3170-0061 HELP Act Supporting Statement A-FINAL

BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION
PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT SUBMISSION
INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST

SUPPORTING STATEMENT PART A
APPLICATION PROCESS FOR DESIGNATION OF RURAL AREA
UNDER FEDERAL CONSUMER FINANCIAL LAW
(OMB CONTROL NUMBER: 3170-0061)

OMB TERMS OF CLEARANCE:
Not applicable. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) provided no Terms of
Clearance when is last approved this collection of information on March 1, 2016.
ABSTRACT:
Section 89002 of the HELP Rural Communities Act (Pub.L. 114 – 94) requires the Bureau
to establish an application process under which a person may apply to have an area designated by
the Bureau as a rural area for purposes of a Federal consumer financial law. On March 3, 2016,
the Bureau published a Final rule in the Federal Register (81 FR 11099) which sets forth the
procedure for making this application and requires the applicant to submit information identifying
the area for which the request is made, and the justification for granting the area rural status.
While the rule specifies what information is to be included, it does not specify to the form or
format of the information.
JUSTIFICATION:
1. Circumstances Necessitating the Data Collection:
Some provisions of federal consumer financial protections law, including most notably
the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) (15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), provide special exceptions or
provisions for certain creditors doing business in rural areas. These provisions are generally
designed to facilitate access to credit out of a concern that certain regulatory requirements might
otherwise discourage creditors from extending loans in areas in which relatively few creditors
may be active. For example, an exemption to the requirement to establish an escrow account for
a higher-priced mortgage loan (escrow exception) partially depends on whether the creditor has
extended credit secured by properties in rural areas, an exception to the prohibition on qualified
mortgages having balloon-payment features (balloon-payment qualified mortgages) partially
depends on whether the creditor has extended credit secured by properties in rural areas, and an
exception to the balloon-payment prohibition for high-cost mortgages permitting balloonpayment qualified mortgages partially depends on whether the creditor has extended credit
secured by properties in rural areas. These provisions were adopted as part of the Bureau’s
mortgage rules implementing title XIV of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer

Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) (Pub.L. 111–203), pursuant to its authority under TILA, as
amended by the Dodd-Frank Act.
Section 89002 of the HELP Rural Communities Act of 2015 (Pub. L. 114-94) requires
the Bureau to establish an application process under which a person may apply to have an area
designated by the Bureau as a rural area for purposes of a Federal consumer financial law.
Section 89002 of the HELP Rural Communities Act also provides details on many of the features
of the process, including evaluation criteria for the Bureau’s determinations on these applications
and a period for public comment on the applications. The Bureau is issuing this procedural rule
to establish the process required by section 89002 of the HELP Rural Communities Act.
The application process included in this procedural rule requires the applicant to identify
the area for which they are seeking designation. The application must also include information
as to whether the area in question has been designated as Rural by either the US Census, the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), or a
state bank supervisor. The application must also include information on the population density
of the area in question, and a justification for applying a rural designation. Finally the requestor
must identify themselves and provide their contact information to the Bureau.
2. Use of the Information:
The information required by this application process, is used by the Bureau to evaluate
whether using the evaluation criteria provided for in the HELP Rural Communities Act the area
defined by the application qualifies for designation as a rural area for the purposes of a federal
consumer financial law.
3. Use of Information Technology:
To ensure that the process of applying for an exemption is both easy and fast, any
applicant may submit applications and supporting documentation to the Bureau in paper or
electronic form.
4. Efforts to Identify Duplication:
While the information requested by this application is available directly from the Census
Bureau, the appropriate state bank supervising agency, the USDA, and OMB, it is not available
in a single place in a compiled form as requested by this application. The requirement for the
applicant to compile and present the information to support this application allows the Bureau to
make a thorough evaluation of the application as efficiently as possible, and does not duplicate
any existing collection of information contained in any regulatory or statutory requirement
administered by the Bureau.
5. Efforts to Minimize Burdens on Small Entities:
This collection allows any person or entity to make application under this process,
including small entities. However the information requested from all entities is the minimum

necessary information for the Bureau to fulfil its statutory mandates to properly evaluate these
applications.
6. Consequences of Less Frequent Collection and Obstacles to Burden Reduction
As discussed above, failing to collect this information may leave the Bureau without the
necessary information to allow the Bureau to consider and grant the application request. The
information is only collected on a voluntary basis, and the applicant determines the frequency
with which they apply.
7. Circumstances Requiring Special Information Collection
There are no special circumstances. The collection of information is conducted in a manner
consistent with the guidelines in 5 C.F.R. §1320.5(d)(2).
8. Consultation Outside the Agency
In accordance with 5 C.F.R. §1320.13(d), the Bureau published a notice in the Federal
Register stating that it was requesting emergency processing under the requirements of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) for OMB review. Comments in response to this notice
were directed towards OMB and requested by February 29, 2016 . Contemporaneously as part
of the standard PRA clearance process, in accordance with 5 C.F.R. §1320.8(d)(1), the Bureau
also published a notice Federal Register allowing the public 60 days to comment on this
proposed collection of information. Comments in response to this notice are directed towards
the Bureau. No comments were received. Further and in accordance with 5 C.F.R.
§1320.5(a)(1)(iv), the Bureau has published a notice in the Federal Register allowing the public
30 days to comment on the submission of this information collection request to OMB.
9. Payments or Gifts to Respondents
Not applicable. The information collection does not provide for making payments or gifts to
respondents.
10. Assurances of Confidentiality
Not Applicable. The collection of information will be published in the Federal Register
and will be available to the public. The procedural rule requires applicants that are not natural
persons to submit evidence that they do business in the State in which the area identified is
located, but permits them to identify parts of that evidence that they wish to be redacted from
publication in the Federal Register. The procedural rule specifically avoids collecting similar
information from natural person applicants and permits the Bureau to redact the Federal Register
publication to withhold any unnecessary personal information included in the application.
11. Justification for Sensitive Questions
The collection of information generally does not collect information that would be

considered private. As discussed above, applicants that are not natural persons must submit
evidence that they live or do business in the State in which the area identified is located, but the
procedural rule permits them to identify parts of that evidence that they wish to be redacted from
publication in the Federal Register.
12. Estimated Burden of Information Collection
This application is voluntary and limited to a submission that is no longer than 10 pages. The
information required for this application is readily available for compilation from public sources,
most available online. Further, we expect that any entity making an application under this rule
will have previously researched the area in question for their own business purposes or in the
regular course of their business, and that the main burden of this application will be the
compilation of the requested information before submission. Accordingly, the Bureau estimates
the burden as follows:
Burden Hour Summary
Information
Collection
Requirement

Application
for Rural
Designation

No. of
Respondents

1

Type of
IC

Frequency

Reporting

1

Annual
Responses

1

Average
Response
Time

Annual
Burden
Hours

Hourly
Rate

5

$31.23

5 hours

Hourly
Costs
1

$156

13. Estimated Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents or Recordkeepers
As stated above, it is presumed that any applicant under this process has a business interest
in the area for which they are seeking this designation, therefore there should be minimal costs
to collect and submit this information, consisting of only the de minimis costs related to
compiling the information and transmitting it to the Bureau.
14. Estimated Cost to the Federal Government
The Bureau does not incur any new or unique costs as a result of this collection
of information.
15. Program Changes or Adjustments
Not applicable. No program changes nor adjustments are being requested.
16. Plans for Tabulation, Statistical Analysis, and Publication
As required by the HELP Rural Communities Act, the applications submitted under this
process will be published by the Bureau in the Federal Register to solicit public comment on
the application. Comments will be accepted for a minimum period of 90 days. The Bureau is
1

Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2014 Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#13-0000 Mean hourly wage for Compliance Officers

also required to publish its decision on the application in the Register, along with an
explanation of what factors the Bureau relied on in making its determination.
17. Display of Expiration Date
There are currently no forms or other instruments associated with this information collection
on which to display the OMB-assigned expiration date. The OMB control number are displayed
in the procedural rule published in the Federal Register and the OMB number and expiration
date will be displayed on the Federal government’s electronic PRA docket at www.reginfo.gov.
18. Exceptions to the Certification Requirement
The Bureau certifies that this collection of information is consistent with the requirements of
5 C.F.R. § 1320.9, and the related provisions of 5 C.F.R. § 1320.8(b)(3) and is not seeking an
exemption to these certification requirements.