Ohio DJFS trying once again to make things "easier"

Back in May of 2006 this was the Press Release from ODJFS:

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services is nearing completion of the conversion to an electronic child support payment system, as required by a new law.

"As this conversion continues, more and more Ohio parents are receiving their support payments quickly, securely and conveniently," said Joe Pilat, deputy director, ODJFS Office of Child Support. "The new system also benefits taxpayers with an estimated savings of over $2 million a year through reduced postage and administration costs."

Direct Deposit has been available to Ohio parents for several years. In 2004, ODJFS introduced the e-QuickPay Debit MasterCard program. The electronic disbursement of payments either through Direct Deposit or e-QuickPay, was made mandatory in 2005 within legislation that enacted the state budget. The first counties to convert were Clermont, Fairfield, Franklin, Greene, Holmes and Richland, in December.

I've been using the debit card system for over a year now, since that time customer service issues such as the system not working and issues related to accessing the EPPIC Client portal to obtain information have increased. Today when I logged in I discovered that the previous ability to search transactions has been limited. You no longer have the option of creating your own date range to do a transaction search, as an example if you need to provide verification of what you have received in Child Support for a specific time period that's no longer possible. You are only allowed to access data for one month at a time. Granted it was painfully slow trying to get transaction data most times even with a high speed connection, time outs happened frequently and if you do not have the internet, you of course have no easy access to any paper trail for child support payments deposited or for transactions.

I also discovered that Unemployment payments will now also be done by a debit card system if you do not opt for electronic deposit into a bank account as of last month, except in limited situations:

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services today announced a new, convenient method for Unemployment Compensation recipients to receive their benefits. Starting this week, new claimants who have not designated an account for direct deposit will receive benefits via a debit card.

"With electronic payment distribution, we can now provide payments to claimants quicker and more securely while reducing postage and administrative costs by more than $650,000 per year," said ODJFS Director Barbara Riley.

Except for limited circumstances, checks will not be issued for new claims. Claimants now receiving a check by mail will be given the option to switch to a debit card and receive benefits sooner than waiting for a check to arrive by mail. Currently, checks are mailed to about half of the claimants.

At first I thought it might be the same system - but Unemployment is using a Visa system called "Reliacard". Which is actually a better deal than what we get thru the Child Support System Debit Card, there is a 75 cent transaction fee for every ATM transaction plus any additional charges that ATM might charge thru the Child Support Mastercard debit while those who use this Visa card will not have that first automatic 75 cent transaction fee.

There are advantages to the electronic system, however it's not without problems. My problem is with the mandatory aspect of this, offering it to people that want electronic deposit or the debit card is one thing, forcing them to do so, especially when in the case of Child Support it will subject them to additional fees is what I take issue with. Child support already charges a 2% fee called "poundage" that is supposed to offset some of the costs related to collection and distribution of child support payments. At times I can't help longing for the days when the actual collection and disbursement of funds all happened right here within Lucas County. Each step that is made by the State to make things "easier" actually has made the system harder to navigate and has increased the number of people and places that are involved in the Child Support process.

It probably is less expensive, since I'm sure the call center employees are paid much less than State employees but sometimes I wonder in our rush to do things cheaper how much of our security we give away.