Child Support (Problems with Florida DOR) (also with an FCRA twist)

[va445612]

What is the name of your state? used to be Florida, now Virginia

I am the payor in a Florida Child support case. I am about 8.5k in child support arrears. My court order states that I need to pay a given amount of child support + some arrears.

I have succesfully paid the child support amount including my required portion of the arrears for the past year.

About 1 year ago, one of the Florida Department of Revenue local regions decided to report me as 180 days late/Chargeoff on my Experian Credit Report, and has since then decided to push that down on my credit report each and every month.

The DOR has also decided to report a recent payment of "$0" each and every month in an effort to further damage my credit report.

I have disputed the account's accuracy with Experian, but it keeps coming back "verified". As permissable by the FCRA, I contacted that region's director via certified mail returned receipt to at least ask them to correct the recent payment "$0" statement. I also advised that in the FTC's opinion, reporting an account as a Chargeoff each and every time was not accurate. (This was after discussing this with the FTC).

I am not sure if a government agency is bound by the FCRA. I have heard yes, and I have heard no.

I do not live in the State of Florida anymore, but now live in the State of Virginia. I have also heard that the FCRA will allow me to sue child support in my own local District Court. This is why I stood up for myself.

I have not heard back from the director of the Florida Department of Revenue region, but today an unusal letter came to the wrong physical address. An address back in Florida where I no longer reside, but where my parents do.

It was a statement from the DOR (not the regional office, but the State office) indicating that I owed 8.5K in arrears, and how would I like to cut that check (as if I could).

They gave me a certain day to pay the entire amount by.

I am not sure if they are just acting in typical "collection agency" mode, or are doing this in retaliation for my request for them to report information accurately, or if my freedom is now somehow threatened.

I was supposed to pay via income deduction order, but due to self employment, I have elected to pay by check every month. (I can prove payments from my bank).

What do you think? What should I do? Experian chooses to ignore copies of checks showing that I have been paying child support.

So to recap, my questions are as follows:

1) Can I sue a Local Government Agency such as child support in District Court for Violations of the FCRA?

2) Is my freedom somehow threatened now that Child Support has written me a letter stating that I am not paying them even though I have?

Thanks

Also, please do not suggest that I suddenly pay the arrears off. I am not that rich.

I understand that you may only be able to answer my "payments option" questions, but had to throw the FCRA issue in there as a primer.

 

[va445612]

bumpbumpbump

 

[va445612]

Letter is entitled "Notice of Non-Payment".

 

[Gracie3787]

Letter is entitled "Notice of Non-Payment".

First, on the letter they sent you- is there any wording in it about what actions you can take if you do not agree? Sometimes they add something like you have the right to file for a hearing if you disagree with the amount of arrears owed or the name of the obligor or obligee.

Second, are you sending the payments to the Fl SDU in Tallahassee? If you are sending them directly to your ex, you may not be getting any credit for the payments. If you are sending the payments to the court clerk's office, it's possible that the DOR isn't giving you credit for those payments.

Do you recieve a statement with payment coupons every month from the FL SDU?
If you do, check the balnce they say the arrears are, which is the amount that DOR reports to them but quite often are not correct.

To get the actual legal record of payments and arrears owed, contact the court clerk. They charge about $1 per page, but it is considered to be the official record.

The DOR gets overzealous, but if you keep after them with the proper documents, it can get straightened out.

 

[va445612]

Thanks,

I am paying the SDU in Tally directly.

I got no coupons, just an IDO. I have copies of all of my checks, and you can see the payments posting on line as usual.

The letter said nothing about what to do. Just an indication that I owe "x" amount. Contact their office to establish a written repayment plan. No consequences or recources stated.