• This past weekend, the Kansas Payment Center (KPC), operated by Tier Technologies Inc., extended its customer service hours and added staff to address delays in sending out child support payments. From 6 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Sunday, payments totaling approximately $2.8 million were processed for 16,000 child support recipients. People should begin receiving checks, which were processed this weekend, today or tomorrow.

• Today, checks will be processed as they arrive. Tier normally has 55 staff on hand to process payments, however an additional 20 workers were brought in by Tier this past weekend. The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) and the Office of Judicial Administration also added 60 staff for the weekend.

• Thanks to the assistance of the media, the KPC received nearly 5,000 calls this weekend. Due to the extra staff, many calls were picked up on the first ring. Typically, the longest wait was no more than 4 minutes, a vast improvement over past weeks.

• The number of unidentified checks was reduced by 25%, with many other cases requiring only one additional call before payment can be processed.

• Individuals and employers sending child support payments to the KPC should remember to include all required information, specifically the county where the case was originally filed as well as the case number, on the check. The lack of this information can add several extra days in processing time. Remember, checks should be sent directly to Kansas Payment Center; PO Box 758599; Topeka, KS 66675-8599.

• Over 3,500 electronic funds transfer requests were also processed. Child support payors and recipients are encouraged to utilize the electronic funds transfer system (direct deposit). However, it may take 2 - 3 weeks to set up the direct deposit option depending on the financial institution.

• If you have further questions regarding your account status, please continue to call the toll-free number at 1-877-572-5722 or consult the KPC website at www.kspaycenter.com. Be prepared to provide the customer service representative with your case number and social security numbers for custodial and non-custodial parents.

• On Monday, unfortunately the KPC had technical difficulty with their customer service telephone system, and for approximately 4 hours only the automated voice response system and website continued to be available. The KPC will extend their customer service hours this week. You may contact a customer service representative between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.

• The Topeka-based facility began accepting child support payments September 29 th. Since then, payments totaling approximately $17.5  million have been processed for 91,000 child support recipients. The KPC is expected to process 1.9 million transactions per year, totaling $350 million, or 158,000 transactions per month, totaling $30 million.

Page Last Updated: May 29, 2001