[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 138 (Tuesday, July 19, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42765-42767]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-18207]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY


Privacy Act of 1974; Amended System of Records

AGENCY: Financial Management Service, Treasury.

ACTION: Notice of amendment to system of records.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, the 
Financial Management Service gives notice of a proposed amendment to 
its Privacy Act system of records entitled ``Treasury/FMS .006--Direct 
Deposit Enrollment Records--Treasury/Financial Management Service.''

DATES: Comments must be received no later than August 18, 2011. The 
proposed new system of records will become effective August 29, 2011 
unless comments are received that would result in a contrary 
determination.

ADDRESSES: You should send your comments to Peter Genova, Deputy Chief 
Information Officer, Financial Management Service, 401 14th Street, 
SW., Washington, DC 20227. Comments received will be available for 
inspection at the same address between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. 
Monday through Friday. You may send your comments by electronic mail to 
[email protected] or http://www.regulations.gov. All comments, 
including attachments and other supporting materials, received are 
subject to public disclosure. You should submit only information that 
you wish to make available publicly.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter Genova, Deputy Chief Information 
Officer, (202) 874-1736.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to the provisions of the Privacy 
Act of 1974, as amended, 5 U.S.C. 552a, notice is given that the 
Financial Management Service (FMS), a bureau of the Department of the 
Treasury (Treasury), proposes to amend its system of records entitled 
``Direct Deposit Enrollment Records--Treasury/Financial Management 
Service'' (Treasury/FMS .006). FMS is adding additional categories of 
records in the system and is amending its routine uses to allow for the 
processing of waivers related to the requirement that all Federal 
payments, other than tax payments, be made electronically. On December 
22, 2010, FMS published an amendment to its regulation at 31 CFR part 
208 (Part 208) (see, 75 FR 80315), which implements 31 U.S.C. 3332 
(Section 3332). Section 3332 generally requires that all Federal 
payments, other than tax payments, be made by electronic funds transfer 
(EFT), unless waived by the Secretary of the Treasury. Direct deposit 
is the primary method used to make EFT Federal payments to individuals.
    Part 208 requires recipients of Federal payments, other than tax 
payments, to receive payment by EFT, effective May 1, 2011. The 
effective date is delayed until March 1, 2013, for individuals 
receiving Federal payments by check on May 1, 2011; and for individuals 
who file claims for Federal benefits before May 1, 2011 and request 
check payments when they file. Individuals who do not choose direct 
deposit of their payments to an account at a financial institution will 
be enrolled in the Direct Express[supreg] Debit MasterCard[supreg] card 
\1\ program, a prepaid card program established pursuant to terms and 
conditions approved by FMS. Treasury waives the EFT requirement for 
recipients born prior to May 1, 1921, who are receiving payments by 
paper check on March 1, 2013; for payments not eligible for deposit to 
a Direct Express[supreg] prepaid card account; and for recipients whose 
Direct Express[supreg] card has been suspended or cancelled. In 
addition, payment recipients may request a waiver if the EFT 
requirement creates a hardship due to his or her mental impairment or 
remote geographic location.
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    \1\ Direct Express[supreg] is a registered service mark of the 
Financial Management Service, U.S. Department of the Treasury. The 
Direct Express[supreg] Debit MasterCard[supreg] card is issued by 
FMS's financial agent, Comerica Bank, pursuant to a license by 
MasterCard International Incorporated. MasterCard[supreg] and the 
MasterCard[supreg] Brand Mark are registered trademarks of 
MasterCard International Incorporated.
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    The proposed amendments to this system are necessary to process 
waivers of the EFT requirement. In some cases, FMS automatically 
applies the waivers based on information FMS will receive into its 
system of records from its own existing payment records, direct deposit 
enrollment records of its fiscal or financial agents and their 
contractors, or from Federal agencies. For example, FMS will receive 
information about a check payment recipient's date of birth from the 
Social Security Administration

[[Page 42766]]

in order to apply the waiver from the EFT requirement for recipients 
born prior to May 1, 1921. FMS also will receive information from its 
financial agent when a Federal payment recipient's Direct 
Express[supreg] card has been suspended or cancelled by the financial 
agent (but not when the individual cancels his or her own card) in 
order to process the applicable automatic waiver.
    For waivers based on a hardship due to a payment recipient's mental 
impairment or remote geographic location, individual payment recipients 
must submit an application to FMS, or its agent, to request the waiver. 
In these cases, individuals will voluntarily submit to FMS information 
already covered in the categories of records in the system, such as 
name, social security number, and home address. In addition, to claim a 
hardship based on mental impairment or geographic location, the 
individual will state that the waiver application is based on his or 
her inability to manage a bank account or prepaid debit card due to a 
mental impairment or remote geographic location.
    Therefore, FMS is amending the paragraph under ``Categories of 
records in the system'' to add ``date of birth'' as an example of 
identifying information, and the following additional categories: 
``information related to the cancellation or suspension of an 
individual's Direct Express[supreg] debit card by FMS's financial 
agent'' and ``information provided by an individual due to a remote 
geographic location or about his or her inability to manage a bank 
account or prepaid debit card due to mental impairment.''
    FMS also is amending the ``Routine uses of records maintained in 
the system'' section of its system of record revising routine use (4) 
to reflect the need to process waivers from the requirement to receive 
Federal payments electronically, as follows:
    (4) Fiscal agents, financial agents, financial institutions, and 
contractors for the purposes of (a) Processing Direct Deposit 
enrollment applications, including, but not limited to, processing 
Direct Deposit enrollment forms and implementing programs related to 
Direct Deposit; investigating and rectifying possible erroneous 
information; creating and reviewing statistics to improve the quality 
of services provided; conducting debt collection services for debts 
arising from Direct Deposit activities; or developing, testing and 
enhancing computer systems; and (b) processing waivers from the 
requirement to receive payments electronically, including, but not 
limited to, processing automatic waivers and applications for waivers, 
as well as implementing the waivers; investigating and rectifying 
possible erroneous information or fraud; creating and reviewing 
statistics to improve the quality of services provided; or developing, 
testing and enhancing computer systems.
    Finally, FMS is adding ``Treasury financial agents'' under the 
heading ``Record source category'' for information about the 
cancellation or suspension of a recipient's Direct Express[supreg] card 
by a financial agent. Without these amendments to its system of 
records, FMS, its fiscal agents and contractors, would not be able to 
process the waivers from the EFT requirements, as required under Part 
208, and as requested by individuals.
    FMS recognizes the sensitive nature of the confidential information 
it obtains when collecting financial institution account information 
from the public and has many safeguards in place to protect the 
information from theft or inadvertent disclosure. When appropriate, 
FMS's arrangements with its fiscal agents and contractors include 
requirements that preclude them from retaining, disclosing, and using 
the information for purposes other than the processing of waivers. In 
addition to various procedural and physical safeguards, access to 
computerized records is limited, through the use of access codes, 
encryption techniques and/or other internal mechanisms. Access to 
records is granted only as authorized by a business line manager at FMS 
or FMS's fiscal agent to those whose official duties require access 
solely for the purposes outlined in the proposed system. The amendments 
to the Direct Deposit Enrollment Records system will allow the public 
to obtain and seek waivers, as authorized by FMS's regulations.
    The notice for the system of records was last published in its 
entirety on May 15, 2009, at 74 FR 23012.
    The altered system of records report, as required by 5 U.S.C. 
552a(r) of the Privacy Act, has been submitted to the Committee on 
Government Reform and Oversight of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate 
and the Office of Management and Budget, pursuant to Appendix I to OMB 
Circular A-130, ``Federal Agency Responsibilities for Maintaining 
Records About Individuals,'' dated November 30, 2000.
    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, FMS proposes to amend 
its system of records entitled ``Direct Deposit Enrollment Records--
Treasury/Financial Management Service'' (Treasury/FMS .006), as 
follows:
Treasury/FMS .006

System name:
    Direct Deposit Enrollment Records--Treasury/Financial Management 
Service.
* * * * *

Categories of records in the system:
    Description of the change: Remove current entry and in its place 
add the following:
    ``The records may contain identifying information, such as an 
individual's name(s), social security number, home address, home and 
work telephone number, personal e-mail address (home and work), and 
date of birth; information about an individual's bank account(s) and 
other types of accounts to which payments are made, such as the 
individual's bank account number and the financial institution routing 
and transit number; information about an individual's payments received 
from the United States, including the type of payment received and the 
Federal agency responsible for authorizing the payment; information 
related to the cancellation or suspension of an individual's Direct 
Express[supreg] debit card \2\ by FMS's financial agent; and 
information provided by an individual regarding a hardship due to a 
remote geographic location or about his or her inability to manage a 
bank account or prepaid debit card due to mental impairment.''
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    \2\ Direct Express[supreg] is a registered service mark of the 
Financial Management Service, U.S. Department of the Treasury. The 
Direct Express[supreg] debit card is issued by FMS's financial 
agent, Comerica Bank.
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* * * * *

Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories 
of users and the purposes of such uses:
* * * * *
    Description of the change: Remove current routine use (4) and in 
its place add the following: `(4) Fiscal agents, financial agents, 
financial institutions, and contractors for the purposes of (a) 
Processing Direct Deposit enrollment applications, including, but not 
limited to, processing Direct Deposit enrollment forms and implementing 
programs related to Direct Deposit; investigating and rectifying 
possible erroneous information; creating and reviewing statistics to 
improve the quality of services provided; conducting debt collection 
services for debts arising from Direct Deposit activities; or 
developing, testing and enhancing computer systems; and (b) processing 
waivers from the requirement to receive payments electronically, 
including, but

[[Page 42767]]

not limited to, processing automatic waivers and applications for 
waivers, as well as implementing the waivers; investigating and 
rectifying possible erroneous information or fraud; creating and 
reviewing statistics to improve the quality of services provided; or 
developing, testing and enhancing computer systems.''
* * * * *

Record source categories:
    Description of change: Remove current entry and in its place add 
the following: ``Information in this system is provided by the 
individual on whom the record is maintained (or by his or her 
authorized representative), other persons who electronically authorize 
payments from the Federal government, Federal agencies responsible for 
authorizing payments, Federal agencies responsible for disbursing 
payments, Treasury financial agents, and Treasury fiscal agents that 
process Direct Deposit enrollment applications, and contractors.''
* * * * *

     Dated: July 1, 2011.
Melissa Hartman,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Privacy, Transparency, and Records.
[FR Doc. 2011-18207 Filed 7-18-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-35-P