Title 12

SECTION 1208.2

1208.2 Definitions.

§ 1208.2 Definitions.

The following terms apply to this part, unless defined otherwise elsewhere-

Administrative offset means an action, pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3716, in which the Federal Government withholds funds payable to, or held by the Federal Government for a person, organization, or other entity in order to collect a debt from that person, organization, or other entity. Such funds include funds payable by the Federal Government on behalf of a State Government.

Agency means an executive department or agency; a military department; the United States Postal Service; the Postal Regulatory Commission; any nonappropriated fund instrumentality described in 5 U.S.C. 2105(c); the United States Senate; the United States House of Representatives; any court, court administrative office, or instrumentality in the judicial or legislative branches of the Government; or a Government corporation. If an agency under this definition is a component of an agency, the broader definition of agency may be used in applying the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 5514(b) (concerning the authority to prescribe regulations).

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.

Certification means a written statement received by a paying agency from a creditor agency that requests the paying agency to institute salary offset of an employee, to the Financial Management Service (FMS) for offset or to the Secretary of the Treasury for centralized administrative offset, and specifies that required procedural protections have been afforded the debtor. Where the debtor requests a hearing on a claimed debt, the decision by a hearing official or administrative law judge constitutes a certification.

Claim or debt (used interchangeably in this part) means any amount of funds or property that has been determined by an agency official to be due the Federal Government by a person, organization, or entity, except another agency. It also means any amount of money, funds, or property owed by a person to a State, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. For purposes of this part, a debt owed to FHFA constitutes a debt owed to the Federal Government. A claim or debt includes:

(1) Funds owed on account of loans made, insured, or guaranteed by the Federal Government, including any deficiency or any difference between the price obtained by the Federal Government in the sale of a property and the amount owed to the Federal Government on a mortgage on the property;

(2) Unauthorized expenditures of agency funds;

(3) Overpayments, including payments disallowed by audits performed by the Inspector General of the agency administering the program;

(4) Any amount the Federal Government is authorized by statute to collect for the benefit of any person;

(5) The unpaid share of any non-Federal partner in a program involving a Federal payment, and a matching or cost-sharing payment by the non-Federal partner;

(6) Any fine or penalty assessed by an agency; and

(7) Other amounts of money or property owed to the Federal Government.

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.

Creditor agency means the agency to which the debt is owed, including a debt collection center when acting on behalf of a creditor agency in matters pertaining to the collection of a debt.

Debt See the definition of the terms “Claim or debt” of this section.

Debt collection center means the Department of the Treasury or any other 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).

Debtor means the person, organization, or entity owing money to the Federal Government.

Delinquent debt means a debt that has not been paid by the date specified in the agency's initial written demand for payment or applicable agreement or instrument (including a post-delinquency payment agreement) unless other satisfactory payment arrangements have been made.

Director means the Director of FHFA or Director's designee.

Disposable pay means that part of current basic pay, special pay, incentive pay, retired pay, or retainer pay (or in the case of an employee not entitled to basic pay, other authorized pay) remaining after the deduction of any amount required by law to be withheld (other than deductions to execute garnishment orders in accordance with 5 CFR parts 581 and 582). FHFA will apply the order of precedence contained in OPM guidance (PPM-2008-01; Order Of Precedence When Gross Pay Is Not Sufficient To Permit All Deductions), as follows -

(1) Retirement deductions for defined benefit plan (including Civil Service Retirement System, Federal Employees Retirement System, or other similar defined benefit plan);

(2) Social security (OASDI) tax;

(3) Medicare tax;

(4) Federal income tax;

(5) Basic health insurance premium (including Federal Employees Health Benefits premium, pre-tax or post-tax, or premium for similar benefit under another authority but not including amounts deducted for supplementary coverage);

(6) Basic life insurance premium (including Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance - FEGLI - Basic premium or premium for similar benefit under another authority);

(7) State income tax;

(8) Local income tax;

(9) Collection of debts owed to the U.S. Government (e.g., tax debt, salary overpayment, failure to withhold proper amount of deductions, advance of salary or travel expenses, etc.; debts which may or may not be delinquent; debts which may be collected through the Treasury's Financial Management Services Treasury Offset Program, an automated centralized debt collection program for collecting Federal debt from Federal payments):

(i) Continuous levy under the Federal Payment Levy Program (tax debt); and

(ii) Salary offsets (whether involuntary under 5 U.S.C. 5514 or similar authority or required by a voluntarily signed written agreement; if multiple debts are subject to salary offset, the order is based on when each offset commenced - with earliest commencing offset at the top of the order - unless there are special circumstances, as determined by the paying agency).

(10) Court-Ordered collection/debt:

(i) Child support (may include attorney and other fees as provided for in 5 CFR 581.102(d)). If there are multiple child support orders, the priority of orders is governed by 42 U.S.C. 666(b) and implementing regulations, as required by 42 U.S.C. 659(d)(2);

(ii) Alimony (may include attorney and other fees as provided for in 5 CFR 581.102(d)). If there are multiple alimony orders, they are prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis, as required by 42 U.S.C. 659(d)(3);

(iii) Bankruptcy; and

(iv) Commercial garnishments.

(11) Optional benefits:

(i) Health care/limited-expense health care flexible spending accounts (pre-tax benefit under FedFlex or equivalent cafeteria plan);

(ii) Dental (pre-tax benefit under FedFlex or equivalent cafeteria plan);

(iii) Vision (pre-tax benefit under FedFlex or equivalent cafeteria plan);

(iv) Health Savings Account (pre-tax benefit under FedFlex or equivalent cafeteria plan);

(v) Optional life insurance premiums (FEGLI optional benefits or similar benefits under other authority);

(vi) Long-term care insurance premiums;

(vii) Dependent-care flexible spending accounts (pre-tax benefit under FedFlex or equivalent cafeteria plan);

(viii) Thrift Savings Plan (TSP):

(A) Loan payments;

(B) Basic contributions; and

(ix) Other optional benefits.

(12) Other voluntary deductions/allotments:

(i) Military service deposits;

(ii) Professional associations;

(iii) Union dues;

(iv) Charities;

(v) Bonds;

(vi) Personal account allotments (e.g., to savings or checking account); and

(vii) Additional voluntary deductions (on first-come, first-served basis); and

(13) IRS paper levies.

Employee means a current employee of FHFA or other agency, including a current member of the Armed Forces or a Reserve of the Armed Forces of the United States.

Federal Claims Collection Standards (FCCS) means standards published at 31 CFR chapter IX.

FHFA means the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

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.

Hearing official means an individual who is responsible for conducting any hearing with respect to the existence or amount of a debt claimed and for rendering a final decision on the basis of such hearing. A hearing official may not be under the supervision or control of the Director of FHFA when FHFA is the creditor agency but may be an administrative law judge.

Notice of intent means a written notice of a creditor agency to a debtor that states that the debtor owes a debt to the creditor agency and apprises the debtor of the applicable procedural rights.

Notice of salary offset means a written notice from the paying agency to an employee after a certification has been issued by a creditor agency that informs the employee that salary offset will begin at the next officially established pay interval.

Paying agency means an agency of the Federal Government that employs the individual who owes a debt to an agency of the Federal Government and transmits payment requests in the form of certified payment vouchers, or other similar forms, to a disbursing official for disbursement. The same agency may be both the creditor agency and the paying agency.

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

Waiver means the cancellation, remission, forgiveness, or non-recovery of a debt allegedly owed by an employee to FHFA or another agency as permitted or required by 5 U.S.C. 5584 or 8346(b), 10 U.S.C. 2774, 32 U.S.C. 716, or any other law.

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.”