RE:
International Child Support Payment Options
FROM:
Barry Brooks
Once Child Support is collected in one country for a recipient resident in another country,
payment processing options fall into three basic configurations, each with its own related issues.
Agency to Agency/Payee
The current process between IV-D Agencies is primarily to send EFT (electronic funds transfer)
bulk transfers with an accompanying EDI (electronic data interchange) that parses the money
between cases. In the situation where a check or warrant might be used, the Payee is the
Receiving Agency.
The use of this process for International agency to agency money transfers appears to be in the
infancy stage. A representative of a German Agency indicated it was receiving bulk transfers
from Virginia using a service of Wachovia. Further information revealed that the detail of who
the payments are for and the amounts is sent by email rather than EDI.
The underlying problem appears to be the lack of a “standard record” that contains all of the
information needed. International banking standards already provide for the exchange of normal
Buyer and Seller information. The challenge for child support is the need to have
• Debtor Information (name, ID/SSN number)
• Collecting State Information (case number as well as Agency as Payor information)
• Receiving State Information (case information as well as Agency as Payee information)
• Creditor Information (name, ID/SSN number)
For foreign agencies that can accept payments as the Payee, Texas currently sends individual
warrants. Some problems have been encountered with insufficient detail accompanying the
warrant; however, these usually can be quickly resolved by email communication.
There are some common issues that permeate all the options involving sending a payment
instrument to a foreign address. They revolve around the postal service and include:
• Incorrect foreign address format
• Insufficient postage
• Slow delivery time
Agency to Agency with Creditor Payee
Several foreign Agenc