03-12374. Notice of Proposed Information Collection: Comment Request Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) Disclosures

AGENCY:

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner, HUD.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The proposed information collection requirement described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal.

DATES:

Comments Due Date: July 18, 2003.

ADDRESSES:

Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding this proposal. Comments should refer to the proposal by name and/or OMB Control Number and should be sent to: Wayne Eddins, Reports Management Officer, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, SW., L'Enfant Plaza Building, Room 8003, Washington, DC 20410 or [e-mail].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ivy Jackson, Acting Director, Office of Interstate Land Sales and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW., Washington, DC 20410, telephone [phone] (this is not a toll free number) for copies of the proposed forms and other available information.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Department is submitting the proposed information collection to OMB for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35, as amended).

This Notice is soliciting comments from members of the public and affected agencies concerning the proposed collection of information to: (1) Evaluate whether the proposed collection is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility; (2) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information; (3) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond; including the use of appropriate automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses.

This Notice also lists the following information:

Title of Proposal: Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) Disclosures.

OMB Control Number, if applicable: 2502-0265.

Description of the need for the information and proposed use: The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act requires settlement service providers to give homebuyers certain disclosure information at or before settlement and pursuant to the servicing of the loan and escrow account. This includes a Special Information Booklet, a Good Faith Estimate, an Initial Servicing Disclosure, the Form HUD-1 or HUD-1A, and when applicable, an Initial Escrow Account Statement, an Annual Escrow Account Statement, an Escrow Account Disbursement Disclosure, an Affiliated Business Arrangement Disclosure, and a Servicing/Transfer Disclosure.

Agency form numbers, if applicable: HUD-1 and HUD-1A.

Estimation of the total numbers of hours needed to prepare the information collection including number of respondents, frequency of response, and hours of response: The total number of annual burden hours needed to prepare the information is 9,672,400; the number of respondents is estimated to be 20,000 generating approximately 129,980,000 responses annually; these are third party disclosures, the frequency of response is annually for one disclosure and as required for others; and the estimated time per response varies from 2 minutes to 15 minutes.

Status of the proposed information collection: Revision of a currently approved collection.

Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. chapter 35, as amended.

Dated: May 9, 2003.

Sean G. Cassidy,

General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing—Deputy Federal Housing Commissioner.