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12 C.F.R. Subpart A—Scope, Purpose, Definitions and Delegations of Authority

Title 12 - Banks and Banking

Title 12: Banks and Banking
PART 313—PROCEDURES FOR CORPORATE DEBT COLLECTION

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Subpart A—Scope, Purpose, Definitions and Delegations of Authority

§ 313.1   Scope.

This part establishes FDIC procedures for the collection of certain debts owed to the United States.

(a) This part applies to collections by the FDIC from:

(1) Federal employees who are indebted to the FDIC;

(2) Employees of the FDIC who are indebted to other agencies; and

(3) Other persons, organizations, or entities that are indebted to the FDIC, except those excluded in paragraph (b)(3) of this section.

(b) This part does not apply:

(1) To debts or claims arising under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (Title 26, U.S. Code), the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.), or the tariff laws of the United States;

(2) To a situation to which the Contract Disputes Act (41 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) applies; or

(3) In any case where collection of a debt is explicitly provided for or prohibited by another statute.

(c) This part applies only to debts owed to and payments made by the FDIC acting in its corporate capacity; that is, in connection with employee matters such as travel-related claims and erroneous overpayments, contracting activities involving corporate operations, debts related to requests to the FDIC for documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or where a request for an offset is received by the FDIC from another federal agency. It does not apply to debts owed to or payments made by the FDIC in connection with the FDIC's liquidation, supervision, enforcement, or insurance responsibilities, nor does it limit or affect the FDIC's authority with respect to debts and/or claims pursuant to 12 U.S.C. 1819(a) and 1820(a).

(d) Nothing in this part 313 precludes the compromise, suspension, or termination of collection actions, where appropriate, under: standards implementing the Debt Collection Improvement Act (DCIA) (31 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.), the Federal Claims Collection Standards (FCCS) (31 CFR chapter IX and parts 900 through 904); or any other applicable law.

§ 313.2   Purpose.

(a) The purpose of this part is to implement federal statutes and regulatory standards authorizing the FDIC to collect debts owed to the United States. This part is consistent with the following federal statutes and regulations:

(1) DCIA at 31 U.S.C. 3711 (collection and compromise of claims); section 3716 (administrative offset), section 3717 (interest and penalty on claims), and section 3718 (contracts for collection services);

(2) 5 U.S.C. 5514 (salary offset);

(3) 5 U.S.C. 5584 (waiver of claims for overpayment);

(4) 31 CFR chapter IX and parts 900 through 904 (Federal Claims Collection Standards);

(5) 5 CFR part 550, subpart K (salary offset);

(6) 31 U.S.C. 3720D, 31 CFR 285.11 (administrative wage garnishment);

(7) 26 U.S.C. 6402(d), 31 U.S.C. 3720A and 31 CFR 285.2 (tax refund offset); and

(8) 5 CFR 831.1801 through 1808 (U. S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) offset).

(b) Collectively, these statutes and regulations prescribe the manner in which federal agencies should proceed to establish the existence and validity of debts owed to the federal government and describe the remedies available to agencies to offset valid debts.

§ 313.3   Definitions.

Except where the context clearly indicates otherwise or where the term is defined elsewhere in this subpart, the following definitions shall apply to this subpart.

(a) Agency means a department, agency, court, court administrative office, or instrumentality in the executive, judicial, or legislative branch of government, including government corporations.

(b) Board means the Board of Directors of the FDIC.

(c) Centralized administrative offset means the mandatory referral to the Secretary of the Treasury by a creditor agency of a past due debt which is more than 180 days delinquent, for the purpose of collection under the Treasury's centralized offset program.

(d) Certification means a written statement transmitted from a creditor agency to a paying agency for purposes of administrative or salary offset, or to the Secretary of the Treasury for centralized administrative offset. The certification confirms the existence and amount of the debt and verifies that required procedural protections have been afforded the employee. Where the debtor requests a hearing on a claimed debt, the decision by a hearing official or administrative law judge constitutes a certification.

(e) Chairman means the Chairman of the FDIC.

(f) Compromise means the settlement or forgiveness of a debt under 31 U.S.C. 3711, in accordance with standards set forth in the FCCS and applicable federal law.

(g) Creditor agency means an agency of the federal government to which the debt is owed, or a debt collection center when acting on behalf of a creditor agency to collect a debt.

(h) Debt means an amount owed to the United States from loans insured or guaranteed by the United States and all other amounts due the United States from fees, leases, rents, royalties, services, sales of real or personal property, overpayments, penalties, damages, interest, fines and forfeitures, and all other similar sources. For purposes of this part, a debt owed to the FDIC constitutes a debt owed to the United States.

(i) Debt collection center means the Department of the Treasury or other government agency or division designated by the Secretary of the Treasury with authority to collect debts on behalf of creditor agencies in accordance with 31 U.S.C. 3711(g).

(j) Director means the Director of the Division of Finance (DOF) or the Director of the Division of Administration (DOA), as applicable, or the applicable Director's delegate.

(k) Disposable pay means that part of current adjusted basic pay, special pay, incentive pay, retired pay, retainer pay, and, in the case of an employee not entitled to adjusted basic pay, other authorized pay, remaining for each pay period after the deduction of any amount required by law to be withheld. The FDIC shall allow the following deductions in determining the amount of disposable pay that is subject to salary offset:

(1) Federal employment taxes;

(2) Federal, state, or local income taxes to the extent authorized or required by law, but no greater than would be the case if the employee claimed all dependents to which he or she is entitled and such additional amounts for which the employee presents evidence of a tax obligation supporting the additional withholding;

(3) Medicare deductions;

(4) Health insurance premiums;

(5) Normal retirement contributions, including employee contributions to the Thrift Savings Plan or the FDIC 401(k) Plan;

(6) Normal life insurance premiums (e.g., Serviceman's Group Life Insurance and “Basic Life” Federal Employee's Group Life Insurance premiums), not including amounts deducted for supplementary coverage;

(7) Amounts mandatorily withheld for the United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home;

(8) Fines and forfeiture ordered by a court-martial or by a commanding officer.

(l) Division of Administration (DOA) means the Division of Administration of the FDIC.

(m) Division of Finance (DOF) means the Division of Finance of the FDIC.

(n) Federal Claims Collection Standards (FCCS) means standards published at 31 CFR chapter IX and parts 900 through 904.

(o) Garnishment means the process of withholding amounts from the disposable pay of a person employed outside the federal government, and the paying of those amounts to a creditor in satisfaction of a withholding order.

(p) Hearing official means an administrative law judge or other individual authorized to conduct a hearing and issue a final decision in response to a debtor's request for hearing. A hearing official may not be under the supervision or control of the Chairman or FDIC Board when the FDIC is the creditor agency.

(q) Notice of Intent to Offset or Notice of Intent means a written notice from a creditor agency to an employee, organization, or entity that claims a debt and informs the debtor that the creditor agency intends to collect the debt by administrative offset. The notice also informs the debtor of certain procedural rights with respect to the claimed debt and offset.

(r) Notice of Salary Offset means a written notice from a paying agency to its employee informing the employee that salary offset to collect a debt due to the creditor agency will begin at the next officially established pay interval. The paying agency transmits this notice to its employee after receiving a certification from the creditor agency.

(s) Paying agency means the agency of the federal government that employs the individual who owes a debt to an agency of the federal government. The same agency may be both the creditor agency and the paying agency.

(t) Salary offset means an administrative offset to collect a debt under 5 U.S.C. 5514 by deduction(s) at one or more officially established pay intervals from the current pay account of an employee without his or her consent.

(u) Waiver means the cancellation, remission, forgiveness or non-recovery of a debt allegedly owed by an employee to an agency, as authorized or required by 5 U.S.C. 5584 or any other law.

(v) Withholding order means any order for withholding or garnishment of pay issued by an agency, or judicial or administrative body. For purposes of administrative wage garnishment, the terms “wage garnishment order” and “garnishment order” have the same meaning as “withholding order.”

§ 313.4   Delegations of authority.

Authority to conduct the following activities is delegated to the Director of DOA or Director of DOF, as applicable, or the applicable Director's delegate, to:

(a) Initiate and carry out the debt collection process on behalf of the FDIC, in accordance with the FCCS;

(b) Accept or reject compromise offers and suspend or terminate collection actions to the full extent of the FDIC's legal authority under 12 U.S.C. 1819(a) and 1820(a), 31 U.S.C. 3711(a)(2), and any other applicable statute or regulation, provided, however, that no such claim shall be compromised or collection action terminated, except upon the concurrence of the FDIC General Counsel or his or her designee;

(c) Report to consumer reporting agencies certain data pertaining to delinquent debts, where appropriate;

(d) Use administrative offset procedures, including salary offset, to collect debts; and

(e) Take any other action necessary to promptly and effectively collect debts owed to the United States in accordance with the policies contained herein and as otherwise provided by law.

§§ 313.5-313.19   [Reserved]

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