Privacy Act of 1974; Proposed Amendment to a System of Records

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Office of the Secretary

[Docket No. N-94-3837; FR-3827-N-01]

Privacy Act of 1974; Proposed Amendment to a System of Records

AGENCY: Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

ACTION: Notification of a proposed amendment to an existing system of

records.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposes

to amend its system of records entitled ``Accounting Records, HUD/DEPT-

2'' in its inventory of systems of records notices subject to the

Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended. Notice of this system

was last published at 55 FR 17676, April 26, 1990.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This action will be effective without further notice on

December 27, 1994, unless comments are received that would result in a

contrary determination.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding

the proposed amendment to the Rules Docket Clerk, Office of General

Counsel, Room 10276, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451

Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20410-0500. Communications should

refer to the above docket number and title. Facsimile (FAX) comments

are not acceptable. A copy of each communication submitted will be

available for public inspection and copying between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30

p.m. weekdays at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jeanette Smith, Departmental Privacy Act Officer, at (202) 708-2374.

This is not a toll-free number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: HUD/DEPT-2 contains a variety of records

relating to HUD's accounting functions. These records are maintained

for the purpose of supporting HUD's administrative management and

collection of delinquent debts, including past due loan payments,

overpayments, fines, penalties, fees, damages, interest, leases, sales

of real property, that are owed to HUD or to other Federal agencies.

Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended, notice

is given that HUD proposes to add a new routine use disclosure to this

system of records. Specifically, the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC)

will be added as a routine use disclosure. RTC will use the records

obtained from this system of records to prescreen potential contractors

for bad debts prior to acquiring their services.

The amended portion of the system notice is set forth below.

Previously, the system and a prefatory statement containing the general

routine uses applicable to all HUD systems of records was published in

the ``Federal Register Privacy Act Issuances, 1989 Compilation, Volume

I.''

Title 5 U.S.C. 552a(e) (4) and (11) provide that the public be

afforded a 30-day period in which to comment on the new record system.

The system report, as required by 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), has been

submitted to the Committee on Government Operations of the House of

Representatives, the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate,

and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), pursuant to paragraph 4c

of Appendix I to OMB Circular A-130, ``Federal Agency Responsibilities

for Maintaining Records about Individuals'' dated June 25, 1993 (58 FR

36075, July 2, 1993).

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552a; 88 Stat. 1896; sec 7(d), Department of HUD

Act (42 U.S.C. 3535(d)).

Issued at Washington, DC, November 17, 1994.

Willie H. Gilmore,

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Resource Management and Operations.

HUD/DEPT-2

Accounting Records.

* * * * *

In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C.

552a(b) of the Privacy Act, other routine uses are as follows:

(a) To the U.S. Treasury--for disbursements and adjustments

thereof.

(b) To the Internal Revenue Service--for reporting of sales

commissions and for reporting of discharge indebtedness;

(c) To the General Accounting Office, General Service

Administration, Department of Labor, Labor housing authorities, and

taxing authorities--for audit, accounting and financial reference

purposes.

(d) To mortgage lenders--for accounting and financial reference

purposes, for verifying information provided by new loan applicants and

evaluating creditworthiness.

(e) To HUD contractors--for debt and/or mortgage note servicing.

(f) To financial institutions that originated or serviced loans--to

give notice of disposition of claims.

(g) To title insurance companies--for payment of liens.

(h) To local recording offices--for filing assignments of legal

documents, satisfactions, etc.

(i) To the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) of the Department of

Defense and the U.S. Postal Service to conduct computer matching

programs for the purpose of identifying and locating individuals who

are receiving Federal salaries or benefit payments and are delinquent

in their repayment of debts owed to the U.S. Government under certain

programs administered by HUD in order to collect the debts under the

provisions of the Debt Collection Act of 1982 (Pub. L. 97-365) by

voluntary repayment, or by administrative or salary offset procedures.

(j) To any other Federal agency for the purpose of effecting

administrative or salary offset procedures against a person employed by

that agency or receiving or eligible to receive some benefit payments

from the agency when HUD as a creditor has a claim against that person.

(k) With other agencies; such as, Departments of Agriculture,

Education, Justice and Veteran Affairs, and the Small Business

Administration--for use of HUD's Credit Alert Interactive Voice

Response System (CAIVRS) to prescreen applicants for loans or loans

guaranteed by the Federal Government to ascertain if the applicant is

delinquent in paying a debt owed to or insured by the Government.

(l) To the Internal Revenue Service by computer matching to obtain

the mailing address of a taxpayer for the purpose of locating such

taxpayer to collect or to compromise a Federal claim by HUD against the

taxpayer pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 6103(m)(2) and in accordance with 31

U.S.C. 3711, 3217, and 3718.

(m) To a credit reporting agency for the purpose of either adding

to a credit history file or obtaining a credit history file on an

individual for use in the administration of debt collection.

(n) To the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO), Department of

Justice, United States Attorney, or other Federal agencies for further

collection action on any delinquent account when circumstances warrant.

(o) To a debt collection agency for the purpose of collection

services to recover monies owed to the U.S. Government under certain

programs or services administered by HUD.

(p) To any other Federal agency including, but not limited to, the

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3720A, for the

purpose of effecting an administrative offset against the debtor for a

delinquent debt owed to the U.S. Government by the debtor.

(q) To the Resolution Trust Corporation--to prescreen potential

contractors for bad debts prior to acquiring their services.

Disclosures pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(12). Pursuant to 5 U.S.C.

552a(b)(12), disclosures may be made from the record system to consumer

reporting agencies as defined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

U.S.C. 1681a(f) or the Federal Claims Collection Act of 1966, 31 U.S.C.

3701(a)(3)). The disclosure is limited to information necessary to

establish the identity of the individual, including name, address and

taxpayer identification number (Social Security Number); the amount,

status, and history of the claim, and the agency or program under which

the claim arose for the sole purpose of allowing the consumer reporting

agency to prepare a credit report.

[FR Doc. 94-28999 Filed 11-23-94; 8:45 am]

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