Section 674.19 & 674.50 Certification of Electronic Signat. on Loan

Sections 674.19 and 674.50 – Certification of Electronic Signatures on Loan MPNs assigned to the Department

The proposed regulations would require that upon request schools would submit an affidavit or certification regarding the creation and maintenance of electronic Master Promissory Notes (MPNs) or promissory notes including the authentication and signature process. Also, the records retention requirement for affected parties would increase from the current requirement of three years after the end of the award year to seven years after all the loans on the MPN are satisfied.

# of borrowers referred for litigation – 2006-2007:

Program Type: # of loans X % of E-MPNs = # affected

by program

Perkins Loan Program 28 .15 4

FFEL Program 842 .85 716

Total # of Perkins Loans and 870 1.00 720

FFEL Loans Referred for

Litigation

Burden associated with data collection:

Providing ED with a copy of

the affidavit or certification .5 hours (30 minutes)

The burden associated with the collection of the original data and its retention, exists under the current rules. There is no increase in burden to retain these loan records until 7 years after the loans are satisfied.

Total burden increase:

# loans referred for litigation 720

amount of burden reduction X .5 hours (30 minutes)

Total burden hour increase 360 hours

Affected Entity:

# of affected X burden = increase in burden

loans per MPN hours

INSTITUTIONS 4 .5 2

[NOTE: The remaining additional burden of 358 hours is attributable to FFEL lenders and guarantors found in OMB 1845-0020.]

Respondents, Responses and Burden Hours:

# of Respondents # of Responses # Hrs/Response #Hrs

Burden

4 4 .5 = 2

2