ALEXANDRIA, Va.-Last week, NCUA announced that it has received the approval of the Office of Management and Budget to proceed with its data collection pilot program to investigate credit union service to those of modest means. OMB gave its stamp of approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act, which allows the agency to move forward with the initiative, but provided an expiration of Aug. 31, 2006. NCUA had initially planned to begin the pilot at the end of last month in response to questions that surfaced during the Nov. 3 Ways & Means Committee hearing. However, the launch was delayed when the program was brought to the attention of the OMB, which required a period for public comment and its own approval. NCUA's data collection effort is outlined in Letter to Credit Unions No. 06-FCU-02 from February 2006.