FRB_20250124_omb

Supporting Statement for the
Recordkeeping and Disclosure Requirements Associated with CFPB’s Regulation B
(FR B; OMB No. 7100-0201)
Summary
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), under authority
delegated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has extended for three years,
without revision, the Recordkeeping and Disclosure Requirements Associated with CFPB’s
Regulation B (FR B; OMB No. 7100-0201). The Board accounts for the paperwork burden
associated with Regulation B only for institutions for which the Board has enforcement authority
under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA).1 The Board is not proposing to revise the FR B
at this time.2
The estimated total annual burden for the FR B is 81,346 hours.
Background and Justification
The ECOA was enacted in 1974 and is implemented by the CFPB’s Regulation B for
institutions the Board supervises.3 Since 2011, the CFPB has been responsible for issuing the
ECOA regulations that apply to institutions the Board supervises.4 However, the Board continues
to be responsible under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) for renewing every three years the
information collections mandated by the regulation for institutions supervised by the Board.
The ECOA prohibits discrimination in any aspect of a credit transaction because of race,
color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, receipt of public assistance, or the fact
that the applicant has in good faith exercised any right under the Consumer Credit Protection
Act. To aid in implementation of this prohibition, the statute and regulation subject creditors to
various mandatory disclosure requirements, notification provisions informing applicants of
action taken on credit applications, provision of appraisal reports in connection with mortgages,
credit history reporting, monitoring rules, and recordkeeping requirements. These requirements
are triggered by specific events, and disclosures must be provided within the time periods
established by the statute and regulation. There are no reporting requirements associated with
this collection, thus, there are no required reporting forms associated with the CFPB’s
Regulation B. To ease the burden and cost of compliance (particularly for small entities),
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Other federal agencies including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Office of the Comptroller of
the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Administration, and Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) account for the paperwork burden imposed under the ECOA on the institutions for which they
have administrative enforcement authority.
2
The CFPB issued a small business data collection and reporting rule in 2023. See 88 FR 35150 (May 31, 2023).
The Board will revise FR B to include this rule when it is implemented.
3
See 15 U.S.C. § 1691. The CFPB’s Regulation B is located at 12 CFR Part 1002.
4
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 transferred rulemaking authority for the
ECOA to the CFPB, except for certain motor vehicle dealers that are excluded from the CFPB’s rulemaking authority,
which remain subject to the Board’s Regulation B located at 12 CFR Part 202. See 12 U.S.C. § 5519(a). The FTC has
authority to enforce the ECOA for these motor vehicle dealers, although such enforcement authority is shared with the
CFPB with respect to dealers engaged in certain practices.

Appendix B to Regulation B provides model disclosure forms. The burdens on respondents are
the minimum necessary to comply with the regulation and to assist borrowers in obtaining
information with respect to application decisions.
Description of Information Collection
The paperwork requirements of Regulation B are described below.
Recordkeeping Requirements
Section 1002.12 - Record Retention
A creditor must retain for 25 months any written or recorded material related to a
consumer credit application, as well as copies of any notification of action taken and statement of
specific reasons for adverse action (or any written notation or memo of an oral notification and
statement), and any written statement submitted by the applicant alleging a violation of the
ECOA or Regulation B. Comparable records of business credit applications must be retained for
12 months. The record retention requirements also extend to information used in prescreened
credit solicitations, existing accounts, enforcement proceedings and investigations, and self-tests.
If a creditor has actual notice that it is under investigation or is subject to an enforcement
proceeding for an alleged violation, or if it has been served with notice of a civil action, the
creditor must retain the information until final disposition of the matter, unless an earlier time is
allowed by the appropriate agency or court order.
Sections 1002.13(a) and (b) - Information for Monitoring Purposes
A creditor is required to request that an applicant indicate his or her race, ethnicity, sex,
age, and marital status in connection with applications for credit primarily for purchasing or
refinancing a dwelling to be occupied by the applicant as a principal residence and secured by a
lien on the dwelling. Creditors are generally otherwise prohibited from collecting such applicant
data except for self-testing purposes.
Disclosure Requirements
Section 1002.9 - Notifications
Consumer credit. Under the ECOA and Regulation B, an applicant is entitled to notice of
the action taken on a credit application and, if the creditor’s decision results in the denial or
termination of credit, a written statement of the specific reasons for the adverse action (or
disclosure of the right to request the reasons) (an “adverse action notice”). An adverse action
notice must generally be in writing, except that creditors that did not receive more than 150
applications during the preceding year may provide notices of adverse action orally. The
statement must include specific reasons for the action taken.
Business credit. Generally, a business applicant’s asset size determines a creditor’s precise
obligations. When a creditor takes adverse action on an application from a business with $1

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million or less in annual revenues, the creditor may notify the business applicant orally or in
writing. The creditor must also provide the applicant with reasons for an adverse action or a
notice telling the applicant of its right to request the reasons within the same time periods that
apply in the case of consumer applicants. A business with more than $1 million in annual
revenues is entitled to oral or written adverse action notice within a reasonable time of the action
taken and, if timely requested, a written adverse action notice.
Section 1002.10 - Furnishing of Credit Information
Creditors that furnish credit information to consumer reporting agencies must designate
any new account to reflect the participation of both spouses if the applicant’s spouse is permitted
to use or is contractually liable on the account (other than as a guarantor, surety, endorser, or
similar party). Creditors must also designate any existing account to reflect such participation,
within 90 days after receiving a written request to do so from one of the spouses.
Section 1002.13(c) - Information for Monitoring Purposes
When a creditor is required under this section to request that an applicant indicate his or
her race, ethnicity, sex, age, and marital status, the applicant must be informed that the
information is being requested by the federal government for the purpose of monitoring the
creditor’s compliance with federal law and that if the applicant declines to provide the
information, the bank will note the applicant’s ethnicity, race, and sex based on visual
observation or surname.
Section 1002.14 - Rules on Providing Appraisals and Other Valuations
A creditor is required to provide to an applicant, as a matter of course, a copy of all
appraisals and other written valuations developed in connection with an application for credit
that is to be secured by a first lien on a dwelling within specified time periods. Applicants are
permitted to waive the timing requirements for receipt of the appraisals and other written
valuations, but in such cases the creditor must generally provide the copies to the applicant prior
to consummation (if closed-end credit) or account opening (if open-end credit) or if the creditor
determines that the transaction will not be consummated. Creditors must also notify applicants in
writing within three business days of receiving an application that a copy of all appraisals and
other written valuations developed in connection with applications for covered mortgage credit
transactions will be provided to the applicant promptly. The notice of an applicant’s right to
receive a copy of appraisals is not required to be in any particular format, but the regulation
contains model language to ease compliance.
Self-Testing
Recordkeeping Requirements
Sections 1002.12 and 1002.15 - Incentives for self-testing and self-correction
If the creditor conducts a self-test (as defined under section 1002.15), the creditor

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ordinarily must retain all written or recorded information about a self-test for 25 months.
Disclosure Requirements
Section 1002.5 - Rules Concerning Requests for Information
When a creditor inquires about personal characteristics such as race or national origin for
the purpose of conducting a self-test under section 1002.15, the creditor must disclose orally or in
writing to the consumer at the time of the information request that providing the information is
optional, that the information request is to monitor compliance with the ECOA, that federal law
prohibits discrimination on the basis of this information or on the basis of an applicant’s decision
not to furnish this information, and that, if applicable, certain information may be noted by visual
observation or surname.
The Board understands that respondents use information technology to comply with these
provisions. The disclosures required by Regulation B may be provided to a consumer in
electronic form, subject to compliance with the consumer consent and other applicable
provisions of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act).5
Use of such electronic communications is consistent with the Government Paperwork
Elimination Act (GPEA), Title XVII of Pub. L. 105-277, codified at 44 U.S.C. § 3504. The
E-Sign Act and GPEA are intended to reduce businesses’ compliance burden related to federal
requirements, including Regulation B, by enabling creditors to utilize more efficient electronic
media for disclosures and compliance. Regulation B also permits creditors to retain records by
any method that reproduces records accurately, including digitally.
Respondent Panel
The FR B panel comprises, except those entities supervised by the CFPB, state member
banks; subsidiaries of state member banks; subsidiaries of bank holding companies; U.S.
branches and agencies of foreign banks (other than federal branches, federal agencies, and
insured state branches of foreign banks); commercial lending companies owned or controlled by
foreign banks; and organizations operating under section 25 or 25A of the Federal Reserve Act.6
This collection impacts small entities, but some provisions of the rule minimize this
burden. The ECOA and existing Regulation B accord special treatment to creditors that receive
fewer than 150 applications each year. Section 1002.9(d) of the regulation states that such
creditors may provide required notices to rejected applicants orally rather than in writing. Where
fewer written records are required to be created, the recordkeeping burden is correspondingly
reduced. In addition, section 1002.3(c) of the regulation exempts providers of incidental credit,
such as a doctor or lawyer who allows a patient or client to defer payment of a bill, as well as
public utilities credit and securities credit from many requirements including notifications under

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See 15 U.S.C. § 7001 et seq.
See 12 U.S.C. §§ 601-604a; 611-631. The CFPB supervises, among other institutions, insured depository
institutions with over $10 billion in assets and their affiliates (including affiliates that are themselves depository
institutions regardless of asset size and subsidiaries of such affiliates).
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section 1002.9 of the regulation and recordkeeping. Additionally, to ease the burden and cost of
compliance, Appendix B to the regulation provides model disclosure forms.
Frequency and Time Schedule
The FR B recordkeeping and disclosure requirements are triggered by certain events, and
disclosures must be provided to applicants within prescribed times (as discussed above), and
records must be retained for specified periods (as discussed above).
Public Availability of Data
There are no data related to this information collection available to the public.
Legal Status
ECOA authorizes the CFPB to issue regulations to carry out the statute’s purposes
(15 U.S.C. § 1691b(a)). ECOA also directs the CFPB to promulgate regulations requiring
covered entities to maintain records evidencing compliance with the statute for at least one year
(15 U.S.C. § 1691b(d)). These regulations impose recordkeeping and disclosure requirements on
Board-supervised entities. Compliance with the recordkeeping and disclosure requirements of
the CFPB’s Regulation B is mandatory.
The disclosures, records, policies, and procedures required by Regulation B are not
required to be submitted to the Board. This information would generally only be obtained if
Federal Reserve examiners retained a copy as part of an examination or supervision of a bank, in
which case the information would be treated as confidential under exemption 8 of the Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA). In addition, exemptions 4 and 6 of the FOIA may also apply to
certain information obtained by Board staff. Exemption 4 would apply to the extent the
information is confidential commercial or financial information that is both customarily and
actually treated as private by the respondent (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(4)). Exemption 6 would apply to
the extent a respondent submits personal, medical, or similar files, the disclosure of which would
constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6)).
Consultation Outside the Agency
There has been no consultation outside the Federal Reserve System.
Public Comments
On July 1, 2024, the Board published an initial notice in the Federal Register (89 FR
54463) requesting public comment for 60 days on the extension, without revision, of the FR B.
The comment period for this notice expired on August 30, 2024. The Board did not receive any
comments. The Board adopted the extension, without revision, of the FR B as originally
proposed. On October 29, 2024, the Board published a final notice in the Federal Register (89
FR 85974).

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Estimate of Respondent Burden
As shown in the table below, the estimated total annual burden for the FR B is 81,346
hours. The Board estimated the number of respondents using National Information Center (NIC)
entity data. Further, the Board relied on the CFPB’s burden calculation methodologies in
estimating hours per response. These recordkeeping and disclosure requirements represent
approximately 1.22 percent of the Board’s total paperwork burden.

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Estimated
number of
respondents7

FR B
Recordkeeping
Section 1002.12
Record retention for applications,
actions, prescreened solicitations,
self-testing, and self-correction
Sections 1002.13(a) and (b)
Information for monitoring
purposes
Disclosure
Section 1002.9
Notifications
Section 1002.10
Furnishing of credit information
Section 1002.13(c)
Information for monitoring
purposes
Section 1002.14
Rules on providing appraisals and
other valuations
Self-testing
Recordkeeping
Section 1002.12
Incentives for self-testing
Incentives for self-correction
Disclosure
Section 1002.5
Rules concerning requests for
information disclosure for optional
self-test

Estimated
Estimated
Estimated
annual
average hours annual burden
frequency per response
hours

706

8,126

0.004

22,948

706

1,533

0.017

18,399

706

8,126

0.004

22,948

706

1,171

0.004

3,307

706

1,533

0.004

4,329

706

1,667

0.008

9,415

108
27

1
1

0.004
0.016

0
0

108

1

0.004

0

Total

81,346

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Of these respondents, 461 respondents for the Record retention for applications, actions, prescreened solicitations,
self-testing, and self-correction; Information for monitoring purposes; Notifications; Furnishing of credit
information; Information for monitoring purposes; and Rules on providing appraisals and other valuations and none
for Incentives for self-testing; Incentives for self-correction; and Rules concerning requests for information
disclosure for optional self-test are considered small entities as defined by the Small Business Administration (i.e.,
entities with less than $850 million in total assets). Size standards effective March 17, 2023. See
https://www.sba.gov/document/support-table-size-standards.

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The estimated total annual cost to the public for the FR B is $5,682,018.8
Sensitive Questions
This information collection contains no questions of a sensitive nature, as defined by
OMB guidelines.
Estimate of Cost to the Federal Reserve System
The estimated cost to the Federal Reserve System for collecting and processing this
information collection is negligible.

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Total cost to the responding public is estimated using the following formula: total burden hours, multiplied by the
cost of staffing, where the cost of staffing is calculated as a percent of time for each occupational group multiplied
by the group’s hourly rate and then summed (30% Office & Administrative Support at $23, 45% Financial
Managers at $84, 15% Lawyers at $85, and 10% Chief Executives at $124). Hourly rates for each occupational
group are the (rounded) mean hourly wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Occupational Employment
and Wages, May 2023, published April 3, 2024, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm. Occupations are
defined using the BLS Standard Occupational Classification System, https://www.bls.gov/soc/.

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