Information Collection; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

OMB Number: 1557-0209. Form Number: Not applicable. Type of Review: Reinstatement, with change, of a previously approved collection for which approval has expired. Title: Survey of Financial Activities and Attitudes. Description: The OCC encourages national banks to provide fair access to financial services for all. Last fall, the OCC initiated a major project to learn more about why millions of households have no banking relationships (nonbanked), and whether some banks have found ways of profitably serving them. As the first part of this initiative, the OCC prepared the Preliminary Survey of Nonbanked Status. The OCC now plans to conduct a Survey of Financial Activities and Attitudes (Final Survey) to learn more about how nonbanked households conduct their financial activities and what factors may keep them from using banking services. The OCC will conduct the Final Survey through a contractor, in several urban locations, in English and Spanish. The Final Survey will involve both personal contacts and telephone surveys. The Final Survey will provide the OCC, as well as national banks and the general public, with information on diversity within the nonbanked population; how nonbanked households currently conduct their financial activities; their experience with, and interest in, banking services; and the financial service costs they incur. The OCC will use this information to better assess national bank efforts to serve nonbanked households. Further, the OCC and the industry will use this information to identify effective methods for better serving nonbanked

households and to identify barriers to financial services they face. The OCC will also use the results of the Final Survey as background information in its policymaking process. Respondents: Individuals or households. Number of Respondents: 2,000. Total Annual Responses: 2,000. Frequency of Response: One time only. Estimated Total Annual Burden: 833 burden hours. OCC Contact: Jessie Gates, (202)874-5090, Legislative and Regulatory Activities Division, Control Number 1557-0209, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 250 E Street, SW, Washington, DC 20219. OMB Reviewer: Alexander Hunt, (202) 395-7340, Paperwork Reduction Project 1557-0209, Office of Management and Budget, Room 10226, New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20503. The OCC may not conduct or sponsor, and respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection that has been extended, revised, or implemented on or after October 1, 1995, unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Comments: Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed revisions to the following collections of information are necessary for the proper performance of the OCC's functions, including whether the information has practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the OCC's estimate of the burden of the information collection as it is proposed to be revised, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of information collection on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and (e) estimates of capital or startup costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.

Dated: December 12, 1997. Mark J. Tenhundfeld, Assistant Director, Legislative and Regulatory Activities Division. [FR Doc. 97-33192 Filed 12-18-97; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4810-33-P]