Child Support Goes Paperless

Maryland is eliminating paper checks for child support payments this month, saving taxpayers about $1.4 million a year.
Officials at the Maryland Department of Human Resources, who said the move would impact more than 55,500 recipients statewide, said it would help cut printing and postage associated with the monthly checks.
Payments from the Maryland Child Support Enforcement Administration will now be made directly into a bank account or onto a plastic Bank of America-issued Electronic Payment Issuance Card.
Those cards may be used at ATMs, banks and credit unions that accept Visa cards. Recipients may also get cash back by using the cards at certain grocery and convenience stores.
“Families shouldn’t have to wait for a check to arrive by mail to receive child support payments we collect on their behalf. EPiC enables us to better fulfill our obligation to Maryland children by providing a fast, convenient and secure method for receiving timely child support payments,” DHR Secretary Theodore Dallas said in a statement. “Many families will also benefit from paying fewer check-cashing fees, giving them a little extra money each month to support their children.”
DHR officials said that beginning this month, child support payments will be deposited to the cards as they are received. The system will reduce delays that families often experience when checks are mailed and eliminate fees charged by check-cashing businesses to families without bank accounts.
State data show a historic number of child support payments were collected and distributed over the federal fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2012.
More than 220,000 families received child support payments during that time, adding up to $544.4 million collected by the department’s Child Support Enforcement Administration. That was up $25.1 million from the previous year.