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Federal Credit Support Page

Credit Subsidy Calculator 2 (CSC2)

This page is the authoritative source for the CSC2.

Last updated: January 13, 2009

The following materials are available.

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Software installation

The CSC2 significantly enhances the capabilities of the Credit Subsidy Calculator by incorporating the functions of the C-Credit and BARC spreadsheet tools for calculating reestimates and financing account interest. OMB will no longer support or maintain the spreadsheet tools on the Federal Credit Support Page (documentation for the spreadsheet tools will remain available for informational purposes).

The CSC2 offers improved reestimate and financing account interest calculations. In particular, it provides:

1) a method for agencies to correct financing account interest for the period when interest was earned or paid using budget assumption interest rates, before actual rates were available;

2) refinements to financing account interest calculations to more closely align with the method used to discount cashflows; and

3) opportunity to reconcile any differences in accounting methods, so subsidy rates more accurately reflect borrower performance.

  • Current release. Credit Subsidy Calculator 2 version 1.2c (released January 13, 2009).
  • How to tell if you have the current release. (posted January 13, 2009).

    • Reports by independent firms

    Outside firms have verified the conformance of the Credit Subsidy Calculator (CSC) with the applicable standards. Reports presenting the results of these efforts may be downloaded in PDF format.


    User Guide (updated: July 25, 2007)

    The Credit Subsidy Calculator 2 (CSC2) user guide is a technical reference book that describes how to perform credit calculations required by the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (FCRA). While the user guide is primarily a technical reference, it does cover some of the key concepts underlying these calculations.

    Summary Tools (updated: January 13, 2009)

    The CSC2 Reestimate Summary Compiler (RSummary) is used to aggregate CSC2 reestimate output files.

    Use the CSC2 Financing Account Interest Summary Compiler (CFSummary) to aggregate CSC2 financing account interest output files.

    Working papers

    Working papers that describe the concepts and methods used by the CSC are available in PDF format:

    For additional documentation please see the Training and resource materials page.

    Updates to the interest rate files (actual rates and budget assumptions)

    If you wish to receive an email notification when new material becomes available, please fax your name, email address, and phone number to (202) 395-7230, attn "credit updates" or e-mail csc2@omb.eop.gov, subject line “credit updates."

    The "basket-of-zeros" rates are in a data file named "rates.txt" that may be found in the same folder as the CSC. Periodically, this rate file must be updated. Updates may be downloaded from this web site. Update announcements will be sent by email to all who have sent in their email address to the FAX number above.

    The most recent similar maturity rates for completed fiscal years (1992-present) are included in the rate file and may be viewed online.

    List of known defects and work-arounds

    Version 1.2a (and later) of the CSC 2 will support native Excel 2007 files only if Excel 2007 or Microsoft's "Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats" is loaded on the machine running the CSC2. The compatibility pack can be downloaded from Microsoft's support page at: www.microsoft.com/downloads/

    Versions prior to 1.2a of the CSC2 do not support Excel spreadsheets created by Excel 2007 in its native format. If cash flow spreadsheets are being developed in Excel 2007 the user must save the file as an older style .xls file.

    Due to a Microsoft security patch for MS Office 2003, released in July 2006, MS Excel can no longer read .XLS files produced by the CSC (versions A-K).

    • Description: A recent security patch issued by Microsoft renders all current and past CSC .XLS output invalid. Users with the patch will see the following message when attempting to load a file: "Errors were detected in 'filename.xls,' but Microsoft Office Excel was able to open the file by making the repairs listed below. Save the file to make these repairs permanent." The resulting file will retain numerical values but will lose all text information. It is NOT recommended that users save the resulting file.

      • Solution: Going forward, users users should download an updated installation file from this site (see above.) The installation file contains updated files that will allow the CSC to generate valid output. We are working on a solution that will allow users to open files created with past versions of the CSC and we will update this site when that solution becomes available. NOTE: LOTUS 123 users are unaffected by this issue. In addition, Excel users with access to Lotus can open CSC formatted .XLS files without any problems. If the user performs a "Save as" - .xls the resulting file will now be accessible by Excel.

    Under certain network environments the CSC will not retain the user preferences (versions 1g and earlier).

    • Description: The CSC stores all user preferences in a file named "cscr1.ini" located in the Windows system directory (example: c:\windows, c:\winNT, etc.). This file is created when the CSC is run for the first time and modified when a user changes preferences or opens a file. For the CSC to operate properly the user must have read and write privileges to the .ini file. To check if the .ini file is functioning properly, open the CSC and click "Actions" and "general preferences." Change any of the default setting and click "OK." Reopen the general preferences and verify that the change you made is still there. If the settings are back to the defaults the CSC is NOT operating properly. This problem will most likely occur on systems where the CSC software was loaded by a network administrator.

    • Solution: Have a network administrator grant all users read and write access to the cscr1.ini file. If the cscr1.ini file cannot be located the administrator should log on to the computer with full admin rights and run the CSC. The CSC will automatically create the file in the system directory. The file properties can then be modified to grant the appropriate rights.

    Files saved in ".123" format may produce a "file may be damaged" message in error (reported on 12/13/99).

    • Description: Spreadsheet files that are saved in ".123" format and have a chart may produce the following message "The spreadsheet file may be damaged or not in the format indicated by the extension." This message appears to result from the presence of a chart in the spreadsheet file and does not mean that your file is damaged. If you receive the "file may be damaged" message and do not have a chart in the file, please email a copy of the spreadsheet to scahill@omb.eop.gov with any comments that might be helpful.

    • Solution: Avoid using charts if you save files in ".123" format. If you need to have a chart, please save the file in "wk4" format. The presence of a chart in the file does not appear to cause problems when the file is saved in "wk4" format.

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