[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 94 (Tuesday, May 16, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26041-26044]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-12020]



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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Housing-Federal Housing 
Commissioner
[Docket No. R-95-1765; FR-3823-N-02]


Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB

AGENCY: Office of Administration, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The proposed information collection requirement described 
below has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for expedited review, as required by the Paper Reduction Act. The 
Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this proposal. Comments must be received within seven days from the 
date of this Notice. Comments should refer to the proposal by name and 
should be sent to: Joseph F. Lackey, Jr., OMB Desk Officer, Office of 
Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 
20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kay F. Weaver, Reports Management Officer, Department of Housing and 
Urban Development, 451 7th Street, Southwest, Washington, DC 20410, 
telephone (202) 708-0050. This is not a toll-free number. Copies of the 
proposed form and other available documents submitted to OMB may be 
obtained from Ms. Weaver.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This Notice informs the public that the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development has submitted to OMB, for 
expedited processing, an information collection package with respect to 
the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Title I insurance program. HUD 
is requesting a 7-day OMB review of this information 
collection. [[Page 26042]] 
    Section 201.31 of the Title I regulations, relating to payments of 
insurance charges, has been amended by a final rule that was published 
in the Federal Register on March 14, 1995 at 60 FR 13854. This rule 
permits the Secretary to require Title I lenders to pay insurance 
charges through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) program.
    The funds for the development of the Title I insurance charge 
payments system were appropriated by the Deficit Reduction act of 
1984).
    The ACH program is designed to process the collection of Title I 
charges and accounting data from the lender electronically in lieu of 
sending checks and HUD forms by mail. The ACH program provides lenders 
with numerous tangible benefits that should reduce their servicing 
cost. The advantage of ACH are: (1) Control of payment timing; (2) 
Banking costs are reduced; (3) Accounting reconciliation is reduced; 
(4) On-line edits can reduce data errors created by manual recording; 
(6) ACH payments are fully traceable; (7) The premium payments are 
drawn down electronically from the lender's designated bank account.
    The Department has submitted the proposal for the collection of 
information, as described below, to OMB for review, as required by the 
Paper work Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35):
    (1) the title of the information collection proposal;
    (2) the office of the agency to collect the information;
    (3) the description of the need for the information and its 
proposed use;
    (4) the agency form number, if applicable
    (5) what members of the public will be affected by the proposal;
    (6) how frequently information submission will be required;
    (7) an estimate of the total number of hours needed to prepare the 
information submission including number of respondents, frequency of 
response, and hours of response;
    (8) whether the proposal is new or an extension, reinstatement, or 
revision of an information collection requirement; and
    (9) the names and telephone numbers of an agency official familiar 
with the proposal and of the OMB Desk Officer for the Department.

    Authority: Section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 
U.S.C. 3507; Section 7(d) of the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development Act, 42 U.S.C. 3535(d).

    Dated: May 10, 1995.
Nicolas P. Retsinas,
Assistant Secretary for Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner.

Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB

Proposal: ACH Program Application Title I Insurance Charge Payments 
System.
Office: Title I Accounting and Servicing Division.
Description of the Need for the Information and Its Proposed Use: This 
information collection is required in connection with the issuance of 
the Title Letter, which announces the Secretary requiring Title I 
lenders to pay insurance charges through the Automated Clearing House 
(ACH) program and the instructions for implementing this rule. The 
collection of information is needed by the collection agent in order to 
perform the initial ``set-up'' of the Title I lenders into the ACH 
system.
Form Number: HUD-56150.
Respondents: Title I lenders.
Frequency of Submission: One Time Only.
Reporting Burden:

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                                            Number of            Frequency of          Hours per         Burden 
                                           respondents     x       response      x     response     =    hours  
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Application initial ``set-up''.........           3,000                     1               0.25             750
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Total Estimated Burden Hours: 750.
Status: New Collection.
Contact: Sharron Lipcomb, HUD (202) 708-3611, Joseph F Lackey, Jr., OMB 
(202) 395-7316.

    Dated: May 10, 1995.

Supporting Statement--Title I Insurance Section and Recordkeeping 
Requirements

A. Justification for the Collection of Information

1. Why the Collection of Information Is Necessary
    The Department, with guidance from the U.S. Department of the 
Treasury, has developed an electronic payment system utilizing the 
Automated Clearing House (ACH). The program is designed to process the 
collection of Title I insurance charges electronically in lieu of 
sending checks and HUD-646 forms by mail.
    Section 201.31 of the Title I regulations, relating to payments of 
insurance charges, has been amended by the final rule that was 
published in the Federal Register on March 14, 1995 at 60 FR 13854. 
This rule permits the Secretary to require Title I lenders to pay 
insurance charges through the ACH program. A copy of the final rule is 
attached.
    The collection of information is needed by the collection agent in 
order to perform the initial ``set-up'' of the Title I lenders into the 
ACH system.
2. Use and Need of Information Collected
    The collection of information is necessary for obtaining needed 
data from Title I lenders for the initial ``set-up'' in the ACH program 
by the collection agent. This collection requirement is an ACH 
preliminary application, HUD-56150, that will be located in the 
Automated Clearing House (ACH) Title I Insurance Charge Payments User's 
Manual.
3. Use of Modern Technology
    Electronic transfer of funds is a recent technology that allows the 
federal environment a capability that will effectively eliminate the 
need to either create or accommodate paper transactions as a standard 
practice of conducting business. The ACH program allows Title I 
Accounting and Servicing Division to collect insurance charge payments 
without so much as a sliver of paper being exchanged between the lender 
and the government.
4. Efforts to Identify Duplication
    We have carefully reviewed the form and their use, and find no 
duplication of information.
5. Impact on Small Business
    Title I lenders with portfolios of fewer than 200 loans may request 
extensions of up to 12 months to begin making their payments 
electronically due to technical operational concerns on these lenders.
6. Consequence to Federal Programs
    This collection of information is for the initial ``set-up'' into 
the ACH program. The burden involved is considered to be the minimum 
amount consistent with statutory and regulatory 
requirements. [[Page 26043]] 
7. Special Circumstances for Collection of Information Inconsistent 
With the Guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.6
    Not applicable.
8. Consulting With Persons Outside of HUD Concerning Collection of 
Information
    We consulted with the following Title I lenders who voluntarily 
applied for the Title I ACH program

Master Financial Inc., 333 South Anita Drive, Suite 150, Orange, CA 
92668, Mr. Christopher Mullins, Vice President, Tel (714) 456-1025
American Savings Mortgage Corp., 108 This Way, P.O. Box 2600, Lake 
Jackson, TX 77566, Mr. Jerry Nelson, President, Rel. (409) 297-0154

    There were no problems with filling out the form. It took 
approximately 10 minutes per contract number. Most lenders have only 
one contract number.
9. Assurance of Confidentiality for Respondents
    All data used by the HUD staff and the collection agent staff is 
considered confidential and is used for the purpose of lender ``set-
up'' into the ACH program.
    We agree that no employees will disclose or allow disclosure of any 
such data or derivatives thereof to third parties, except as may be 
required in the performance of this task. The original application of 
each client is kept in a locked file with access limited to HUD staff. 
The collection agent secures a copy of the original application until 
the lender is ``set-up'' on the ACH system. The form is then secured in 
a locked file.
10. Additional Justification for Questions of a Sensitive Nature
    We do not have any questions of a sensitive nature.
11. Annualized Cost to the Federal Government
    The annualized cost to the federal government for all collections 
will be ADP staff at $20.00 per staff hour  x  0.25 hour, or $5.00 cost 
per respondent. The annualized cost for 3,000 respondents would be 
$15,000. This is a one time cost to the government for the initial 
``set-up'' in the ACH program.
Annualized Cost to the Respondents
    We estimate the annual cost to be $15.00 per staff hour  x  0.25 
burden hours, or $3.75 cost per respondent. The annualized cost for 
3,000 respondents would be $11,250. This is a one time cost to the 
respondent for the initial ``set-up'' in the ACH program.
    The estimate of annualized cost per respondent will vary depending 
on the number of contract numbers and the method of transmission. The 
application form takes approximately 10 minutes to complete for the 
terminal input method. Those lenders using the CPU to CPU transmission 
will take approximately 15 minutes. This form must be submitted for 
each contract number. Most of our 3,000 lenders have only one contract 
number.
12. Burden of Collection of Information
    HUD fully intends to implement the ACH payment system as the sole 
method for collecting the Title I insurance charge payments. There are 
approximately 3,000 Title I lenders. The lenders are required to 
complete the application form for each contract number to be ``set-up'' 
on the ACH program. It takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete 
the form depending on the preferred method of transmission.

Description of Information Collection Requirement: One-time application 
for electronic transmission of funds.
Number of Respondents: 3,000
Number of Responses per Respondent: 1
Total Annual Respondents: 3,000
Hours per Response: 0.25
Total Hours: 750
13. Change in Burden
    This is a new requirement to collect data needed to establish a new 
process for collecting funds. This collection of information will 
enable HUD to eliminate the form HUD-646. The application form, HUD-
56150, for the initial ``set-up'' in the ACH program will reduce each 
lenders paperwork burden by 36 pages a year, or 108,000 decrease in 
burden for information collection of Title I insurance charge payments.
14. Publishing and Collecting of Information for Statistical Use
    Not applicable.

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[FR Doc. 95-12020 Filed 5-15-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-27-C