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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 51 / Thursday, March 18, 2021 / Proposed Rules
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lending industry with guidance addressing a wide spectrum of technical flood insurance-related compliance issues. In 2009, the Agencies comprehensively revised and reorganized the initial 1997 Interagency Questions and Answers. In 2011, the Agencies further finalized two additional Q&As that were proposed in 2009.7 In October 2013, the Agencies jointly issued proposed rules 8 to implement the escrow, force placement, and private flood insurance provisions of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 the Biggert-Waters Act.9 In March 2014, the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act HFIAA was enacted, which, among other things, amended the BiggertWaters Acts requirements regarding the escrow of flood insurance premiums and fees and created a new exemption from the mandatory flood insurance purchase requirement for certain detached structures.10 The Agencies finalized the regulations to implement provisions in the Biggert-Waters Act and HFIAA under the Agencies jurisdiction, except for the provisions related to private flood insurance, with a final rule issued in July 2015.11 In February 2019, the Agencies finalized regulations that implement the private flood insurance related provisions of the Biggert-Waters Act.12 This rule requires lenders to accept private flood insurance, as defined in the Biggert-Waters Act mandatory acceptance. In order to assist lenders in evaluating whether a flood insurance policy meets the definition of private flood insurance, the private flood insurance rule also includes a compliance aid provision.
Under the compliance aid provision, a lender may conclude that a policy meets the definition of private flood insurance, without further review, if the policy, or an endorsement to the policy, contains the compliance aid clause set forth in the rule. Moreover, the private flood insurance rule permits a lender, at its discretion, to accept a flood insurance policy issued by a private insurer, even if the policy does not meet the statutory and regulatory Q&A refers to an individual question and answer within the Questions and Answers.
7 For additional information on the history of Interagency Questions and Answers, please see the preamble to the July 2020 Proposed Interagency Questions and Answers at 85 FR 40442 July 6, 2020.
8 78 FR 65108 Oct. 30, 2013.
9 Public Law 112141, 126 Stat. 916 2012.
10 Public Law 11389, 128 Stat. 1020 2014.
11 80 FR 43216 July 21, 2015. Subsequently, on November 7, 2016, the Agencies re-proposed the private flood insurance provisions through a joint notice of proposed rulemaking 81 FR 78063.
12 84 FR 4953 Feb. 20, 2019.

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definition of private flood insurance, provided the policy meets certain requirements in the rule discretionary acceptance. A lender also is permitted, at its discretion, to accept certain mutual aid plans that meet the conditions stated in the rule.
On June 18, 2019, prior to the effective date of the final rule, the Agencies hosted a webinar entitled Interagency Flood Insurance Updates on Private Insurance Rule to discuss updates to the Agencies flood regulations concerning acceptance of private flood insurance policies.13 The Agencies also discussed the private flood insurance rule at various flood insurance conferences. Through these activities, the Agencies received numerous questions regarding technical compliance with this rule.
On July 6, 2020, the Agencies issued proposed new and revised Interagency Questions and Answers July 2020
Proposed Questions and Answers that covered a broad range of topics related to technical flood insurance-related issues, including the escrow of flood insurance premiums, the detached structure exemption to the mandatory purchase of flood insurance requirement, and force-placement procedures.14 The July 2020 Proposed Questions and Answers included only two Q&As related to private flood insurance because the private flood insurance rule had only been in effect since July 2019.
As noted in the July 2020 Proposed Questions and Answers, the Agencies committed to separately issuing for notice and comment proposed questions and answers relating to the private flood insurance rule. Accordingly, the Agencies have carefully considered each of the many questions received on the private flood insurance rule since its issuance, categorized and consolidated the questions, and drafted 24 private flood insurance questions and answers to be broadly applicable to supervised lenders and servicers. The Agencies are now issuing for public comment these 24 proposed questions and answers, categorized in the three following sections:
I. Private Flood InsuranceMandatory Acceptance II. Private Flood Insurance Discretionary Acceptance III. Private Flood InsuranceGeneral Compliance 13 For more information about the June 2019
interagency webinar on the private flood insurance rule, including the presentation transcripts, see https www.consumercomplianceoutlook.org/
outlook-live/2019/interagency-flood-insuranceregulation-update/.
14 See 85 FR 40442 July 6, 2020.

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To assist the reader, the Agencies have included references to specific Q&As from the July 2020 Proposed Questions and Answers and from other Q&As in this proposal when helpful. In addition, the following terms are used throughout this document: Act refers to the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 and the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973, as revised by the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994, Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 and Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act codified at 42 U.S.C. 4001 et seq. Regulation refers to each Agencys current rule.15
Furthermore, the Agencies note that some of the information included in certain proposed questions and answers is derived from the preamble of the private flood insurance final rule.
The Agencies plan to publish a final document in the Federal Register that consolidates these proposed private flood insurance questions and answers and the July 2020 Proposed Questions and Answers into one set of Interagency Questions and Answers Regarding Flood Insurance.
Public Comments The Agencies solicit comment on all aspects of the proposed questions and answers regarding the private flood insurance rule. If lenders, community groups, or other parties have unanswered questions or comments about the private flood insurance provision of the Regulation, they are invited to submit them to the Agencies in their comments.
Section-by-Section Analysis I. Private Flood InsuranceMandatory Acceptance The Agencies propose nine new Q&As to address issues regarding the mandatory acceptance and the application of the compliance aid assurance clause with respect to the private flood insurance provision of the Regulation. The new proposed Q&As would be designated as Mandatory 19.
Proposed new Q&A Mandatory 1 would address whether a lender may decide to only accept private flood insurance policies under the mandatory acceptance provision of the Regulation.
The proposed answer would confirm that a lender may decide to only accept flood insurance policies issued by a private insurer that the lender is required to accept because the policies meet the definition of private flood 15 The Agencies rules are codified at 12 CFR part 22 OCC, 12 CFR part 208 Board, 12 CFR part 339
FDIC, 12 CFR part 614 FCA, and 12 CFR part 760
NCUA.

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