Notice to Account Holder for Garnishment of Accounts Containing Federal Benefit Payments

Forms and Documents

Document Name	Status
1505-0230 Garnishment Supporting Stmnt 2023.docx Supporting Statement A	2023-09-28

IC Document Collections

IC ID	Document Title	Status
196153	Notice of Right to Garnish Federal Benefits to a Child Support Order Sent to a Financial Institution Instruction	Unchanged
191955	Notice to Account Owner and Record Retention Instruction	Modified

ICR Details

OMB Control No: 1505-0230	ICR Reference No: 202309-1505-003
Status: Received in OIRA	Previous ICR Reference No: 202005-1505-001
Agency/Subagency: TREAS/DO	Agency Tracking No:
Title: Notice to Account Holder for Garnishment of Accounts Containing Federal Benefit Payments
Type of Information Collection: Extension without change of a currently approved collection	Common Form ICR:  No
Type of Review Request: Regular	Date Submitted to OIRA: 09/28/2023

	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	36 Months From Approved	09/30/2023
Responses	487,750	130,250
Time Burden (Hours)	76,687	23,354
Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0

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Abstract: On May 12, 2013, the Department of the Treasury, Social Security Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, Railroad Retirement Board and the Office of Personnel Management (Agencies) published a final rule, which governed the garnishment of certain Federal benefit payments that are directly deposited to accounts at financial institutions. Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income benefits, VA benefits, Federal Railroad retirement benefits, Civil Service Retirement System and Federal Employee Retirement System benefits are exempt under Federal Law from garnishment orders. The final rule gave force and effect to the Federal anti-garnishment statutes. The rule also addressed the hardships that recipients of federal benefit payments encountered when a financial institution placed a freeze on an account containing certain types of exempt Federal benefit payments that had been directly deposited, and the difficulties that financial institutions had in determining whether funds deposited into an account are exempt from garnishment. The primary goals of the rule were (1) to ensure that benefit recipients have full and customary access to exempt funds; (2) to protect financial institutions from liability when, having received a garnishment order for an account holder receiving exempt Federal benefit payments, they allow the account holder access to exempt funds in the account; and (3) to establish straightforward, uniform, cost effective procedures addressing the extent to which financial institutions may, pursuant to garnishment orders, freeze or seize funds in accounts that contain Federal benefits. The collection of information in the Final Rule is found in §§ 212.6 Rules and procedures to protect benefits.

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Authorizing Statute(s): US Code: 12 USC 1786 Name of Law: Federal Credit Union Act
   US Code: 12 USC 1818 Name of Law: Federal Deposit Insurance Act
  

Citations for New Statutory Requirements: None

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Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:	Stage of Rulemaking:	Federal Register Citation:	Date:
	Not associated with rulemaking

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Federal Register Notices & Comments
60-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	88 FR 43419	07/07/2023
30-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	88 FR 66959	09/28/2023
Did the Agency receive public comments on this ICR? No

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Number of Information Collection (IC) in this ICR: 2

IC Title	Form No.	Form Name
Notice of Right to Garnish Federal Benefits to a Child Support Order Sent to a Financial Institution
Notice to Account Owner and Record Retention

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ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Request	Previously Approved	Change Due to New Statute	Change Due to Agency Discretion	Change Due to Adjustment in Estimate	Change Due to Potential Violation of the PRA
Annual Number of Responses	487,750	130,250	0	0	357,500	0
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	76,687	23,354	0	0	53,333	0
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	0	0	0	0

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Increase Due to:

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Reduction Due to:

Short Statement: There are no program changes, however the estimated burden for Sections 212.6 and 212.11 has increased due to updated methodology for calculating burden. The new methodology presumes there are 865 million FDIC insured accounts (as stated in FDIC’s 2022 Annual Report) and estimates that 0.25% of these involve garnishments issued on accounts with direct deposit of federal benefits (derived and estimated upwards from data in a July 2008 Social Security Office of Inspector General Congressional Response Report, A-15-08-28031). The methodology also increases the percentage of accounts estimated to have funds in excess of the protected amount (due to inflation) but decreases the length of time to process the notices (due to improvements in information technology).

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Annual Cost to Federal Government: $0

Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods? No

Does this ICR request any personally identifiable information (see OMB Circular No. A-130 for an explanation of this term)? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination.     No

Does this ICR include a form that requires a Privacy Act Statement (see 5 U.S.C. §552a(e)(3))? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination.     No

Is this ICR related to the Affordable Care Act [Pub. L. 111-148 & 111-152]? No

Is this ICR related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, [Pub. L. 111-203]? No

Is this ICR related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)? No

Is this ICR related to the Pandemic Response? No

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Common Form ICR:  No

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On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).

The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:

(a) It is necessary for the proper performance of agency functions;

(b) It avoids unnecessary duplication;

(c) It reduces burden on small entities;

(d) It uses plain, coherent, and unambiguous language that is understandable to respondents;

(e) Its implementation will be consistent and compatible with current reporting and recordkeeping practices;

(f) It indicates the retention periods for recordkeeping requirements;

(g) It informs respondents of the information called for under 5 CFR 1320.8 (b)(3) about:

(i) Why the information is being collected;

(ii) Use of information;

(iii) Burden estimate;

(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);

(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and

(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;

(h) It was developed by an office that has planned and allocated resources for the efficient and effective management and use of the information to be collected.

(i) It uses effective and efficient statistical survey methodology (if applicable); and

(j) It makes appropriate use of information technology.

If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.

Certification Date: 09/28/2023

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