[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 126 (Monday, July 1, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39290-39292]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-15647]


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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

[No. 2013-N-08]


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.

ACTION: 30-day Notice of Submission of Information Collection for 
Approval from Office of Management and Budget.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is seeking 
public comments concerning the information collection known as the 
``National Survey of Mortgage Borrowers'' (NSMB). This is a new 
collection that has not yet been assigned a control number by the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB). FHFA intends to submit the 
information collection to OMB for review and approval of a three-year 
control number.

DATES: Interested persons may submit comments on or before July 31, 
2013.
    Comments: Submit written comments to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget, Attention: 
Desk Officer for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Washington, DC 
20503, Fax: (202) 395-6974, Email address: [email protected]. Please also submit them to FHFA using any of 
the following methods:
     Email: [email protected]. Please include Proposed 
Collection; Comment Request: Affordable Housing Program (AHP) (No. 
2013-N-08) in the subject line of the message.
     Mail/Hand Delivery: Federal Housing Finance Agency, Eighth 
Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20024, ATTENTION: Public 
Comments/Proposed Collection; Comment Request: Affordable Housing 
Program (AHP) (No. 2013-N-08).
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. If you submit your 
comment to the Federal eRulemaking Portal, please also send it by email 
to FHFA at [email protected] to ensure timely receipt by the agency.
    We will post all public comments we receive without change, 
including any personal information you provide, such as your name and 
address, on the FHFA Web site at http://www.fhfa.gov. In addition, 
copies of all comments received will be available for examination by 
the public on business

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days between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., at the Federal Housing 
Finance Agency, Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 
20024. To make an appointment to inspect comments, please call the 
Office of General Counsel at (202) 649-3804.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Theresa DiVenti, Senior Economist, 
Office of Systemic Risk and Market Surveillance, by email at 
[email protected] or telephone at (202) 649-3113; or Eric 
Raudenbush, Assistant General Counsel, by email at 
[email protected] or telephone at (202) 649-3084, (these are not 
toll-free numbers), Federal Housing Finance Agency, 400 Seventh Street 
SW., Washington, DC 20024. The Telecommunications Device for the Deaf 
is (800) 877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Need For and Use of the Information Collection

    The NSMB will be a quarterly survey of individuals who have 
recently obtained a loan secured by a first mortgage on single-family 
residential property. The survey questionnaire will be sent to 
approximately 7,000 new mortgage borrowers each calendar quarter and 
will consist of approximately 80-85 multiple choice and short answer 
questions designed to obtain information about individual residential 
mortgages and borrowers that is not available elsewhere. The NSMB is 
one component of a larger project, known as the ``National Mortgage 
Database,'' which is a joint effort of FHFA and the Consumer Financial 
Protection Bureau (CFPB).
    Section 1324 of the Housing and Economic Recovery of 2008 (HERA) 
requires that FHFA conduct a monthly survey to collect data on the 
characteristics of individual prime and subprime mortgages, and on the 
borrowers and properties associated with those mortgages. Specifically, 
FHFA is required to collect data on: the sales price of the mortgaged 
property; the loan-to-value ratio of the mortgage; the terms of the 
mortgage; the creditworthiness of the borrowers; whether borrowers on 
subprime mortgages would have qualified for prime lending; and whether 
the mortgage was purchased by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.\1\ The stated 
purposes of the monthly mortgage survey required under HERA are to 
enable FHFA to prepare a detailed annual report on the mortgage market 
activities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac relative to the rest of the 
market for the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the 
Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of 
Representatives,\2\ and to compile a database of timely and otherwise 
unavailable residential mortgage market information to be made 
available to the public.\3\ In order to fulfill those statutory 
mandates, as well as to support policymaking and research efforts, 
FHFA, along with CFPB, is committed to fund, build and manage the 
National Mortgage Database. The key purpose of the National Mortgage 
Database is to make accessible accurate, comprehensive information for 
monitoring the residential mortgage market by Congress, regulators and 
other interested parties.
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    \1\ See 12 U.S.C. 4544(c).
    \2\ See 12 U.S.C. 4544(a), (b).
    \3\ See 12 U.S.C. 4544(c)(3).
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    FHFA draws the core data for the National Mortgage Database from a 
random 1-in-20 sample of mortgages in the database of credit 
information on individual consumers maintained by one of the three 
national credit repositories. These core data may be supplemented, for 
example, with additional information from sources such as the Home 
Mortgage Disclosure Act database that is maintained by the Federal 
Financial Institutions Examination Council,\4\ property valuation 
models, and data files maintained by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The 
purpose of the NSMB is to complete the National Mortgage Database by 
obtaining critical information that is not available from existing 
sources.
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    \4\ See 12 U.S.C. 2801-2811.
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    Under section 1324 of HERA, FHFA must collect information on the 
characteristics of individual subprime and nontraditional mortgages, as 
well as on the characteristics of borrowers on such mortgages, 
including information on the creditworthiness of those borrowers and 
information sufficient to determine whether those borrowers would have 
qualified for prime lending.\5\ The NSMB questionnaire is designed to 
elicit this information directly from borrowers, who are likely to be 
the most reliable and accessible--and, in some cases, the only--source 
for this information. In addition, the questionnaire is designed to 
elicit more complete information on mortgage terms, mortgaged 
properties, and borrowers' household demographics than can be obtained 
from the existing sources. The information obtained from the NSMB, in 
combination with that obtained from the existing sources, will make the 
National Mortgage Database a high quality and uniquely comprehensive 
and timely resource for information on developments in the residential 
mortgage market. The NSMB will be especially critical in ensuring that 
the National Mortgage Database contains complete and timely information 
on the range of nontraditional and subprime mortgage products being 
offered, the methods by which these mortgages are being marketed, and 
the characteristics, and particularly creditworthiness, of borrowers 
for these types of loans.
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    \5\ See 12 U.S.C. 4544(c)(2).
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    The information in the National Mortgage Database, including that 
obtained through the NSMB, will be used for three primary purposes: (1) 
To prepare the report to Congress on the mortgage market activities of 
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that FHFA is required to submit under 
section 1324 of HERA; (2) for research and analysis by FHFA and other 
federal agencies that have regulatory and supervisory responsibilities/
mandates related to mortgage markets; and (3) to provide a resource for 
research and analysis by academics and other interested parties outside 
of the government. Generally, the National Mortgage Database will allow 
Congress, regulators and other interested parties to track emerging 
trends in the mortgage origination process throughout the United States 
and will allow them to determine more quickly and accurately when the 
mortgage origination process is changing in a way that may adversely 
affect financial markets, borrowers, and consumers. FHFA intends that 
the availability of this information, as well as the research and 
analyses derived from it, will provide sufficient warning to allow it 
and other regulators to take steps to avoid or mitigate major mortgage 
market crises in the future.

B. Burden Estimate

    FHFA estimates the total annual average number of survey recipients 
at 28,000 (7,000 x 4 calendar quarters), with one response per 
recipient. The estimate for the average amount of time to complete each 
survey is 30 minutes. The estimate for the total annual hour burden for 
respondents is 14,000 hours (28,000 respondents x 0.5 hours).

C. Comment Request

    FHFA published a request for public comments regarding this 
information collection in the Federal Register on April 25, 2013. See 
78 FR 24420 (Apr. 25, 2013). The 60-day comment period closed on June 
24, 2013. FHFA received no public comments. This notice requests 
written comments on: (1)

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Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper 
performance of FHFA functions, including whether the information has 
practical utility; (2) The accuracy of FHFA's estimates of the burdens 
of the collection of information; (3) Ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information collected; and (4) Ways to 
minimize the burden of the collection of information on survey 
respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.

    Date: June 25, 2013.
Kevin Winkler,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
[FR Doc. 2013-15647 Filed 6-28-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8070-01-P