[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 225 (Tuesday, November 23, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71437-71439]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-29417]


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FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

ACTION: Notice of information collection to be submitted to OMB for 
review and approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act 
of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the FDIC hereby gives notice that it 
is submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request 
for OMB review and approval of revisions to the survey collection 
instrument for its second National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked 
Households (``Household Survey''), currently approved under OMB Control 
No. 3064-0167, scheduled to be conducted in partnership with the U.S. 
Census Bureau as a supplement to its June 2011 Current Population 
Survey (``CPS''). The collection is a key component of the FDIC's 
efforts to comply with a Congressional mandate contained in section 7 
of the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Conforming Amendments Act of 
2005 (``Reform Act'') (Pub. L. 109-173), which calls for the FDIC to 
conduct ongoing surveys ``on efforts by insured depository institutions 
to bring those individuals and families who have rarely, if ever, held 
a checking account, a savings account or other type of transaction or 
check cashing account at an insured depository institution (hereafter 
in this section referred to as the `unbanked') into the conventional 
finance system.'' Section 7 further instructs the FDIC to consider 
several factors in its conduct of the surveys, including: (1) ``What 
cultural, language and identification issues as well as transaction 
costs appear to most prevent `unbanked' individuals from establishing 
conventional accounts''; and (2) ``what is a fair estimate of the size 
and worth of the `unbanked' market in the United States.'' The 
household survey is designed to address these factors and provide a 
factual basis on the proportions of unbanked households. Such a factual 
basis is necessary to adequately assess banks' efforts to serve these 
households as required by the statutory mandate.
    To satisfy the Congressional mandate, the FDIC designed two 
complementary surveys: A survey of FDIC-insured depository institutions 
and a survey of households. The first survey of FDIC-insured depository 
institutions, aimed at collecting data on their efforts to serve 
underbanked, as well as unbanked, populations (underbanked populations 
include individuals who have an account with an insured depository but 
also rely on non-bank alternative financial service providers for 
transaction services or high cost credit products), was conducted in 
mid-2007, with the results released in February 2008. The first survey 
of unbanked and underbanked households was conducted in January 2009 as 
a CPS supplement and the results were released to the public in 
December 2009. The household survey sought to estimate the proportions 
of unbanked and underbanked households in the U.S. and to identify the 
factors that inhibit the participation of these households in the 
mainstream banking system. The results of these ongoing surveys will 
help policymakers and bankers understand the issues and challenges 
underserved households perceive when deciding how and where to conduct 
financial transactions.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before December 23, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments on 
the collection of information entitled: National Unbanked and 
Underbanked Household Survey. Comments should refer to the name of the 
collection and may be submitted by any of the following methods:
     http://www.FDIC.gov/regulations/laws/federal/propose.html.
     E-mail: [email protected]. Include the name and number of 
the collection in the subject line of the message.
     Mail: Leneta G. Gregorie (202-898-3719), Counsel, Federal 
Deposit Insurance Corporation, Room F-1064, 550 17th Street, NW., 
Washington, DC 20429.
     Hand Delivery: Comments may be hand-delivered to the guard 
station at the rear of the 550 17th Street Building (located on F 
Street), on business days between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
    A copy of the comments should also be submitted to the OMB Desk 
Officer for the FDIC, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, 
Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 
10235, Washington, DC 20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Interested members of the public may 
obtain a copy of the revised survey instrument and related instructions 
by clicking on the link for the National Unbanked and Underbanked 
Household

[[Page 71438]]

Survey on the following Web page: http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/federal/index.html. Interested members of the public may also obtain 
additional information about the collection, including a paper copy of 
the proposed collection and related instructions, without charge, by 
contacting Leneta Gregorie at the address identified above, or by 
calling (202) 898-3719.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Proposal to seek OMB approval for the 
following new collection of information:
    Title: National Unbanked and Underbanked Household Survey.
    OMB Number: New collection.
    Frequency of Response: Once.
    Affected Public: U.S. Households.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 46,500.
    Average time per response: 10 minutes (0.167 hours) per respondent.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 0.167 hours x 46,500 respondents = 
7,766 hours.

General Description of Collection

    A mandate in section 7 of the Reform Act requires the FDIC to 
conduct ongoing surveys on efforts by banks to bring unbanked and 
underbanked individuals and families into the conventional finance 
system. Section 7 further instructs the FDIC to consider several 
factors in its conduct of the surveys, including the size of the 
unbanked market in the United States and the cultural, language and 
identification issues as well as transaction costs that appear to most 
prevent unbanked individuals from establishing conventional accounts. 
To obtain this information, the FDIC partnered with the U.S. Census 
Bureau, which administered the Household Survey supplement (``FDIC 
Supplement'') to about 86 percent of the households that participated 
in the January 2009 CPS. The FDIC supplement has yielded significant 
data on the extent and demographic characteristics of the population 
that is unbanked or underbanked, the use by this population of 
alternative financial services (``AFS''), and the reasons why some 
households do not make greater use of traditional banking services. The 
Household Survey was the first survey of its kind to be conducted at 
the national level. An executive summary of the results of the 
Household Survey, the full report, and the survey instrument can be 
accessed through the following link: http://www.economicinclusion.gov/about_survey.html.
    Consistent with the statutory mandate to conduct the surveys on an 
ongoing basis, the FDIC already has in place arrangements for conduct 
of its second Household Survey as a supplement to the June 2011 CPS. 
However, prior to finalizing the survey instrument, the FDIC sought 
public comment on whether changes to the existing instrument were 
desirable and, if so, to what extent.

Comment Discussion

    On April 19, 2010 (75 FR 20357), the FDIC issued a request for 
comment on possible revisions to the proposed National Survey of 
Unbanked and Underbanked Households. One comment was received from a 
nonprofit organization. The commenter offered a number of suggestions 
based on its own study of banked and unbanked groups in eight low-
income neighborhoods in the City of Los Angeles. The suggestions fell 
into one of two categories: Suggestions on ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected and suggestions 
on ways to minimize the burden of the information collection on 
respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Included among ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information were suggestions that the FDIC estimate the number of 
wage earners in a given household by asking how many householders earn 
income and how many of those earners have either a checking or savings 
account. The FDIC agrees that the survey would yield more useful data 
by inclusion of a question designed to obtain information on the 
banking status of each member of the household. Therefore, the revised 
FDIC supplement will gather information from all members of the 
household (16 years of age or older) about whether they have a checking 
or savings account, which will provide a basis for estimating the 
number of unbanked individuals. In addition, the CPS contains a vast 
amount of information for individual household members, including 
information about their employment status, number of jobs held, hours 
worked, and industry/occupation, which can be cross-referenced with the 
individual's banking status.
    The commenter also suggested that the FDIC document the transaction 
medium by which household income is received (e.g., cash, check, ACH, 
direct deposit, stored value card, etc.), savings behavior, and usage 
of AFS, with specific questions offered for gathering information on 
each topic. With regard to documenting form of income, the FDIC 
understands that there may be a high correlation between banking status 
and the form in which income is received and agrees that it would be 
useful to document the correlation at a national level. The FDIC 
further understands that there may be a correlation between banking 
status and savings behavior and agrees that it would be useful to 
document any such correlation at a national level. However, given 
constraints on the length of the FDIC supplement, the FDIC's primary 
focus is on gathering information about banking status and use of AFS 
products, consistent with its statutory mandate. Therefore, the FDIC is 
unable at this time to include general questions about the form in 
which income is received, use of direct deposit, and household 
financial behavior. However, the CPS does provide detailed information 
about labor force participation, including wage and salary income that 
could be combined with the FDIC supplement results to provide some of 
the recommended information. With respect to the commenter's suggestion 
that the FDIC modify AFS usage questions, the revised survey does 
include questions designed to gather information about the use of 
specific AFS products, both within the previous 12 months and the 
previous 30 days. In addition, respondents will be asked if they have 
every used certain AFS credit products, i.e., payday loans, pawn shop 
loans, refund anticipation loans, and rent-to-own agreements, and, if 
yes, whether they have used it during the previous 12 months.
    Another suggestion to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected was for the FDIC to document the lost 
opportunity of the unbanked by asking about the frequency and size of 
remittance transfers and whether respondents have recently filed income 
taxes, or requested the earned income tax credit. The revised survey 
instrument does include questions about household use of remittances, 
including the frequency with which nonbank remittance services are used 
and why. This information along with data on household use of other 
specific AFS products will measure services obtained from nonbank 
financial services providers. However, due to time and size constraints 
on the survey, the survey will not include questions on the size of 
remittance transfers, income tax filings, or requests for the earned 
income tax credit.
    The commenter also suggested that the FDIC measure the subsets of 
the unbanked by asking questions designed to determine whether they 
were never banked, abandoned banking, or were expelled from banking. 
The FDIC

[[Page 71439]]

supplement does include questions about the previous banking status of 
unbanked households and why the previously banked became unbanked. One 
possible response is that the bank closed the account. Other responses 
include dissatisfaction with bank fees or services. The FDIC report on 
the 2009 Household Survey includes estimates of the number and share of 
unbanked households that were previously banked; how recently they were 
banked; and the reasons why they no longer have bank accounts.
    The commenter's final recommendation for enhancing the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information collection was that the FDIC 
measure the extent to which overdraft fees are a barrier to stable 
banking relationships by asking about the amount of overdraft fees 
incurred by the respondent in the preceding year and whether the 
respondent would like to be warned of potential overdrafts before they 
occur. The FDIC understands that overdraft fees may be viewed as a 
barrier to stable banking relationships, but constraints on the length 
of the survey preclude the addition of general questions on household 
bank overdraft activity, overdraft/NSF fees incurred by households, and 
the information provided to households by banks about overdraft 
policies and fees. Nevertheless, the FDIC supplement does include 
``high account fees'' as a possible reason for not having a checking or 
savings account. In addition, the revised survey instrument will 
specifically ask households that have had accounts closed by their 
bank, whether the closure was due to the number of overdrafts or 
bounced checks.
    With respect to ways to minimize burden, the commenter offered two 
suggestions: that the FDIC document technology and language divides by 
asking respondents about their comfort reading and writing in English, 
access to and comfort using computers, and cell phone capabilities to 
access e-mail, Internet, and other data online, and that the FDIC 
adjust its methodology and/or results to reflect the difficulty of 
counting the unbanked and underbanked using the current methodology. 
Regarding the suggestion to document technology and language divides, 
the FDIC agrees that it is important to be mindful of any language 
barriers and limitations on access to technology when developing policy 
interventions for certain populations. The CPS does include information 
about whether English is the primary language spoken at home, but it is 
not feasible to include in the FDIC supplement more general questions 
about household use of computers or cell phones or access to the 
Internet, given current constraints on the length of the survey. 
Regarding the suggestion to adjust methodology and/or results to 
account for those who are hard to count, the FDIC is confident in the 
reliability of its state-level estimates of the unbanked and 
underbanked for all states. The CPS sample is a scientifically designed 
sample of approximately 72,000 physical housing units from 824 sample 
areas that is designed to accurately measure demographic and labor 
force characteristics of the U.S. non-institutionalized civilian 
population that is 16 years old or older. The CPS samples housing units 
from lists of addresses obtained from the decennial census that are 
updated continuously for housing units built after the Census. 
Furthermore, the response rate for basic CPS is very high (about 92 
percent). As an add-on to the CPS, the FDIC supplement incorporates the 
methodology used to gather monthly employment data for the U.S. 
population. In addition, the public release of the Household Survey 
data permits users to make statistical adjustments based on additional 
information available for a particular locality.

Request for Comment

    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether these collections of 
information are necessary for the proper performance of the FDIC's 
functions, including whether the information has practical utility; (b) 
the accuracy of the estimate of the burden of the information 
collections, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the 
information collections on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology. All comments will become a matter of public record.

    Dated at Washington, DC, this 17th day of November, 2010.
Robert E. Feldman,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2010-29417 Filed 11-22-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6714-01-P