[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 207 (Wednesday, October 28, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55621-55623]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-25897]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY


Departmental Offices; Privacy Act of 1974, as Amended

AGENCY: Departmental Offices, Treasury.

ACTION: Final Notice of Proposed New Privacy Act System of Records for 
the Home Affordable Modification Program.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the Treasury proposed in August 2009 to 
establish a new System of Records under the Privacy Act known as ``Home 
Affordable Modification Program--Treasury/DO.'' This system of records 
would be established primarily to administer the Home Affordable 
Modification Program and related homeownership preservation programs 
(``HAMP''). This notice is to inform the public that one submitter has 
provided comments in response to the proposed Privacy Act notice 
published on August 3, 2009, at 74 FR 38484, and that minor changes 
have been made to the proposed notice in light of these comments.

DATES: Confirmation of effective date: September 14, 2009.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Theodore R. Kowalsky, Manager, Data & 
Information Technology, Office of Fiscal & Financial Agents, Department 
of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20220, 
202-927-9445 or at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department established HAMP, pursuant to 
the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-343) (the 
``EESA''), to enable eligible homeowners who have a record of making 
timely mortgage payments, but are experiencing hardships in doing so, 
to modify the principal amounts and interest rates of their mortgage 
loans. This new System of Records will provide Treasury and its 
Financial Agents with access to certain information about mortgage 
borrowers and their respective home mortgage loans that is necessary to 
administer the HAMP.
    Comments were received from one submitter in response to the 
proposed Privacy Act notice. Minor changes have been made to the 
proposed Privacy Act Notice in light of these comments. The Department 
does not believe that these modifications impact the original effective 
date for this notice (September 14, 2009), or the active implementation 
of this System of Records. Accordingly, we are publishing this Final 
Notice of a Privacy Act System of Records. This Final Notice also 
includes several new HAMP production and backup system locations which 
are managed by or on behalf of the Federal National Mortgage 
Association (``Fannie Mae'') and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage 
Corporation (``Freddie Mac''), both of which have been designated as 
Financial Agents of the Department.
    The Department received comments from one submitter concerning 
thirteen of the fifteen routine uses set forth in the proposed system 
of records, the ``Home Affordable Modification Program Records--
Treasury/DO.'' These comments generally expressed concern that the 
routine uses for the proposed System of Records were too broadly 
defined and would unduly invade the privacy of HAMP applicants. The 
submitter also suggested that the Department should seek express 
written consent from loan modification applicants before making any use 
of personally identifiable information (``PII'') in execution of the 
HAMP. No comments were received regarding routine uses (1), (8), (12) 
or (15).
    In addressing these comments, it is important to note first that 
the HAMP is a Department program aimed at incentivizing mortgage 
servicers to modify borrower loans, thereby reducing the financial 
burden on millions of homeowners across the United States. The majority 
of the routine use clauses in this System of Records Notice are aimed 
at disclosing borrower information in an effort to effectively manage 
and appropriately monitor the performance of loan servicers in meeting 
their obligations under the HAMP program. Notably, in order to 
participate in the HAMP, all borrowers must agree to a mandatory 
consent provision which expressly authorizes the disclosure of 
information to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Department, and entities 
related to the HAMP program.
    After careful consideration of the comments received, the 
Department concludes that routine uses (2), (4), (6), (7), (9), (11), 
and (14) will remain unchanged. The Department believes that these 
routine uses are consistent with the statutory authority of the 
Department of the Treasury to carry out the HAMP consistent with its 
mandate under the EESA. Additionally, routine use (4) is required by 
the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') for all agency systems of 
records, as set forth in OMB's supplementary guidance issued on 
November 21, 1975.
    With regard to routine use (14), the Department believes that this 
routine use is consistent with the policies and requirements 
established by OMB in OMB Memorandum M-07-16, ``Safeguarding Against 
and Responding to the Breach of Personally Identifiable Information 
[PII],'' dated May 22, 2007. This OMB memorandum directs each federal 
agency to develop and publish a routine use in order to be able to 
disclose information regarding a breach to individuals affected by it, 
as well as to persons and entities that are in a position to assist the 
agency in preventing or minimizing any harm from a breach. The language 
of routine use (14) is identical to the language set forth in OMB's 
memorandum. In addition to publishing the routine use, agencies are 
also required to implement the processes outlined in M-07-16 by 
establishing an agency response team consisting of senior officials. We 
also note that OMB Memorandum M-06-19, ``Reporting Incidents Involving 
Personally Identifiable Information and Incorporating the Cost for 
Security in Agency Information Technology Investments,'' instructs 
agencies to report incidents involving PII to the U.S. Computer 
Emergency Readiness Team within one hour of discovering the incident 
and advises agencies not to distinguish between actual and suspected 
incidents. The Department needs to be able to share information about a 
breach with appropriate persons and entities in order to mitigate the 
harmful effects of the unauthorized disclosure of confidential or 
private

[[Page 55622]]

information about an individual. Accordingly, the Department does not 
believe that an amendment to this routine use is warranted. OMB 
documents are available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg_infopoltech/.
    In response to public comments that expressed concern about the use 
of PII collected from homeowners under the HAMP, the Department has 
amended several routine uses in this System of Records Notice to ensure 
that it authorizes the dissemination of PII only where necessary to 
support the HAMP. The revisions are as follows:
    Routine use (3) has been amended so as to authorize the disclosure 
of data only pursuant to a court order.
    Routine use (5) has been modified so as to permit disclosure only 
if the investigation pertains to the HAMP program.
    Routine use (10) has been modified to detail further the specific 
uses of the data collected and to harmonize routine uses (8) and (10) 
by stipulating that employees, agents, and contractors of Financial 
Agents, or contractors to the Department of the Treasury to whom 
information is disclosed, are each subject to the same or equivalent 
rules and regulations that apply to the Department's officers and 
employees under the Privacy Act.
    Routine use (13) has been modified so as to permit disclosure to 
the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing 
Finance Agency in the absence of a complaint or inquiry.
    The revised System of Records, entitled ``Home Affordable 
Modification Program--Treasury/DO .218,'' is published in its entirety 
below.

    Dated: October 19, 2009.
Melissa Hartman,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Privacy and Treasury Records.
TREASURY/DO .218

SYSTEM NAME:
    Home Affordable Modification Program Records--Treasury/DO.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    The Office of Financial Stability, Department of the Treasury, 
Washington, DC. Other facilities that maintain this system of records 
are located in: Urbana, MD, Dallas, TX, and a backup facility located 
in Reston, VA, all belonging to the Federal National Mortgage 
Association (``Fannie Mae''); and in McLean, VA, Herndon, VA, and 
Reston, VA, facilities belonging to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage 
Corporation (``Freddie Mac''). Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have 
been designated as Financial Agents for the Home Affordable 
Modification Program (``HAMP'').

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    This system of records contains information about mortgage 
borrowers that is submitted to the Department or its Financial Agents 
by loan servicers that participate in HAMP. Information collected 
pursuant to HAMP is subject to the Privacy Act only to the extent that 
it concerns individuals; information pertaining to corporations and 
other business entities and organizations is not subject to the Privacy 
Act.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    This system of records contains loan-level information about 
individual mortgage borrowers (including loan records and financial 
records). Typically, these records include, but are not limited to, the 
individual's name, Social Security Number, mailing address, and monthly 
income, as well as the location of the property subject to the loan, 
property value information, payment history, and type of mortgage.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-343) (the 
``EESA'').

PURPOSE(S):
    The purpose of this system of records is to facilitate 
administration of HAMP by the Department and its Financial Agents, 
including by enabling them to (i) collect and utilize information 
collected from mortgage loan servicers, including loan-level 
information about individual mortgage holders; and (ii) produce reports 
on the performance of HAMP, such as reports that concern loan 
modification eligibility and ``exception reports'' that identify 
certain issues that loan servicers may experience with servicing loans.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    These records may be used to:
    (1) Disclose pertinent information to appropriate Federal, State, 
local or foreign agencies responsible for investigating or prosecuting 
violations of, or for enforcing or implementing, a statute, rule, 
regulation, order, or license, where the disclosing agency becomes 
aware of an indication of a potential violation of civil or criminal 
law or regulation;
    (2) Disclose information to a Federal, State, or local agency, 
maintaining civil, criminal or other relevant enforcement information 
or other pertinent information, which has requested information 
relevant to or necessary to the requesting agency's or the bureau's 
hiring or retention of an individual, or issuance of a security 
clearance, license, contract, grant, or other benefit;
    (3) Disclose information to a court, magistrate, or administrative 
tribunal in the course of presenting evidence, including disclosures to 
opposing counsel or witnesses in the course of civil discovery, 
litigation, or settlement negotiations, in response to a court order 
where arguably relevant to a proceeding, or in connection with criminal 
law proceedings;
    (4) Provide information to a Congressional office in response to an 
inquiry made at the request of the individual to whom the record 
pertains;
    (5) Provide information to third parties during the course of a 
Department investigation as it relates to HAMP to the extent necessary 
to obtain information pertinent to that investigation;
    (6) Disclose information to a consumer reporting agency to use in 
obtaining credit reports;
    (7) Disclose information to a debt collection agency for use in 
debt collection services;
    (8) Disclose information to a Financial Agent of the Department, 
its employees, agents, and contractors, or to a contractor of the 
Department, for the purpose of ensuring the efficient administration of 
HAMP and compliance with relevant guidelines, agreements, directives 
and requirements, and subject to the same or equivalent limitations 
applicable to Department's officers and employees under the Privacy 
Act;
    (9) Disclose information originating or derived from participating 
loan servicers back to the same loan servicers as needed, for the 
purposes of audit, quality control, and reconciliation and response to 
borrower requests about that same borrower;
    (10) Disclose information to Financial Agents, financial 
institutions, financial custodians, and contractors to: (a) Process 
mortgage loan modification applications, including, but not limited to, 
enrollment forms; (b) implement, analyze and modify programs relating 
to HAMP; (c) investigate and correct erroneous information submitted to 
the Department or its Financial Agents; (d) compile and review data and 
statistics and perform research, modeling and data analysis to improve 
the quality of services provided under HAMP or otherwise improve the 
efficiency or administration of HAMP; or (e) develop, test and enhance 
computer systems

[[Page 55623]]

used to administer HAMP; with all activities subject to the same or 
equivalent limitations applicable to Department's officers and 
employees under the Privacy Act;
    (11) Disclose information to financial institutions, including 
banks and credit unions, for the purpose of disbursing payments and/or 
investigating the accuracy of information required to complete 
transactions pertaining to HAMP and for administrative purposes, such 
as resolving questions about a transaction;
    (12) Disclose information to the appropriate Federal financial 
regulator or State financial regulator, or to the appropriate Consumer 
Protection agency, if that agency has jurisdiction over the subject 
matter of a complaint or inquiry, or the entity that is the subject of 
the complaint or inquiry;
    (13) Disclose information and statistics to the Department of 
Housing & Urban Development and the Federal Housing Finance Agency to 
improve the quality of services provided under HAMP and to report on 
the program's overall execution and progress;
    (14) Disclose information to appropriate agencies, entities, and 
persons when (a) The Department suspects or has confirmed that the 
security or confidentiality of information in the system of records has 
been compromised; (b) the Department has determined that as a result of 
the suspected or confirmed compromise there is a risk of harm to 
economic or property interests, identity theft or fraud, or harm to the 
security or integrity of this system or other systems or programs 
(whether maintained by the Department or another agency or entity) that 
rely upon the compromised information; and (c) the disclosure made to 
such agencies, entities, and persons is reasonably necessary to assist 
in connection with the Department's efforts to respond to the suspected 
or confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm.
    (15) Disclose information to the U.S. Department of Justice 
(``DOJ'') for its use in providing legal advice to the Department or in 
representing the Department in a proceeding before a court, 
adjudicative body, or other administrative body before which the 
Department is authorized to appear, where the use of such information 
by the DOJ is deemed by the Department to be relevant and necessary to 
the litigation, and such proceeding names as a party or interests:
    (a) The Department or any component thereof, including the Office 
of Financial Stability (``OFS'');
    (b) Any employee of the Department in his or her official capacity;
    (c) Any employee of the Department in his or her individual 
capacity where DOJ has agreed to represent the employee; or
    (d) The United States, where the Department determines that 
litigation is likely to affect the Department or any of its components, 
including OFS.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING 
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
    Information contained in the system of records is stored in a 
transactional database and an operational data store. Information from 
the system will also be captured in hard-copy form and stored in filing 
cabinets managed by personnel working on HAMP.

RETRIEVABILITY:
    Information about individuals may be retrieved from the system by 
reference including the mortgage borrower's name, Social Security 
Number, address, or loan number.

SAFEGUARDS:
    Safeguards designed to protect information contained in the system 
against unauthorized disclosure and access include, but are not limited 
to: (i) Department and Financial Agent policies and procedures 
governing privacy, information security, operational risk management, 
and change management; (ii) requiring Financial Agent employees to 
adhere to a code of conduct concerning the aforementioned policies and 
procedures; (iii) conducting background on all personnel with access to 
the system of records; (iv) training relevant personnel on privacy and 
information security; (v) tracking and reporting incidents of suspected 
or confirmed breaches of information concerning borrowers; (vi) 
establishing physical and technical perimeter security safeguards; 
(vii) utilizing antivirus and intrusion detection software; (viii) 
performing risk and controls assessments and mitigation, including 
production readiness reviews; (ix) establishing security event response 
teams; and (x) establishing technical and physical access controls, 
such as role-based access management and firewalls.
    Loan servicers that participate in HAMP (i) have agreed in writing 
that the information they provide to Treasury or to its Financial 
Agents is accurate, and (ii) have submitted a ``click through'' 
agreement on a Web site requiring the loan servicer to provide accurate 
information in connection with using the Program Web site. In addition, 
the Treasury's Financial Agents will conduct loan servicer compliance 
reviews to validate data collection controls, procedures, and records.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
    Information is retained in the system on back-up tapes or in hard-
copy form for seven years, except to the extent that either (i) the 
information is subject to a litigation hold or other legal retention 
obligation, in which case the data is retained as mandated by the 
relevant legal requirements, (ii) or the Treasury and its financial 
agents need the information to carry out the Program. Destruction is 
carried out by degaussing according to industry standards. Hard copy 
records are shredded and recycled.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS(ES):
    Deputy Assistant Secretary, Fiscal Operations and Policy, 
Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, 
DC 20220.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
    Individuals wishing to be notified if they are named in this system 
of records, to gain access to records maintained in this system, or to 
amend or correct information maintained in this system, must submit a 
written request to do so in accordance with the procedures set forth in 
31 CFR Sec. Sec. 1.26-.27. Address such requests to: Director, 
Disclosure Services Director, Disclosure Services, Department of the 
Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20220.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
    See ``Notification Procedure'' above.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURE:
    See ``Notification Procedure'' above.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Information about mortgage borrowers contained in the system of 
records is obtained from loan servicers who participate in HAMP or 
developed by the Treasury and its Financial Agents in connection with 
HAMP. Information is not obtained directly from individual mortgage 
borrowers to whom the information pertains.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.

[FR Doc. E9-25897 Filed 10-27-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-25-P