[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 20 (Thursday, January 30, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4907-4908]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-01742]
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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY
[No. 2014-N-2]
Proposed Collection; Comment Request
AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.
ACTION: 60-day Notice of submission of information collection for
approval from the 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 currently-approved information
collection ``Monthly Survey of Rates and Terms on Conventional 1-Family
Nonfarm Mortgage Loans,'' which has been assigned control number 2590-
0004 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 extension of the control number, which is due to expire on
March 31, 2014.
DATES: Interested persons may submit comments on or before March 31,
2014.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments to FHFA using any one of the following
methods:
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.
Email: [email protected]. Please include Proposed
Collection; Comment Request: ``Monthly Survey of Rates and Terms on
Conventional 1-Family Nonfarm Mortgage Loans, (No. 2014-N-2)'' 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: ``Monthly Survey of
Rates and Terms on Conventional 1-Family Nonfarm Mortgage Loans, (No.
2014-N-2).''
We will post all public comments we receive without change,
including any personal information you provide, such as your name,
address, email address, and telephone number, 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 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: David L. Roderer, Senior Financial
Analyst, 202-649-3206 (not a toll-free number),
[email protected], or by regular mail at the Federal Housing
Finance Agency, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20024. The
telephone number for the Telecommunications Device for the Hearing
Impaired is 800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Need For and Use of the Information Collection
FHFA's Monthly Survey of Rates and Terms on Conventional 1-Family
Non-Farm Mortgage Loans, commonly referred to as the ``Monthly Interest
Rate Survey'' or ``MIRS,'' is a monthly survey of mortgage lenders that
solicits information on the terms and conditions on all conventional,
single-family, fully amortized, purchase-money mortgage loans closed
during the last five working days of the preceding month. The MIRS
collects monthly information on interest rates, loan terms, and house
prices by property type (i.e., new or previously occupied), by loan
type (i.e., fixed- or adjustable-rate), and by lender type (i.e.,
mortgage companies, savings associations, commercial banks, and savings
banks), as well as information on 15-year and 30-year fixed-rate loans.
In addition, the survey collects quarterly information on conventional
loans by major metropolitan area and by Federal Home Loan Bank
district. The MIRS does not collect information on loans insured by the
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or guaranteed by the Veterans
Administration (VA), loans secured by multifamily property or
manufactured housing, or loans created by refinancing another mortgage.
The MIRS is the most comprehensive source of information on
conventional mortgage rates and terms in the United States.
The MIRS originated with one of FHFA's predecessor agencies, the
former Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB) in the 1960s. Among other
things, the FHLBB used data collected through the MIRS to derive its
National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously
Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders (ARM Index), which was used by
lenders to set mortgage rates on adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs). No
statutory or regulatory provision explicitly required the FHLBB to
conduct the MIRS. However, for a period in the early 1980s, federally
chartered savings institutions were required to use the MIRS-derived
ARM Index in setting interest rates on ARMs. Few, if any, loans from
that period remain. After 1981, an unknown but likely very small
proportion of lenders used the ARM Index to set interest rates on their
new ARMs.
In 1989, Congress enacted the Financial Institutions Reform
Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA), which abolished the FHLBB and
created the Federal Housing Finance Board (Finance Board) to assume
many of the FHLBB's powers and responsibilities. FIRREA required the
Chairperson of the Finance Board to ``take such actions as may be
necessary'' to ensure that the ARM Index prepared by the FHLBB
continued to be available.\1\ Although there was no explicit reference
in FIRREA to the continuation of the MIRS, the Finance Board viewed
that statutory requirement to continue to produce the ARM Index as a
mandate to
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continue also to conduct the MIRS, from which the data used to derive
the ARM Index was obtained. The Finance Board conducted the MIRS and
produced the ARM Index from 1989 through 2008, when Congress abolished
that agency and transferred its responsibilities to the newly-created
FHFA.\2\
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\1\ See Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement
Act of 1989 (FIRREA), Public Law 101-73, Title IV, Sec. 402(e)(3),
103 Stat. 183, codified at 12 U.S.C. 1437 note. The statute
permitted the Finance Board to substitute a different ARM index
after notice and comment, but only if the new index was based upon
data substantially similar to that of the original ARM Index and
substitution of the new ARM index would result in an interest rate
substantially similar to the rate in effect at the time the new ARM
index replaced the existing ARM Index. See FIRREA Sec. 402(e)(4).
\2\ See Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA), Public
Law 110-289, Div. A, Title III, Sec. 1312, 122 Stat. 2794, codified
at 12 U.S.C. 4511 note.
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Since 2008, FHFA has continued to conduct the MIRS and produce the
ARM Index.\3\ By statute, MIRS data is one of the factors that FHFA is
required to consider in assessing the national average one-family house
price for purposes of periodically adjusting the conforming mortgage
loan limits of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.\4\ In addition, statutes in
several states and U.S. territories, including California, Michigan,
Minnesota, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and the Virgin Islands, refer to, or
rely upon, the MIRS.\5\
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\3\ The MIRS and the ARM Index are described at 12 CFR 906.5.
\4\ See 12 U.S.C. 4542.
\5\ See, e.g., Cal. Civ. Code Sec. Sec. 1916.7 and 1916.8
(mortgage rates); Mich. Comp. Laws Sec. 445.1621(d) (mortgage index
rates); Minn. Stat. Sec. 92.06 (payments for state land sales);
N.J. Rev. Stat. 31:1-1 (interest rates); Wis. Stat. Sec. 138.056
(variable loan rates); V.I. Code Ann. tit. 11, Sec. 951 (legal rate
of interest).
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Many lenders use FHFA's ARM Index, derived from MIRS data, to set
interest rates on fixed rate loans. In addition, businesses, trade
associations, and government agencies at both the federal and state
level rely upon the MIRS data for various business and regulatory
purposes. For example, economic policy makers have used the MIRS data
to determine trends in the mortgage markets, including interest rates,
down payments, terms to maturity, terms on ARMs, and initial fees and
charges on mortgage loans. Other federal banking agencies, such as the
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Council of
Economic Advisors, have used the MIRS results for research purposes.
The OMB number for the information collection is 2590-0004, which
is due to expire on March 31, 2014. The likely respondents are mortgage
lenders in the United States.
B. Burden Estimate
FHFA estimates the total annual number of respondents at 70 with 6
responses per respondent (because not every respondent will have new
mortgage loans to report every month). The estimate for the average
time per response is 20 minutes. The combined estimate for the total
annual hour burden is 140 hours (70 respondents x 6 responses x 0.33
hours).
C. Comment Request
FHFA requests written comments on the following: (1) 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 respondents, including
through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of
information technology.
Dated: January 23, 2014.
Kevin Winkler,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
[FR Doc. 2014-01742 Filed 1-29-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8070-01-P