Request; Regulation C; Fair Housing Home Loan Data 
System Regulation

AGENCY: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Treasury.

ACTION: Notice and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork 
and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal 
agencies to take this opportunity to comment on a continuing 
information collection as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995 (PRA).
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not 
required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a 
currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number.
    The OCC is soliciting comment concerning the revisions of 
information collections titled ``Regulation C'' and ``Fair Housing Home 
Loan Data System Regulation.''

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before November 27, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Because paper mail in the Washington, DC area and at the OCC 
is subject to delay, commenters are encouraged to submit comments by 
email, if possible. Comments may be sent to: Legislative and Regulatory 
Activities Division, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 
Attention: 1557-0176; 1557-0159, 400 7th Street SW., Suite 3E-218, Mail 
Stop 9W-11, Washington, DC 20219. In addition, comments may be sent by 
fax to (571) 465-4326 or by electronic mail to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c8b8baa9a1a6aea788a7ababe6bcbaada9bbe6afa7be"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3b4b495a52555d547b545858154f495e5a48155c544d">[email protected]</span></a>. 
You may personally inspect and photocopy comments at the OCC, 400 7th 
Street SW., Washington, DC 20219. For security reasons, the OCC 
requires that visitors make an appointment to inspect comments. You may 
do so by calling (202) 649-6700 or, for persons who are deaf or hard of 
hearing, TTY, (202) 649-5597. Upon arrival, visitors will be required 
to present valid government-issued photo identification and submit to 
security screening in order to inspect and photocopy comments.
    All comments received, including attachments and other supporting 
materials, are part of the public record and subject to public 
disclosure. Do not include any information in your comment or 
supporting materials that you consider confidential or inappropriate 
for public disclosure.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shaquita Merritt, OCC Clearance 
Officer, (202) 649-5490 or, for persons who are deaf or hard of 
hearing, TTY, (202) 649-5597, Legislative and Regulatory Activities 
Division, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 400 7th Street 
SW., Washington, DC 20219.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal 
agencies must obtain approval from the OMB for each collection of 
information that they conduct or sponsor. ``Collection of information'' 
is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 1320.3(c) to include agency 
requests or requirements that members of the public submit reports, 
keep records, or provide information to a third party. Section 
3506(c)(2)(A) of title 44 requires Federal agencies to provide a 60-day 
notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of 
information, including each proposed revision of an existing collection 
of information, before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. 
To comply with this requirement, the OCC is publishing this notice.
    Titles: Regulation C; Fair Housing Home Loan Data System 
Regulation.
    OMB Control Nos.: 1557-0176; 1557-0159.
    Type of Review: Regular review.
    Description: Regulation C,\1\ which implements the Home Mortgage 
Disclosure Act \2\ (HMDA) enacted in 1975, requires certain depository 
and non-depository institutions that make certain mortgage loans to 
collect, report, and disclose data about originations and purchases of 
mortgage loans, as well as loan applications that do not result in 
originations. HMDA generates loan data that can be used to: (1) Help 
determine whether financial institutions are serving the housing needs 
of their communities; (2) assist public officials in distributing 
public-sector investments so as to attract private investment to areas 
where it is needed; and (3) assist in identifying possible 
discriminatory lending patterns and enforcing anti-discrimination 
statutes.
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    \1\ 12 CFR part 1003.
    \2\ 12 U.S.C. 2801-2811.
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    The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 
2010 \3\ (the Dodd-Frank Act) transferred HMDA and its rulemaking 
authority from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 
(Board) to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and 
transferred supervisory and enforcement authority for HMDA for 
depository institutions over $10 billion in consolidated assets from 
the Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, OCC, and National 
Credit Union Administration to the CFPB.
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    \3\ Public Law 111-203, July 21, 2010.
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    The CFPB published a final rule on October 28, 2015, that expanded 
the data collected and reported under HMDA, as implemented by 
Regulation C, and published a final rule on September 13, 2017, with 
additional corrections and clarifications (final rules). The final 
rules also modified the types of lenders and loans covered under 
Regulation C. First, for data collected in 2017, and reported in 2018, 
the rule simply reduces the number of institutions covered under 
Regulation C because only depositories originating more than 25 closed 
end loans must report. Then, starting January 1, 2018, an institution 
will collect expanded data under HMDA if it either originates 25 or 
more closed-end mortgage loans or 500 or more open-end lines of credit 
secured by a dwelling in each of the two preceding years, in addition 
to meeting other criteria. These institutions will begin reporting the 
expanded HMDA data in 2019. Starting in 2020, an institution will 
collect data on open-end lines of credit if it originates more than 100 
open-end lines of credit secured by a dwelling in each of the two 
preceding years (and report that open-end lines of credit data 
beginning in 2021). An

[[Page 44874]]

institution also will collect and report covered loans and applications 
quarterly if it received a total of at least 60,000 covered loans and 
applications in the preceding calendar year. An institution must report 
a covered loan if it has met the loan origination threshold for that 
loan category (open-end or closed-end); an institution that is not 
required to report data may voluntarily do so.
    In addition, the types of loans covered under Regulation C will 
change under the final rules beginning in 2018. Covered institutions 
will be required to collect and report any mortgage loan secured by a 
dwelling, including open-end lines of credit, regardless of the loan's 
purpose. Dwelling-secured loans that are made principally for a 
commercial or business purpose, as well as agricultural--purpose loans 
and other specified loans will be excluded.
    HMDA requires covered institutions to collect, record, report, and 
disclose information about their mortgage lending activity. Currently, 
Regulation C requires a covered institution to collect and report data 
about:
    <bullet> Each application or loan, including the application date; 
the action taken and the date of that action; the loan amount; the loan 
type (for example, government guaranteed or not) and purpose (for 
example, home purchase); and, if the loan is sold, the type of 
purchaser;
    <bullet> Each applicant or borrower, including ethnicity, race, 
sex, and income; and
    <bullet> Each property, including location and occupancy status.
    Beginning in 2018, the final rules will require collection of 
additional data, which covered institutions will report in 2019:
    <bullet> Additional information about the applicant or borrower, 
such as age and credit score;
    <bullet> Information about the loan pricing, such as the borrower's 
total cost to obtain a mortgage, temporary introductory rates, and 
borrower-paid origination charges;
    <bullet> Information about loan features, such as the loan term, 
prepayment penalties, or non-amortizing features (such as interest only 
or balloon payments); and
    <bullet> Additional information about property securing the loan, 
such as property value and property type.
    In addition, existing requirements, including the requirements for 
collection and reporting of information regarding an applicant's or 
borrower's ethnicity, race and sex are being amended.
    The Fair Housing Act \4\ prohibits discrimination in the financing 
of housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, 
familial status, or handicap. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act \5\ 
(ECOA) prohibits discrimination in any aspect of a credit transaction 
on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital 
status, age, receipt of income from public assistance, or exercise of 
any right under the Consumer Credit Protection Act \6\ (CCPA). The OCC 
is responsible for ensuring that national banks and federal savings 
associations comply with those laws. This information collection is 
needed to promote compliance and for the OCC to fulfill its statutory 
responsibilities.
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    \4\ 42 U.S.C. 3605.
    \5\ 15 U.S.C. 1691 et seq.
    \6\ 15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.
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    The OCC uses the data collected pursuant to part 27 to determine 
whether an institution treated applicants consistently and made credit 
decisions commensurate with the applicants' qualifications and in 
compliance with the ECOA and the Fair Housing Act.
    The information collection requirements in part 27 are as follows:
    <bullet> 12 CFR 27.3(a) requires national banks that are required 
to collect data on home loans under Regulation C \7\ to present the 
data on Form FR HMDA-LAR,\8\ or in automated format in accordance with 
the HMDA-LAR instructions. Section 27.3(a) also lists exceptions to the 
HMDA-LAR recordkeeping requirements. Federal savings associations are 
also required to report this information to the OCC pursuant to 12 CFR 
128.6 and Regulation C.
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    \7\ This regulation has been transferred to the CFPB (12 CFR 
part 1003).
    \8\ Loan Application Register, http://www.ffiec.gov/hmda/pdf/hmdalar2011.pdf.
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    <bullet> 12 CFR 27.3(b) lists the information national banks shall 
attempt to obtain from an applicant as part of a home loan application 
and sets forth the information that banks must disclose to an 
applicant.
    <bullet> 12 CFR 27.3(c) sets forth additional information national 
banks must maintain in the loan file.
    <bullet> 12 CFR 27.4 states that the OCC may require a national 
bank to maintain a Fair Housing Inquiry/Application Log found in 
Appendix III to part 27 if there is reason to believe that the bank is 
engaging in discriminatory practices or if analysis of the data 
compiled by the bank under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (12 U.S.C. 
2801 et seq.) and Regulation C indicates a pattern of significant 
variation in the number of home loans between census tracts with 
similar incomes and home ownership levels differentiated only by race 
or national origin. Section 27.4(a)(2) also requires a log if 
complaints filed with the Comptroller or letters in the Community 
Reinvestment Act file are found to be substantive in nature, indicating 
that the bank's home lending practices are, or may be, discriminatory.
    <bullet> 12 CFR 27.5 requires a national bank to maintain the 
information required by Sec.  27.3 for 25 months after the bank 
notifies the applicant of action taken on an application or after 
withdrawal of an application.
    <bullet> 12 CFR 27.7 requires a national bank to submit the 
information required by Sec. Sec.  27.3(a) and 27.4 to the OCC upon its 
request prior to a scheduled examination using the Monthly Home Loan 
Activity Format form in Appendix I to part 27 and the Home Loan Data 
Form in Appendix IV to part 27. Section 27.7(c)(3) states that a bank 
with fewer than 75 home loan applications in the preceding year will 
not be required to submit such forms unless the home loan activity is 
concentrated in the few months preceding the request for data, 
indicating the likelihood of increased activity over the subsequent 
year, or there is cause to believe that a bank is not in compliance 
with the fair housing laws based on prior examinations and/or 
complaints, among other factors.
    <bullet> Sec.  27.7(d) provides that if there is cause to believe 
that a bank is in noncompliance with fair housing laws, the Comptroller 
may require submission of additional Home Loan Data Submission Forms. 
The Comptroller may also require submission of the information 
maintained under Sec.  27.3(a) and Home Loan Data Submission Forms at 
more frequent intervals.
    OCC-regulated institutions have access to a CFPB-developed web-
based data submission and edit-check system (the HMDA Platform) that 
may be used to process HMDA data. Some institutions, typically those 
with small volumes of reported loans or those that do not use a vendor 
or other software to prepare their HMDA data for submission, still need 
to use a software solution for integrating HMDA data from paper records 
or electronic systems. Therefore, the CFPB created a prototype ``LAR 
Formatting Tool'' which will allow financial institutions with small 
volumes of reported loans, or those that do not use a vendor or other 
software to prepare their HMDA data for submission, to enter HMDA data 
and to create a pipe delimited text file to upload to the HMDA 
Platform. The institution can then proceed through the

[[Page 44875]]

interactive Web pages of the HMDA Platform to process HMDA data.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit.
    Burden Estimates:
    Regulation C:
    2017:
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 702.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 3,384,342 hours.
    2018:
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 702.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 959,232 hours.
    2019:
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 702.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 959,232 hours.
    Fair Housing Home Loan Data System Regulation:
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 956.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 19,864 hours.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Comments: Comments submitted in response to this notice will be 
summarized and included in the request for OMB approval. All comments 
will become a matter of public record. Comments are invited on:
    (a) Whether the collections of information are necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the OCC, including whether the 
information has practical utility;
    (b) The accuracy of the OCC's estimates of the information 
collection burden;
    (c) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected;
    (d) Ways to minimize the burden of the collection on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology; and
    (e) Estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.

    Dated: September 20, 2017.
Karen Solomon,
Deputy Chief Counsel, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
[FR Doc. 2017-20530 Filed 9-25-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4810-33-P


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