Faster and Easier All The Time – Updates on the Payment Kiosk Project

By: Nicole Darracq, CA DCSS

In January of 2017, California Department of Child Support Services (CA DCSS) introduced automated payment kiosks to local child support offices, expanding the installations monthly until the last kiosks were delivered in June (see InsideDCSS, June 2017). To say the program was welcomed by customers is an understatement – kiosk collections shot from $12,000 in one day at the first seven locations, to 56 kiosks collecting more than $4 million every month.

As parents have embraced this payment option, CA DCSS has worked to refine the system. Originally, payments were limited to $2,999 per transaction, forcing several parents to make multiple transactions every month to pay their child support obligation. CA DCSS project staff worked with Touchpay, the kiosk vendor, to eliminate that inconvenience. A $9,999 payment limit remains due to federal regulations— payments above that amount must have additional information collected before processing.

Another newly added convenience is the ability to use a personalized ID card in the kiosks, so parents can scan a card with a unique QR code and the system will properly allocate their payment. These cards are generated at the local office level, with special printers installed in each office. Paying parents may request a card and a “blank” is imprinted with their name, their participant ID and a unique code while they wait. Special thanks to our four pilot counties – Lassen, Del Norte, Marin and Los Angeles – for their help and feedback as this scanning capability went live. The statewide rollout began Monday, December 11th and five days later every kiosk in the state was programmed to accept these new ID cards. Printers and cards will ship to all the counties by early January, and Child Support University has a training module available online.

To get a jump on training your customers, a poster is available to let your customers know that ID cards are coming, and how to use them for the first time. It should be placed ideally on the kiosk, or at least very near, and can help new customers navigate the change. It’s available for download on CA Child Support Central in the Marketing and Outreach Forum.

Faster and easier all the time – the collection of child support has never been painless, but the least we can do to assist our parents working hard to do right by their children is to make the procedure as convenient, simple and swift as possible.