If you owe child support, it is important to understand payment options available to you in order to avoid falling behind. While many parents have child support automatically withheld by their employer, some have to find other ways to pay child support. Whether you recently lost your job or you are preparing to get divorced, you need to take a close look at these options.
Missing child support payments can lead to a variety of serious penalties, and many parents face the threat of arrest, the loss of their tax refund, license revocation and other consequences when they miss payments.
Paying child support with a credit card or bank account
The Maryland State Disbursement Unit goes over some of the ways that parents can pay child support to the state. For example, you can make arrangements to have child support payments automatically taken out of your bank account, although this does not result in the termination of an income withholding order if such an order is in place. The state also accepts a number of credit cards if you prefer to pay with your card.
Important child support payment issues to go over
If you want to pay support with a credit card, you should realize there is a convenience fee and the state does not accept credit card payments with foreign addresses. Make sure you carefully enter all information correctly, such as bank information, the child support case number and your Social Security number. If you set up recurring payments, make sure you pay support in full each month. Regardless of how you pay support, do your best to stay current.