Best Practices for Reducing Suspended Payments Presenters: Kathy Sokolik – Director, Santa Cruz/San Benito Regional Child Support Laura Secondo - Senior Vice President, Strategic Sales - Global Government Group, Bank of America Alex Camacho - Project Director Texas SDU, ACS Joe Mamlin - Director, Business Development, Systems & Methods, Inc. (SMI)

Suspended Payments – California Style Laura Secondo Bank of America California State Disbursement Unit

The California Landscape

What does the CA SDU do to minimize suspended payments? Focus on Electronic Payment Capability Employer Compliance with Statutes for Electronic Remittance Outreach, Outreach, Outreach Continuous messages to encourage electronic methods

What does the CA SDU do to minimize suspended payments? Paper Remittances History, Matching Communication, Communication, Communication The ability to process payments successfully is dependent on information

Conduct ongoing analysis of suspense trends Monitor issue reporting On site exceptions processing CSE system defect management Communication procedures External contacts (NCPs, Employers, etc) Program Financial workers (alerts, updates, etc) Support vendor education and outreach campaigns DCSS Payment Resolution

CA SDU Suspense

Suspense Categories: SDU DCSS LCSA Who has ‘what’ – roles and responsibilities

Minimizing Suspended Collections Alex Camacho ACS Project Director Texas State Disbursement Unit

The Problem with Identifying Child Support Payments??? Many employers fail to provide adequate information on the remittance. Obligors often submit money orders/cashier checks with “no” information on the payment. This includes a name or address. Unlike remittance processing, Child Support payment processing is “exception” processing.

The Approach to Minimizing Suspended Collections Technology on the front end of payment processing. “In stream” research and immediate call back to remitters State contractual requirements for identifying payments and for clearing suspended payments Outreach to; Employers, Obligors, Counties

Texas SDU Examples Develop a well trained team of experts –Experienced and tenured staff Provide the right tools to get the job done Employer database Management performance tracking system to work smarter, not harder Robust locate tools

Additional Employer Outreach Controlled and scheduled frequency reviews of all items in suspense Provide remittance coupons to employers upon request Proactive outreach to employers

The Relationship Between the SDU and the Counties is Critical Obtain primary contact information from each county for case building SDU in Texas builds cases in state system along with state and county staff. SDU staff trained to identify respective county case number formats

The Results

CRNM Verses SUSS Comparison Texas SDU Unidentified and Suspense CollectionsCRNMSUSS Month Transactions Day 1 and 2 As % of TransactionsReceipts As % of Transactions Apr-081,490,5116, % % Jun-081,549,7537, % % Dec-081,727,9058, %1, % Jan-091,440,1097, %1, % Mar-091,544,8189, % % May-091,403,3237, % % Jul-091,474,9818, % % Aug-091,448,1979, % %

Working with Suspended Collections Sharing Best Practices Joe Mamlin, SMI

Sizing up the problem To address the problem, you need accurate data and useable reports –Reliable data –Accessible and well organized Break out reporting by suspense reason –Allows for a more targeted approach –Separates the quick fix items from those that require more time and effort

Sample Report

Being Proactive Direct person to person contact with employers –Proactive Outreach to avoid issues –Personal contact to resolve existing issues Outreach to Recipients –Make it part of regular communication to update critical case information –Build into customer service scripts, and empower your best sources to make updates

Being Proactive (Cont.) Automatic EFT Reconciliation –Pre-screens EFT payments before the payments hit the system –Particularly useful with larger employers Set up cases on the system correctly and quickly –Often money gets suspended just because the first payment was received before the case was set up

Existing Tools Using Debit Cards and Direct Deposit means a bad address will not necessarily lead to suspended collections Using Locate Tools to find payees Statewide Automated System –In Connecticut, we have developed a tool called the Application Problem Report which has been an excellent resource to help our staff identify system issues that cause money not to distribute, and take action to make corrections as needed

Sample Reports APR Action Code and Aging Reports

Trying to Impose Common Sense Simplified Posting Rules –If posting rules are overly complex, and more strict than Federal requirements, you should be asking why. Provide Data to the SDU as often as possible –Daily Payor Feed Files Look at returned mail –Forwarding Address Labels can sometimes resolve the problem –Utilize the National Change of Address (NCOA) system from the USPS Start locate efforts as soon as the problem is identified

Caution! Don’t Forget Separation of Duties and Cross Verification –High priority placed on reducing the bottom line number –Staffing shortages can make it difficult to separate tasks

Questions???? Thank You