2012-25559. Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

AGENCY:

Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.

ACTION:

Notice and request for comment.

SUMMARY:

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau), as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The Bureau is soliciting comments concerning its proposed information collection titled, “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on the Service Delivery of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.” The proposed collection has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. A copy of the submission may be obtained by contacting the agency contact listed below.

DATES:

Written comments are encouraged and must be received on or before November 16, 2012 to be assured of consideration.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments, identified by agency name and the title, “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on the Service Delivery of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau” to:

• Agency: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Attention: PRA Office), 1700 G Street NW., Washington, DC 20552; [phone]; and [e-mail].
• OMB: Shagufta Ahmed, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503; [phone].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for additional information should be directed to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Attention: PRA Office), 1700 G Street NW., Washington, DC 20552, [phone], or through the internet at [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on the Service Delivery of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

OMB Control Number: 3170-XXXX.

Summary: As part of a Federal Government-wide effort to streamline the process to seek feedback from the public on service delivery, the Bureau has submitted a Generic Information Collection Request: “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on the Service Delivery of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau” to OMB for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.).

Type of Review: New Generic.

Abstract: The proposed information collection activity would garner qualitative feedback from consumers, financial institutions, and stakeholders on a wide range of services the Bureau provides in an efficient, timely manner, in accordance with the Bureau's commitment to improving service delivery. By qualitative feedback, the Bureau means information that provides useful insights on, for example, comprehension, usability, perceptions, and opinions, but are not statistical surveys that yield quantitative results that can be generalized to the population of study. The Bureau expects this feedback to include insights into consumer, financial institution, or stakeholder perceptions, experiences, and expectations, provide an early warning of issues with service, or focus attention on areas where communication, training or changes in operations might improve delivery of products or services. These collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative, and actionable communications between the Bureau and consumers, financial institutions, and stakeholders. It will also allow feedback to contribute directly to the improvement of program management.

The solicitation of feedback will target areas such as: Timeliness, appropriateness, accuracy of information, courtesy, efficiency of service delivery, and resolution of issues with service delivery. Responses will be assessed to plan and inform efforts to improve or maintain the quality of service offered to the public. If this information is not collected, vital feedback from consumers, financial institutions, and stakeholders on the Bureau's services will be unavailable.

The Bureau will only submit a collection for approval under this generic clearance if it meets the following conditions:

• The collections are voluntary;
• The collections are low-burden for respondents (based on considerations of total burden hours, total number of respondents, or burden-hours per respondent) and are low-cost for both the respondents and the Federal Government;
• The collections are non-controversial and do not raise issues of concern to other Federal agencies;
• Any collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the near future;
• Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected only to the extent necessary and is not retained;
• Information gathered is intended to be used only internally for general service improvement and program management purposes and is not intended for release outside of the Bureau (if released, the Bureau must indicate the qualitative nature of the information);
• Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions; and
• Information gathered will yield qualitative information; the collections will not be designed or expected to yield statistically reliable results or used as though the results are generalizable to the population of study.

Feedback collected under this generic clearance would provide useful information, but it would not yield data that can be generalized to the overall population. This type of generic clearance for qualitative information will not be used for quantitative information collections that are designed to yield reliably actionable results, such as monitoring trends over time or documenting program performance. Such data uses require more rigorous designs that address: The target population to which generalizations will be made, the sampling frame, the sample design (including stratification and clustering), the precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response rate, methods for assessing potential non-response bias, the protocols for data collection, and any testing procedures that were or will be undertaken prior to fielding the study. Depending on the degree of influence the results are likely to have, such collections may still be eligible for submission for other generic mechanisms that are designed to yield quantitative results.

As a general matter, information collections will not result in any new system of records containing privacy information and will not ask questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.

Affected Public: Individuals and Households; Businesses, Organizations, and other for-profit, not-for-profit institutions; and State, Local or Tribal Governments.

Average Expected Annual Number of Activities: 25.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 10,000.

Estimated Time per Respondent: 1 Hour per Response.

Frequency of Response: 1 per Year.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 250,000.

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless the information collection displays a currently valid OMB control number.

The Bureau issued a 60-day Federal Register notice on August 7, 2012 77 FR 47045). Comments were solicited and continue to be invited on: (a) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Bureau, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Bureau's estimate of the burden of the collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and the assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) 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: October 10, 2012.

Chris Willey,

Chief Information Officer, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.