Collection Agency Sued For Ripping Off Child Support Money

The state of Virginia is suing Supportkids Inc., a private collection agency based in Texas, to prevent the company from stealing money meant for children in the Commonwealth.

The theft works like this:

1) Supportkids, Inc. sends wage-withholding notices to employers of noncustodial parents. In these documents, the company refers to itself as “Child Support Enforcement,” a name easily confused with Virginia’s “Division of Child Support Enforcement.”

2) Supportkids, Inc. unlawfully directs the employer to send payments directly to the company’s office in Texas, rather than to Virginia’s DCSE.

3) Supportkids, Inc. then takes a 34% fee from the payment before forwarding what's left of the payment to the custodial parent, regardless of whether it has undertaken any work on behalf of the parent to collect such payments.

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