Except where the context clearly indicates otherwise, the following definitions shall apply to this part.

Administrative offset means withholding funds payable by the United States to, or held by the United States for, a person to satisfy a debt.

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

Bureau or CFPB means the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.

Centralized administrative offset means an offset initiated by referral to the Secretary of the Treasury, or where applicable a debt collection center designated by the Department of the Treasury, by a creditor agency of a past due debt for the purpose of collection under the Treasury's centralized offset program.

Certification means a written statement transmitted from a creditor agency to a paying agency for purposes of administrative or salary offset, to the Financial Management Service (FMS) for 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 the creditor agency has afforded the debtor the required procedural protections. Where the debtor requests a hearing on a claimed debt, the decision by a hearing official or administrative law judge constitutes a certification.

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 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. An agency may be both the creditor agency and the paying agency.

Debt or claim means an amount of money, funds, or property that has been determined by an agency official to be due the United States from any person, organization, or entity, except another Federal entity. For purposes of this part, a debt or claim owed to the Bureau constitutes a debt or claim owed to the United States.

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).

Debtor means a person who owes a debt or a claim. The term “person” includes any individual, organization, or entity, except another Federal agency.

Director means the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection or the Director's designee.

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.

Federal Claims Collection Standards (FCCS) means standards published at 31 CFR Parts 900 through 904.

Financial Management Service (FMS) is a Bureau of the Department of the Treasury.

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.

Non-centralized administrative offset means offsets that an agency conducts, at the agency's discretion, internally or in cooperation with the agency certifying or authorizing payment to the debtor.

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

Paying agency means the agency of the Federal Government that withholds funds payable to a person who owes a debt to an agency of the Federal Government. The term “person” includes any individual, organization, or entity, except another Federal agency. An agency may be both the creditor agency and the paying agency.

Recoupment means a special method of adjusting debts arising under the same transaction or occurrence.

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 a Federal employee without his or her consent.

Withholding order means any order for withholding or garnishment of pay issued by an agency, or judicial or administrative body.