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Administration for Children and Families US Department of Health and Human Services
The Office of Child Support Enforcement Giving Hope and Support to America's Children

What is FIDM? > Multi-State Match > MSFIDM Operations

In Dear Colleague Letter DCL 98-120 dated November 16, 1998, OCSE sent each IV-D Director a Certification Addendum to the Federal Offset File.  By signing the Addendum the IV-D Director transfers to OCSE the responsibility for reaching agreement with the multistate financial institutions (MSFIs) on behalf of the State

OCSE identified over 3,000 multistate financial institutions by accessing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Association, Securities Industry Association and National Securities Clearing Corporation's websites.  OCSE sent correspondence to the identified MSFIs that included an overview of the multistate financial institution data match process, data specifications and an election form.  The election form serves as the operational agreement between the multistate financial institution and OCSE.  It asks for the name, Federal employer identification number, address, and phone number of the institution.  The form allows the institution to opt out of the data match at the federal level in favor of participating at the State level in each state and territory where it does business.  If an institution opts to participate at the federal level, the form allows the institution to identify its media preference and the month and week within the month it would like to receive the first quarterly inquiry file from OCSE.  An authorized representative of the financial institution must sign the form.

Each month OCSE distributes to States and territories a list of multistate financial institutions that have opted into the OCSE data match program.  If a multistate financial institution elects not to participate at the federal level in the OCSE data match, OCSE sends written notification to each State in which that particular institution does business within twenty-four hours of receiving the institution's decision to participate at the State level. 

The MSFIDM process entails the following:

  • States, via a dedicated transmission line, update weekly the Federal Offset File, a national file of delinquent obligors.
  • States have the option of including or excluding a case in the Federal Offset File from the MSFIDM process.  The State may exclude a case by placing the exclusion indicator "FIN" on the case.  If the State chooses to include the case in the match process the obligor's name and social security number will be sent to participating multistate financial institutions to be matched against their files.
  • To insure the social security numbers on the offset file are valid, OCSE matches them against the Social Security Administration's records. 
  • OCSE edits the Federal Offset File to remove duplicate names and social security numbers sent by multiple States, resulting in the Inquiry file being sent to MSFIs contains one name and one social security number, even though a case exists in more than one State.
  • Using Method 2, Matched Accounts Method, the MSFIs conduct the data match by comparing the names and social security numbers on the Inquiry file against their account holders. 
  • OCSE reconfigures the file to restore duplicate names from multiple States.
  • OCSE compares the matched account data from the MSFIs to the most recent Federal Offset File to insure States do not receive information on individuals that may have had an exclusion indicator placed on their case after they were initially submitted for the data match process.
  • OCSE distributes the matched account data to the States within 48 hours after its receipt from the MSFI.

OCSE does not take action to collect money from accounts identified though MSFIDM.  To assist with financial institution billing and State reimbursement, the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement agreed to provide each multistate financial institution or their designated transmitter participating in the MSFIDM with the following information at the end of each quarter:

  • total number of MSFI accounts matched with obligor's listed on the OCSE file;
  • distribution of the matched data on a State by State basis; and
  • list of States that have agreed to pay a reimbursement fee for the data match, the reimbursement fee amount and the billing address if the MSFI elects to pursue cost recovery.

Last Updated: September 11, 2006