Last fiscal year, Idaho Child Support Services collected and distributed more than $154 million for Idaho children. The Department of Health and Welfare anticipates parents in up to one-third of the state's 113,000 child support cases will use the online payment option.
"We are always looking for ways to make child support payments easier on parents," says Vickie Vanderwerff, who headed the project for the Department of Health and Welfare's Child Support Services. "This can be particularly helpful for parents who work long hours or travel a lot. Children depend on these payments for the necessities of life. By providing parents with options, we can be more successful in collecting child support money for them."
To use the service, parents enter their child support client identification number, social security number, and an Access Idaho user name and password. The user name and password can be set up quickly at no charge on the login page.
Unlike paper checks, which are not recorded as paid until they clear, online payments are guaranteed funds and considered as paid immediately at any time of day or night. Parents who pay online do not have to worry if their payments are on time, and Health and Welfare is free from expending human resources and money "chasing" delinquent accounts.
Since no taxpayer money was earmarked for developing and maintaining the service, online customers are charged a nominal fee for each transaction to cover associated costs. The service fee does not apply to check, money order, and wage withholding payment options.
About Access Idaho
Access Idaho is the state of Idaho's official Web portal (http://idaho.gov) and provider of electronic government solutions for the state. The network manager for the portal is Idaho Information Consortium, a subsidiary of eGovernment firm NIC (Nasdaq: EGOV).
Quelle: Business Wire, 21.12.2004
