Justification for Nonmaterial/Nonsubstantive Change

Justification for Nonmaterial/Nonsubstantive Change

AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)

TITLE: PBGC Information Collection for Locating and Paying Participants (29 CFR Part 4022)

STATUS: OMB control number 1212-0055; expires August 31, 2008

CONTACT: Catherine B. Klion (326-4223 ext. 3041) or Jo Amato Burns (326-4223 ext. 3072)

The information collection documents PBGC is submitting show the paper version of screen print enhancements to PBGC’s web-based application My Pension Benefit Account (MyPBA). Each of the enhancements reflects minor changes and none ask for new or additional information. Public comment on any of these changes would not be meaningful.

The MyPBA enhancements are as follows:

Online benefit estimates:

Currently, participants can request benefit estimates online from PBGC, with calculation done by staff at PBGC and then mailed to the participant, a process that can take from 15 to 45 days. Starting in December 2006, participants in a selected number of plans will be able to request and receive benefit estimates online in real-time, i.e., an online calculator will prepare the estimates and immediately provide them to the participant online.

Married participants' estimates based on spouse as beneficiary:

Currently, when a married participant requests benefit estimates online, he/she automatically receives estimates based on his/her spouse as his/her beneficiary. A married participant able to receive real-time online benefit estimates will be able to request benefit estimates based on (a) his/her spouse as beneficiary, (b) someone other than his/her spouse as beneficiary, or (c) no beneficiary. To ensure that married participants and their spouses can make informed decisions as to which benefit form to select, the revised screen states that if the participant is married, one of the estimates requested must show the participant's spouse as the beneficiary.

Spouse's address:

Currently, a participant must key in his/her spouse's address even if it is the same as the participant's address that was already entered by the participant. Under the revision, the participant has the option of checking a box captioned, "The mailing address is the same as my mailing address." In addition to saving time, the check box will reduce the chance of errors.