2024-03855. Agency Information Collection Activities: Revision of an Approved Information Collection; Submission for OMB Review; Fair Housing Home Loan Data System Regulation

AGENCY:

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Treasury.

ACTION:

Notice and request for comment.

SUMMARY:

The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites comment on a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). In accordance with the requirements of the PRA, the OCC may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The OCC is soliciting comment concerning a revision to its information collection titled, “Fair Housing Home Loan Data System Regulation.”

DATES:

Comments must be received by March 27, 2024.

ADDRESSES:

Commenters are encouraged to submit comments by email, if possible. You may submit comments by any of the following methods:

• Email: [e-mail].

• Mail: Chief Counsel's Office, Attention: Comment Processing, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Attention: 1557–0159, 400 7th Street SW, Suite 3E–218, Washington, DC 20219.

• Hand Delivery/Courier: 400 7th Street SW, Suite 3E–218, Washington, DC 20219.

• Fax: [phone].

Instructions: You must include “OCC” as the agency name and “1557–0159” in your comment. In general, the OCC will publish comments on www.reginfo.gov without change, including any business or personal information provided, such as name and address information, email addresses, or phone numbers. Comments received, including attachments and other supporting materials, are part of the public record and subject to public disclosure. Do not include any information in your comment or supporting materials that you consider confidential or inappropriate for public disclosure.

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should also be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. You can find this information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function.

You may review comments and other related materials that pertain to this information collection following the close of the 30-day comment period for this notice by the method set forth in the next bullet.

• Viewing Comments Electronically: Go to www.reginfo.gov. Hover over the “Information Collection Review” tab and click on “Information Collection Review” from the drop-down menu. From the “Currently under Review” drop-down menu, select “Department of Treasury” and then click “submit.” This information collection can be located by searching OMB control number “1557–0159” or “Fair Housing Home Loan Data System Regulation.” Upon finding the appropriate information collection, click on the related “ICR Reference Number.” On the next screen, select “View Supporting Statement and Other Documents” and then click on the link to any comment listed at the bottom of the screen.

• For assistance in navigating www.reginfo.gov, please contact the Regulatory Information Service Center at (202) 482–7340.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Shaquita Merritt, Clearance Officer, (202) 649–5490, Chief Counsel's Office, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 400 7th Street SW, Washington, DC 20219. If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7–1–1 to access telecommunications relay services.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), Federal agencies must obtain approval from the OMB for each collection of information that they conduct or sponsor. “Collection of information” is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 1320.3(c) to include agency requests or requirements that members of the public submit reports, keep records, or provide information to a third party. The OCC asks OMB to approve this revised collection.

Title: Fair Housing Home Loan Data System Regulation.

OMB Control No.: 1557–0159.

Type of Review: Regular.

Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit.

Estimated Frequency of Response: On occasion.

Description: Part 27 requires certain national banks to record certain information and all national banks to retain certain information.^[1] Specifically, national banks must record certain home loan data if they: (1) are otherwise required to maintain and report data pursuant to Regulation C,^[2] which implements the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA),^[3] in which case they are HMDA reporters or (2) receive more than 50 home loan applications annually. Specifically, national banks that are HMDA reporters meet the part 27 requirement by recording HMDA data along with the reasons for denying any loan application on the HMDA Loan Application/Register (LAR).^[4] A national bank that is not a HMDA reporter but that receives more than 50 home loan applications annually must comply with part 27 by either: (1) recording and reporting HMDA data and denial reasons on the LAR as if they were a HMDA reporter,^[5] or (2) recording and maintaining part 27-specified activity data relating to aggregate numbers of certain types of loans by geography and action taken.^[6] Part 27 also requires that all national banks, including those not subject to the recording requirements, to maintain certain application and loan information in loan files. Part 27 further provides that the OCC may require national banks to maintain and submit additional information if there is reason to believe that the bank engaged in discrimination.

The requirements in part 27 are as follows:

Section 27.3(a)(1) requires provision of the data that national banks are required to collect on home loans pursuant to Regulation C.^[7]

Sections 27.3(a)(2) and (3) require national banks that receive more than 50 applications but are not HMDA reporters to collect certain information quarterly.

Section 27.3(a) also lists exceptions to the HMDA–LAR recordkeeping requirements.

Section 27.3(b) lists the information national banks must attempt to obtain from an applicant as part of a home loan application and sets forth the information that banks must disclose to an applicant.

Section 27.3(c) sets forth additional information national banks must maintain in each of their home loan files.

Section 27.4 states that the OCC may require a national bank to maintain a Fair Housing Inquiry/Application Log found in Appendix III to part 27 including if: (1) there is reason to believe that the bank is prescreening, or otherwise engaging in discriminatory practices on a prohibited basis, (2) complaints filed with the Comptroller or letters in the Community Reinvestment Act file are found to be substantive in nature, indicating that the bank's home lending practices are, or may be, discriminatory, or (3) analysis of the data compiled by the bank under HMDA and Regulation C indicates a pattern of significant variation in the number of home loans between census tracts with similar incomes and home ownership levels differentiated only by race or national origin.

Section 27.5 requires a national bank to maintain the information required by § 27.3 for 25 months after the bank notifies the applicant of action taken on an application or after withdrawal of an application.

Section 27.7 requires a national bank to submit to the OCC, upon request prior to a scheduled examination, the information required by §§ 27.3(a) and 27.4. Non-HMDA reporters with more than 50 applications are required to submit this data using the Monthly Home Loan Activity Format form in Appendix I to part 27 and the Home Loan Data Submission Form in Appendix IV to part 27 except that there is an additional exclusion for national banks with fewer than 75 applications. Specifically, § 27.7(c)(3) states that a bank with fewer than 75 home loan applications in the preceding year is not required to submit such forms unless the home loan activity is concentrated in the few months preceding the request for data, indicating the likelihood of increased activity over the subsequent year, or there is cause to believe that a bank is not in compliance with the fair housing laws based on prior examinations and/or complaints, among other factors.

Section 27.7(d) provides that if there is cause to believe that a national bank is in noncompliance with fair housing laws, the Comptroller may require submission of additional Home Loan Data Submission Forms. The Comptroller may also require submission of the information maintained under § 27.3(a) and Home Loan Data Submission Forms at more frequent intervals than specified.

Burden Estimates:

Estimated Number of Respondents: 702.

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 12,632 hours.

Comments: On December 15, 2023, the OCC published a 60-day notice for this information collection, 88 FR 87052. No comments were received.

Comments continue to be invited on:

(a) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the OCC, including whether the information has practical utility;

(b) The accuracy of the OCC's estimate of the burden of the collection of information;

(c) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected;

(d) Ways to minimize the burden of the collection on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and

(e) Estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.

Theodore J. Dowd,

Deputy Chief Counsel, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Footnotes

1.  The OCC issued part 27 as part of a settlement agreement in a case in which the plaintiffs alleged that Federal agencies, including the OCC, were obligated to exercise supervisory and regulatory powers to prevent discrimination in home mortgage lending under Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair Housing Act). See National Urban League, et al. v. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, et al., 78 F.R.D. 543, 544 (D.D.C. May 3, 1978). See also44 FR 63084, November 2, 1979.

2.  12 CFR part 1003.

3.  12 U.S.C. 2801 et seq.

4.  12 CFR 27.3(a)(1)(i).

5.  12 CFR 27.3(a)(5).

6.  12 CFR 27.3(a)(2).

7.  The quarterly recordkeeping requirements under 12 CFR 27.3(a) do not add any burden because they are duplicative of the recordkeeping requirements under 12 CFR 1003.4(f). See OMB control number 1557–0345.