Proposed Collection; Comment Request, 69664-69674 [2015-28483]

Download as PDF asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES 69664 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 217 / Tuesday, November 10, 2015 / Notices CFR 1.2105(c). Statutory authority for the revised information collection is contained in sections 154(i), 309(j), and 1452(a)(3) of the Communications Act, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 4(i), 309(j)(5), 1452(a)(3), and sections 1.2105(c) and 1.2205 of the Commission’s rules, 47 CFR 1.2105(c), 1.2205. Estimated Total Annual Burden: 50 hours. Total Annual Costs: $9,000. Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: The Commission will take all reasonable steps to protect the confidentiality of all Commission-held data of a reverse auction applicant consistent with the confidentiality requirements of the Spectrum Act and the Commission’s rules. See 47 U.S.C. 1452(a)(3); 47 CFR 1.2206. In addition, to the extent necessary, a full power or Class A television broadcast licensee may request confidential treatment of any report of a prohibited communication submitted to the Commission that is not already being treated as confidential pursuant to section 0.459 of the Commission’s rules, 47 CFR 0.459. Forward auction applicants are entitled to request confidentiality in accordance with section 0.459 of the Commission’s rules, 47 CFR 0.459. Privacy Act Impact Assessment: No impact(s). Needs and Uses: On February 22, 2012, the President signed the Spectrum Act, which, among other things, authorized the Commission to conduct incentive auctions, and directed that the Commission use this innovative tool for an incentive auction of broadcast television spectrum to help meet the Nation’s growing spectrum needs. See Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, Pub. L. 112–96, sections 6402, 6403, 125 Stat. 156 (2012) (Spectrum Act), codified at 47 U.S.C. 309(j)(8)(G), 1452. The Commission’s broadcast incentive auction (BIA) will have three main components: (1) A reverse auction in which broadcast television licensees will submit bids to voluntarily relinquish their spectrum usage rights in exchange for defined shares of proceeds from the forward auction; (2) a repacking of the broadcast television bands; and (3) a forward auction of initial licenses for flexible use of the newly available spectrum. The Commission is revising the currently approved information collection to implement new collection requirements resulting from the Commission’s adoption of new and modified rules prohibiting certain communications for full power and Class A television broadcast licensees and for applicants seeking to participate in the forward auction component of the VerDate Sep<11>2014 19:41 Nov 09, 2015 Jkt 238001 BIA and requiring such covered parties to file a report with the Commission within a specified period of time if they make or receive a prohibited communication. Subject to certain exceptions, section 1.2205(b) of the Commission’s rules provides that, beginning on the deadline for submitting applications to participate in the reverse auction and until the results of the incentive auction are announced by public notice, all full power and Class A broadcast television licensees are prohibited from communicating directly or indirectly any incentive auction applicant’s bids or bidding strategies to any other full power or Class A broadcast television licensee or to any forward auction applicant. Section 1.2205(c) requires any party that makes or receives a prohibited communication to report such communication in writing to the Commission immediately, and in no case later than five business days after the communication occurs. Section 1.2205(d) provides the procedures for filing any reports required under section 1.2205(c). Subject to certain exceptions, forward auction applicants in the BIA are subject to a BIA-specific provision in section 1.2105(c) of the Commission’s rules (in addition to the Commission’s existing prohibited communications rule applicable to applicants in traditional Commission auctions), which provides that, beginning on the deadline for submitting applications to participate in the forward auction and until the results of the incentive auction have been announced by public notice, all forward auction applicants are prohibited from communicating directly or indirectly any incentive auction applicant’s bids or bidding strategies to any full power or Class A broadcast television licensee. Section 1.2105(c) requires forward applicants that make or receive a prohibited communications that is prohibited under section 1.2105(c) to file a report of such a communication with the Commission. The Commission’s rules prohibiting certain communications in Commission auctions are designed to reinforce existing antitrust laws, facilitate detection of collusive conduct, and deter anticompetitive behavior, without being so strict as to discourage procompetitive arrangements between auction participants. They also help assure participants that the auction process will be fair and objective, and not subject to collusion. The information collected through the Commission’s existing reporting requirement under section 1.2105(c) allows the Commission to enforce the PO 00000 Frm 00033 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 prohibition on forward auction applicants by making clear the responsibility of parties who receive information that potentially violates the rules to promptly report to the Commission, thereby enhancing the competitiveness and fairness of its spectrum auctions. The revised information collection under the BIAspecific rule in section 1.2105(c) and in sections 1.2205(c) and 1.2205(d) will likewise help the Commission enforce the prohibition on covered parties in the BIA, further assuring incentive auction participants that the auction process will be fair and competitive. The prohibited communication reporting requirement required of covered parties will enable the Commission to ensure that no bidder gains an unfair advantage over other bidders in its auctions and thus enhances the competitiveness and fairness of Commission’s auctions. The information collected will be reviewed and, if warranted, referred to the Commission’s Enforcement Bureau for possible investigation and administrative action. The Commission may also refer allegations of anticompetitive auction conduct to the Department of Justice for investigation. Federal Communications Commission. Gloria J. Miles, Federal Register Liaison Officer, Office of the Secretary. [FR Doc. 2015–28572 Filed 11–9–15; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6712–01–P FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY [No. 2015–N–11] Proposed Collection; Comment Request Federal Housing Finance Agency. ACTION: 60-day Notice of Submission of Information Collection for Approval from Office of Management and Budget. AGENCY: 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 Existing Mortgage Borrowers’’ (NSEMB). 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. SUMMARY: E:\FR\FM\10NON1.SGM 10NON1 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 217 / Tuesday, November 10, 2015 / Notices Interested persons may submit comments on or before January 11, 2016. ADDRESSES: Submit comments to FHFA, identified by ‘‘Proposed Collection; Comment Request: ‘National Survey of Existing Mortgage Borrowers, (No. 2015–N–11)’ ’’ by any of the following methods: • Agency Web site: www.fhfa.gov/ open-for-comment-or-input. • Federal eRulemaking Portal: https:// 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 RegComments@fhfa.gov to ensure timely receipt by the agency. • Mail/Hand Delivery: Federal Housing Finance Agency, Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20219, ATTENTION: Proposed Collection; Comment Request: ‘‘National Survey of Existing Mortgage Borrowers, (No. 2015–N–11)’’. We will post all public comments we receive without change, including any personal information you provide, such as your name and address, email address, and telephone number, on the FHFA Web site at https://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 20219. To make an appointment to inspect comments, please call the Office of General Counsel at (202) 649–3804. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Forrest Pafenberg, Supervisory Policy Analyst, Office of the Chief Operating Officer, by email at Forrest.Pafenberg@fhfa.gov or by telephone at (202) 649–3129; or Eric Raudenbush, Assistant General Counsel, by email at Eric.Raudenbush@fhfa.gov or by telephone at (202) 649–3084, (these are not toll-free numbers), Federal Housing Finance Agency, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20219. The Telecommunications Device for the Deaf is (800) 877–8339. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES DATES: A. Need for and Use of the Information Collection The NSEMB will be a periodic, voluntary survey of individuals who currently have a first mortgage loan secured by single-family residential property. The survey questionnaire will consist of approximately 80–85 questions designed to learn directly from mortgage borrowers about their VerDate Sep<11>2014 19:41 Nov 09, 2015 Jkt 238001 mortgage experience, any challenges they may have had in maintaining their mortgage and, where applicable, terminating a mortgage. It will request specific information on: The mortgage; the mortgaged property; the borrower’s experience with the loan servicer; and the borrower’s financial resources and financial knowledge. FHFA is also seeking clearance to pretest the survey questionnaire and related materials from time to time through the use of focus groups. A preliminary draft of the survey questionnaire (which at this time includes only 66 questions) appears at the end of this notice. The NSEMB will be a component of the larger ‘‘National Mortgage Database’’ (NMDB) Project (Project), which is a multi-year joint effort of FHFA and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) (although the NSEMB is being sponsored only by FHFA). The Project is designed to satisfy the Congressionally-mandated requirements of section 1324(c) of the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992, as amended by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.1 Section 1324(c) 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 in order to enable it to prepare a detailed annual report on the mortgage market activities of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) for review by the appropriate Congressional oversight committees. Section 1324(c) also authorizes and requires FHFA to compile a database of timely and otherwise unavailable residential mortgage market information to be made available to the public. In order to fulfill those and other statutory mandates, as well as to support policymaking and research efforts, FHFA and CFPB committed in July 2012 to fund, build and manage the NMDB Project. When fully complete, the NMDB will be a de-identified loanlevel database of closed-end first-lien residential mortgages. It will: (1) Be representative of the market as a whole; (2) contain detailed, loan-level information on the terms and performance of mortgages, as well as characteristics of the associated borrowers and properties; (3) be continually updated; (4) have an historical component dating back before the financial crisis of 2008; and (5) 1 12 PO 00000 U.S.C. 4544(c). Frm 00034 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 69665 provide a sampling frame for surveys to collect additional information. The core data in the NMDB are drawn from a random 1-in-20 sample of all closed-end first-lien mortgage files outstanding at any time between January 1998 and the present in the files of Experian, one of the three national credit repositories. A random 1-in-20 sample of mortgages newly reported to Experian is added each quarter. The NMDB also draws information on mortgages in the NMDB datasets from other existing sources, including the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) database that is maintained by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), property valuation models, and data files maintained by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and by federal agencies. Currently, FHFA obtains additional data from its quarterly National Survey of Mortgage Borrowers (NSMB), which provides critical and timely information on newly-originated mortgages and those borrowing that are not available from any existing source, including: The range of nontraditional and subprime mortgage products being offered, the methods by which these mortgages are being marketed, and the characteristics of borrowers for these types of loans.2 While the quarterly NSMB provides information on newly-originated mortgages, it does not solicit borrowers’ experience with maintaining their existing mortgages; nor is detailed information on that topic available from any other existing source. The NSEMB will solicit such information, including information on borrowers’ experience with maintaining a mortgage under financial stress, their experience in soliciting financial assistance, their success in accessing federally-sponsored programs designed to assist them, and, where applicable, any challenges they may have had in terminating a mortgage loan. The NSEMB questionnaire will be sent out to a stratified random sample of 10,000 borrowers in the NMDB. The NSEMB assumes a 25 percent overall response rate, which would yield 2,500 survey responses. The information collected through the NSEMB questionnaire will be used, in combination with information obtained from existing sources in the NMDB, to assist FHFA in understanding how the performance of existing mortgages is influencing the residential mortgage market, what different borrower groups are discussing with their servicers when they are under financial stress, and 2 OMB has cleared the NSMB under the PRA and assigned it control no. 2590–0012. The current OMB clearance expires on December 31, 2016. E:\FR\FM\10NON1.SGM 10NON1 69666 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 217 / Tuesday, November 10, 2015 / Notices asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES consumers’ opinions of federallysponsored programs designed to assist them. This important, but currently unavailable, information will assist the agency in the supervision of its regulated entities (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks) and in the development and implementation of appropriate and effective policies and programs. The information may also be used for research and analysis by other federal agencies that have regulatory and supervisory responsibilities/mandates related to mortgage markets and to provide a resource for research and analysis by academics and other interested parties outside of the government. FHFA expects that, in the process of developing the initial and any subsequent NSEMB survey questionnaires and related materials, it will sponsor one or more focus groups to pretest those materials. Such pretesting will ultimately help to ensure that the survey respondents can and will answer the survey questions and will provide useful data on their experiences with maintaining their existing mortgages. FHFA will use information collected through the focus groups to assist in drafting and modifying the survey questions and instructions, as well as the related communications, to read in the way that will be most readily understood by the survey respondents and that will be most likely to elicit usable responses. Such information will also be used help the agency decide on how best to VerDate Sep<11>2014 19:41 Nov 09, 2015 Jkt 238001 organize and format the survey questionnaire. B. Burden Estimate While FHFA currently has firm plans to conduct the survey only once—in the second quarter of 2016—it may decide to conduct further periodic NSEMB surveys once the first survey is completed. The agency therefore estimates that the survey will be conducted, on average, once annually over the next three years and that it will conduct pre-testing on each set of annual survey materials. FHFA has analyzed the hour burden on members of the public associated with pre-testing the survey materials (24 hours) and with conducting the survey (5,000 hours) and estimates the total annual hour burden imposed on the public by this information collection to be 5,024 hours. The estimate for each phase of the collection was calculated as follows: Pre-Testing the Materials FHFA estimates that it will sponsor two focus groups prior to conducting each survey, with 12 participants in each focus group, for a total of 24 focus group participants. It estimates the participation time for each focus group participant to be one hour, resulting in a total annual burden estimate of 24 hours for the pre-testing phase of the collection (2 focus groups per year × 12 participants in each group × 1 hour per participant = 24 hours). Conducting the Survey FHFA estimates that the NSEMB questionnaire will be sent to 10,000 PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 recipients each time it is conducted. Although the agency expects only 2,500 of those surveys to be returned, it assumes that all of the surveys will be returned for purposes of this burden calculation. Based on the reported experience of respondents to the quarterly NSMB questionnaire, which contains a similar number of questions, FHFA estimates that it will take each respondent 30 minutes to complete each survey, including the gathering of necessary materials to respond to the questions. This results in a total annual burden estimate of 5,000 hours for the survey phase of this collection (1 survey per year × 10,000 respondents per survey × 30 minutes per respondent = 5,000 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 survey respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Dated: November 3, 2015. Kevin Winkler, Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency. BILLING CODE 8070–01–P E:\FR\FM\10NON1.SGM 10NON1 VerDate Sep<11>2014 19:41 Nov 09, 2015 Jkt 238001 PO 00000 Frm 00036 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\10NON1.SGM 10NON1 69667 EN10NO15.004</GPH> asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 217 / Tuesday, November 10, 2015 / Notices VerDate Sep<11>2014 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 217 / Tuesday, November 10, 2015 / Notices 19:41 Nov 09, 2015 Jkt 238001 PO 00000 Frm 00037 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\10NON1.SGM 10NON1 EN10NO15.005</GPH> asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES 69668 VerDate Sep<11>2014 19:41 Nov 09, 2015 Jkt 238001 PO 00000 Frm 00038 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\10NON1.SGM 10NON1 69669 EN10NO15.006</GPH> asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 217 / Tuesday, November 10, 2015 / Notices VerDate Sep<11>2014 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 217 / Tuesday, November 10, 2015 / Notices 19:41 Nov 09, 2015 Jkt 238001 PO 00000 Frm 00039 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\10NON1.SGM 10NON1 EN10NO15.007</GPH> asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES 69670 VerDate Sep<11>2014 19:41 Nov 09, 2015 Jkt 238001 PO 00000 Frm 00040 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\10NON1.SGM 10NON1 69671 EN10NO15.008</GPH> asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 217 / Tuesday, November 10, 2015 / Notices VerDate Sep<11>2014 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 217 / Tuesday, November 10, 2015 / Notices 19:41 Nov 09, 2015 Jkt 238001 PO 00000 Frm 00041 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\10NON1.SGM 10NON1 EN10NO15.009</GPH> asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES 69672 VerDate Sep<11>2014 19:41 Nov 09, 2015 Jkt 238001 PO 00000 Frm 00042 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 9990 E:\FR\FM\10NON1.SGM 10NON1 69673 EN10NO15.010</GPH> asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 217 / Tuesday, November 10, 2015 / Notices 69674 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 217 / Tuesday, November 10, 2015 / Notices [FR Doc. 2015–28483 Filed 11–9–15; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 8070–01–C FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Change in Bank Control Notices; Acquisitions of Shares of a Bank or Bank Holding Company The notificants listed below have applied under the Change in Bank Control Act (12 U.S.C. 1817(j)) and § 225.41 of the Board’s Regulation Y (12 CFR 225.41) to acquire shares of a bank or bank holding company. The factors that are considered in acting on the notices are set forth in paragraph 7 of the Act (12 U.S.C. 1817(j)(7)). The notices are available for immediate inspection at the Federal Reserve Bank indicated. The notices also will be available for inspection at the offices of the Board of Governors. Interested persons may express their views in writing to the Reserve Bank indicated for that notice or to the offices of the Board of Governors. Comments must be received not later than November 27, 2015. A. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis (Jacquelyn K. Brunmeier, Assistant Vice President) 90 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55480–0291: 1. Robert J. Foley, Roseau, Minnesota; Catherine Ann Swenson, San Luis Obispo, California; Elizabeth Foley, Burlingame, California; Colleen FoleySacks, Portland, Oregon; and Scott M. Foley, West St. Paul, Minnesota; each to retain voting shares of Roseau Realty Co., Inc., and thereby indirectly retain voting shares of Citizens State Bank of Roseau, both in Roseau, Minnesota. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, November 5, 2015. Michael J. Lewandowski, Associate Secretary of the Board. banks and nonbanking companies owned by the bank holding company, including the companies listed below. The applications listed below, as well as other related filings required by the Board, are available for immediate inspection at the Federal Reserve Bank indicated. The applications will also be available for inspection at the offices of the Board of Governors. Interested persons may express their views in writing on the standards enumerated in the BHC Act (12 U.S.C. 1842(c)). If the proposal also involves the acquisition of a nonbanking company, the review also includes whether the acquisition of the nonbanking company complies with the standards in section 4 of the BHC Act (12 U.S.C. 1843). Unless otherwise noted, nonbanking activities will be conducted throughout the United States. Unless otherwise noted, comments regarding each of these applications must be received at the Reserve Bank indicated or the offices of the Board of Governors not later than December 4, 2015. A. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (Dennis Denney, Assistant Vice President) 1 Memorial Drive, Kansas City, Missouri 64198–0001: 1. Haviland Bancshares, Inc. Employee Stock Ownership Plan, Greensburg, Kansas; to become a bank holding company by acquiring an additional 4.4 percent, for a total of up to 28 percent, of the voting shares of Haviland Bancshares, Inc., and thereby acquire The Haviland State Bank, both in Haviland, Kansas. In connection with this application, applicant also has applied to engage indirectly in general insurance activities, pursuant to section 225.28(b)(11)(iii)(A). [FR Doc. 2015–28545 Filed 11–9–15; 8:45 am] Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, November 4, 2015. Michael J. Lewandowski, Associate Secretary of the Board. BILLING CODE 6210–01–P [FR Doc. 2015–28469 Filed 11–9–15; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6210–01–P FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 1841 et seq.) (BHC Act), Regulation Y (12 CFR part 225), and all other applicable statutes and regulations to become a bank holding company and/or to acquire the assets or the ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the VerDate Sep<11>2014 19:41 Nov 09, 2015 Jkt 238001 Change in Bank Control Notices; Acquisitions of Shares of a Bank or Bank Holding Company The notificants listed below have applied under the Change in Bank Control Act (12 U.S.C. 1817(j)) and § 225.41 of the Board’s Regulation Y (12 CFR 225.41) to acquire shares of a bank or bank holding company. The factors that are considered in acting on the notices are set forth in paragraph 7 of the Act (12 U.S.C. 1817(j)(7)). PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 The notices are available for immediate inspection at the Federal Reserve Bank indicated. The notices also will be available for inspection at the offices of the Board of Governors. Interested persons may express their views in writing to the Reserve Bank indicated for that notice or to the offices of the Board of Governors. Comments must be received not later than November 24, 2015. A. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis (Jacquelyn K. Brunmeier, Assistant Vice President) 90 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55480–0291: 1. Colter Cumin, Deer Lodge, Montana; to acquire voting shares of First Security Group, and thereby indirectly acquire voting shares of First Security Bank of Deer Lodge, both in Deer Lodge, Montana. B. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (Gerald C. Tsai, Director, Applications and Enforcement) 101 Market Street, San Francisco, California 94105–1579: 1. Castle Creek Capital Partners V, LP, and persons or entities that are acting with or control Castle Creek Capital Partners V, LP, including Castle Creek Capital V LLC, Castle Creek Advisors IV LLC, JME Advisory Corp., Legions IV Corp., Mikesell Advisory Corp., Pietrzak Advisory Corp., Scavuzzo Advisory Corp., Volk Advisory Corp., Rana Advisory Corp., Szumski Advisory Corp., John M. Eggemeyer, III, Mark G. Merlo, J. Mikesell Thomas, John T. Pietrzak, Anthony R. Scavuzzo, David J. Volk, Sundeep Rana, and Martin Szumski, all of Rancho Santa Fe, California, and Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic Master Retirement Trust, of Rochester, Minnesota; to acquire voting shares of Guaranty Federal Bancshares, Inc., and thereby indirectly acquire voting shares of Guaranty Bank, both in Springfield, Missouri. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, November 4, 2015. Michael J. Lewandowski, Associate Secretary of the Board. [FR Doc. 2015–28468 Filed 11–9–15; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6210–01–P FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies; Correction This notice corrects a notice (FR Doc. 2015–27768) published on page 67405 of the issue for Monday, November 2, 2015. Under the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston heading, the entry for ESB E:\FR\FM\10NON1.SGM 10NON1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 217 (Tuesday, November 10, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69664-69674]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-28483]


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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

[No. 2015-N-11]


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.

ACTION: 60-day Notice of Submission of Information Collection for 
Approval from Office of Management and Budget.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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 Existing Mortgage Borrowers'' (NSEMB). 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.

[[Page 69665]]


DATES: Interested persons may submit comments on or before January 11, 
2016.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to FHFA, identified by ``Proposed 
Collection; Comment Request: `National Survey of Existing Mortgage 
Borrowers, (No. 2015-N-11)' '' by any of the following methods:
     Agency Web site: www.fhfa.gov/open-for-comment-or-input.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://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 RegComments@fhfa.gov to ensure timely receipt by the agency.
     Mail/Hand Delivery: Federal Housing Finance Agency, Eighth 
Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20219, ATTENTION: 
Proposed Collection; Comment Request: ``National Survey of Existing 
Mortgage Borrowers, (No. 2015-N-11)''.
    We will post all public comments we receive without change, 
including any personal information you provide, such as your name and 
address, email address, and telephone number, on the FHFA Web site at 
https://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 20219. To make an 
appointment to inspect comments, please call the Office of General 
Counsel at (202) 649-3804.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Forrest Pafenberg, Supervisory Policy 
Analyst, Office of the Chief Operating Officer, by email at 
Forrest.Pafenberg@fhfa.gov or by telephone at (202) 649-3129; or Eric 
Raudenbush, Assistant General Counsel, by email at 
Eric.Raudenbush@fhfa.gov or by telephone at (202) 649-3084, (these are 
not toll-free numbers), Federal Housing Finance Agency, 400 Seventh 
Street SW., Washington, DC 20219. The Telecommunications Device for the 
Deaf is (800) 877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Need for and Use of the Information Collection

    The NSEMB will be a periodic, voluntary survey of individuals who 
currently have a first mortgage loan secured by single-family 
residential property. The survey questionnaire will consist of 
approximately 80-85 questions designed to learn directly from mortgage 
borrowers about their mortgage experience, any challenges they may have 
had in maintaining their mortgage and, where applicable, terminating a 
mortgage. It will request specific information on: The mortgage; the 
mortgaged property; the borrower's experience with the loan servicer; 
and the borrower's financial resources and financial knowledge. FHFA is 
also seeking clearance to pretest the survey questionnaire and related 
materials from time to time through the use of focus groups. A 
preliminary draft of the survey questionnaire (which at this time 
includes only 66 questions) appears at the end of this notice.
    The NSEMB will be a component of the larger ``National Mortgage 
Database'' (NMDB) Project (Project), which is a multi-year joint effort 
of FHFA and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) (although 
the NSEMB is being sponsored only by FHFA). The Project is designed to 
satisfy the Congressionally-mandated requirements of section 1324(c) of 
the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 
1992, as amended by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.\1\ 
Section 1324(c) 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 in 
order to enable it to prepare a detailed annual report on the mortgage 
market activities of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie 
Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) for 
review by the appropriate Congressional oversight committees. Section 
1324(c) also authorizes and requires FHFA to compile a database of 
timely and otherwise unavailable residential mortgage market 
information to be made available to the public.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ 12 U.S.C. 4544(c).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In order to fulfill those and other statutory mandates, as well as 
to support policymaking and research efforts, FHFA and CFPB committed 
in July 2012 to fund, build and manage the NMDB Project. When fully 
complete, the NMDB will be a de-identified loan-level database of 
closed-end first-lien residential mortgages. It will: (1) Be 
representative of the market as a whole; (2) contain detailed, loan-
level information on the terms and performance of mortgages, as well as 
characteristics of the associated borrowers and properties; (3) be 
continually updated; (4) have an historical component dating back 
before the financial crisis of 2008; and (5) provide a sampling frame 
for surveys to collect additional information.
    The core data in the NMDB are drawn from a random 1-in-20 sample of 
all closed-end first-lien mortgage files outstanding at any time 
between January 1998 and the present in the files of Experian, one of 
the three national credit repositories. A random 1-in-20 sample of 
mortgages newly reported to Experian is added each quarter. The NMDB 
also draws information on mortgages in the NMDB datasets from other 
existing sources, including the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) 
database that is maintained by the Federal Financial Institutions 
Examination Council (FFIEC), property valuation models, and data files 
maintained by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and by federal agencies. 
Currently, FHFA obtains additional data from its quarterly National 
Survey of Mortgage Borrowers (NSMB), which provides critical and timely 
information on newly-originated mortgages and those borrowing that are 
not available from any existing source, including: The range of 
nontraditional and subprime mortgage products being offered, the 
methods by which these mortgages are being marketed, and the 
characteristics of borrowers for these types of loans.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ OMB has cleared the NSMB under the PRA and assigned it 
control no. 2590-0012. The current OMB clearance expires on December 
31, 2016.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    While the quarterly NSMB provides information on newly-originated 
mortgages, it does not solicit borrowers' experience with maintaining 
their existing mortgages; nor is detailed information on that topic 
available from any other existing source. The NSEMB will solicit such 
information, including information on borrowers' experience with 
maintaining a mortgage under financial stress, their experience in 
soliciting financial assistance, their success in accessing federally-
sponsored programs designed to assist them, and, where applicable, any 
challenges they may have had in terminating a mortgage loan. The NSEMB 
questionnaire will be sent out to a stratified random sample of 10,000 
borrowers in the NMDB. The NSEMB assumes a 25 percent overall response 
rate, which would yield 2,500 survey responses.
    The information collected through the NSEMB questionnaire will be 
used, in combination with information obtained from existing sources in 
the NMDB, to assist FHFA in understanding how the performance of 
existing mortgages is influencing the residential mortgage market, what 
different borrower groups are discussing with their servicers when they 
are under financial stress, and

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consumers' opinions of federally-sponsored programs designed to assist 
them. This important, but currently unavailable, information will 
assist the agency in the supervision of its regulated entities (Fannie 
Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks) and in the 
development and implementation of appropriate and effective policies 
and programs. The information may also be used for research and 
analysis by other federal agencies that have regulatory and supervisory 
responsibilities/mandates related to mortgage markets and to provide a 
resource for research and analysis by academics and other interested 
parties outside of the government.
    FHFA expects that, in the process of developing the initial and any 
subsequent NSEMB survey questionnaires and related materials, it will 
sponsor one or more focus groups to pretest those materials. Such 
pretesting will ultimately help to ensure that the survey respondents 
can and will answer the survey questions and will provide useful data 
on their experiences with maintaining their existing mortgages. FHFA 
will use information collected through the focus groups to assist in 
drafting and modifying the survey questions and instructions, as well 
as the related communications, to read in the way that will be most 
readily understood by the survey respondents and that will be most 
likely to elicit usable responses. Such information will also be used 
help the agency decide on how best to organize and format the survey 
questionnaire.

B. Burden Estimate

    While FHFA currently has firm plans to conduct the survey only 
once--in the second quarter of 2016--it may decide to conduct further 
periodic NSEMB surveys once the first survey is completed. The agency 
therefore estimates that the survey will be conducted, on average, once 
annually over the next three years and that it will conduct pre-testing 
on each set of annual survey materials. FHFA has analyzed the hour 
burden on members of the public associated with pre-testing the survey 
materials (24 hours) and with conducting the survey (5,000 hours) and 
estimates the total annual hour burden imposed on the public by this 
information collection to be 5,024 hours. The estimate for each phase 
of the collection was calculated as follows:

Pre-Testing the Materials

    FHFA estimates that it will sponsor two focus groups prior to 
conducting each survey, with 12 participants in each focus group, for a 
total of 24 focus group participants. It estimates the participation 
time for each focus group participant to be one hour, resulting in a 
total annual burden estimate of 24 hours for the pre-testing phase of 
the collection (2 focus groups per year x 12 participants in each group 
x 1 hour per participant = 24 hours).

Conducting the Survey

    FHFA estimates that the NSEMB questionnaire will be sent to 10,000 
recipients each time it is conducted. Although the agency expects only 
2,500 of those surveys to be returned, it assumes that all of the 
surveys will be returned for purposes of this burden calculation. Based 
on the reported experience of respondents to the quarterly NSMB 
questionnaire, which contains a similar number of questions, FHFA 
estimates that it will take each respondent 30 minutes to complete each 
survey, including the gathering of necessary materials to respond to 
the questions. This results in a total annual burden estimate of 5,000 
hours for the survey phase of this collection (1 survey per year x 
10,000 respondents per survey x 30 minutes per respondent = 5,000 
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 survey respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology.

    Dated: November 3, 2015.
Kevin Winkler,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
BILLING CODE 8070-01-P

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[FR Doc. 2015-28483 Filed 11-9-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8070-01-C
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