EFT/EDI Child Support Payments

Teleconference

Minutes from the Federal/State Agencies EFT/EDI Child Support Payments Project Teleconference, September 15, 2004

Participants:

The bi-monthly Federal Agency/State EFT/EDI Child Support Payments Project teleconference meeting was held on Wednesday, September 15 at 2 p.m., ET. The following Federal agencies participated in the teleconference: the Department of the Treasury's Financial Management Service (FMS), the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), Amtrak, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), and the Public Health Services. The following states participated in the teleconference: CO, SD, MT, MO, KY, VA, NM, ND, NE, WY, IA, HI, MS, WI, TX, MI, KS, FL, OH, DC, NH, CA. Lovenia Murray of FMS facilitated the meeting and reminded participants to register for each teleconference at FMS's web site at http://fms.treas.gov/csp/confcall/index.html.

Status of SSN Removal from U.S. Treasury Checks

FMS stated that the Social Security Number would remain on printed U.S. Treasury Checks at least throughout 2005, at which time the situation will be reevaluated.

Federal Agency Update

USPS reported that beginning October 8, they will be sending child support payments through EFT/EDI to the District of Columbia, Virgin Islands and Guam. In addition, they are conducting case reconciliation with California and are planning to send payment electronically to Los Angeles County.

Public Health Service (PHS) advised the participants that they share the same Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) and Agency Location Code of Health and Human Services (HHS). States are sending HHS employee child support related documents to PHS, which in turn, has to pass on to the appropriate office, adding unnecessary time to the process. OCSE is asked to evaluate the situation.

FMS Regional Finance Center (RFC) in Kansas City reported that case reconciliation for U.S. Courts has been completed; programming is being conducted and testing will occur in October.

The KC RFC also reported that the National Finance Center (NFC) is running into a few problems with child support payments that have been added since its initial case reconciliation/conversion effort. As new agencies migrate to NFC and new child support orders are entered, there are sometimes discrepancies in case identifiers. NFC had a decentralized child support garnishment process, which can add additional time to the income withholding process as NFC attempts to secure the correct case identifier.

Discussion on Future Dates in Files

There was a lengthy discussion about the "future" date found in the DED segment, particularly in files from NFC. States were advised that the federal government releases funds from the U.S. Treasury prior to the official pay date for federal employees. The Settlement/Effective date (Date of Payment) found in the Batch Header Record (BHR) file contains a date that precedes the Pay Date found in the DED. States' search logic expects the Pay Date in the DED to correspond to the Settlement/Effective date in the Header Record, and thus, interprets the DED Pay Date as a "future" date payment.

For some state systems, if a file comes in with a "future" Pay Date in the DED, the file is suspended and then has to be manually posted on the pay day. In some instances, as with what happens with DFAS (military) files, the payment is sent to the state TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families) and doesn't go to the family. The child support distribution rules prohibit posting "future" payments until past due (arrears) are paid.

One state said they changed their search logic to focus on the date in the Header record, which is the Settlement/Effective date, the date the state's financial institution actually receives the payment, and the "future" Pay Date in the DED is no longer problematic.

Case Reconciliation

KFC reported that case reconciliation has been working very well between their customer agencies and the states. The USPS is working with DC on case reconciliation. DC raised a question about USPS case reconciliation file. It is expected that once the case reconciliation concerns are addressed, USPS will run a successful test file with DC, and begin processing the EFT/EDI payments.

Reversals

There was a brief discussion about the importance of notifying trading partners when a payment needs to be reversed. Agencies are reminded of the NACHA Rule, which requires the originator to notify the receiver of the reversing entry and the reason for the reversing entry no later than the Settlement Date of the reversing entry.

Assessment of FEIN/ALC

NFC does not store and thus cannot provide the FEIN of individual client agencies. In EFT/EDI transmissions, it will appear that all the obligors are employed by U.S. Department of Agriculture (NFC is the USDA payroll processor). States did not express any problem with this. FMS reminded states that if they have problems with the files to contact the FMS Regional Finance Center that generated the transmission. If there are problems or questions about individual payments, states should contact NFC.

NACHA Teleseminar

FMS reported that NACHA is sponsoring a Teleseminar on October 12 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., EST. The topic is PINless Debit: The Benefits & the Challenges. For information on registration: Telephone: 800- 487-9180 or Internet: www.nacha.org/conferences

Next Teleconference on EFT/EDI Child Support Payments

The teleconference meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 17 at 2:00 p.m., EST. States are reminded to register for the teleconference to ensure enough lines are allocated.