§ 402.90 Notification of fees and prepayment requirements.

Requesters must agree to pay the fee, whether charged under § 402.75 or § 402.80, before we will begin the search for record(s).

(a) Cost estimate. OPD will issue a fee notice to the requester for the processing of their request for records that includes an estimated fee based on the time we estimate it will take to process the record(s) requested. We issue fee notices via email or, when the requester does not provide an email address, via U.S. postal mail.

(b) Advanced payment information required. The requester must agree to pay the estimated fee provided within the fee notice and provide the agency with payment information within 30 calendar days from the date of our fee notice. Payment information is required before OPD will begin the search for the requested record(s). Unless otherwise specified in the schedule of standard administrative fees the agency charges for specified non-program information requests, OPD will process payment when the request is closed, i.e., when the FOIA Officer issues a decision on records release. If the payment information provided by the requester expires during the course of OPD's processing of the FOIA request, the requester must provide updated payment information. If updated payment information is not provided within 30 calendar days of our written request for the payment information, we reserve the right to administratively close the request.

(c) Changes in estimated fee. (1) If the time spent to search for records is more or less than the time estimated in the fee notice, OPD will issue the requester a revised fee notice after the responsive component(s) performs the records search and retrieval.

(2) If the record(s) provided to OPD for review are more or less than those from which OPD estimated search and review time, OPD will issue the requester a revised fee notice after the responsive component(s) perform the records search and retrieval.

(3) OPD will either dispose of the payment information or return the payment information to the requester when OPD issues the revised fee notice.

(4) The requester must agree to pay the revised fee before we will continue processing the request. If the requester disagrees with the revised fee, the requester may appeal to the Executive Director for OPD. Appeals will be processed as described in § 402.105.

(d) Prompt payment. We will administratively close the FOIA request if we do not receive a response or appeal within 30 calendar days from the date of the fee notice. “Response” includes:

(1) Requesting to narrow the scope of the request; or

(2) Providing payment in response to the fee notice. Appeals will be processed as described in § 402.105.

(e) Methods of payment. We accept payment by check or money order made payable to the Social Security Administration (SSA), as well as by credit card (MasterCard, Visa, Discover, American Express, or Diner's Club).