FCR Conference Call: Results of SVES One-Time Match with OCSE Debtor File

February 9 and 10, 2005

Publication Date: April 13, 2005
Current as of:

Participating States

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Purpose of the call

On February 9 and 10, 2005, the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) conducted conference calls with the states to discuss the results of the one-time match between the OCSE Debtor file and the SSA State Verification and Exchange System (SVES). The agenda for the calls included the following topics for discussion:

  • Status of income withholdings
  • SSA expected processing timeframes
  • Documents SSA has received other than income withholdings
  • Economic analysis and evaluation of the data
  • State progress on processing the match results.

Status of Income Withholdings

OCSE has received approximately 7,800 income-withholding documents to date. Approximately 1,000 - 1,500 income-withholding documents are received per week at the central collection post office box that was set up specifically for this one-time match.

SSA Expected Processing Timeframes

Once SSA receives the income-withholding notices, payments are generally sent to the requesting state within two months. At this time, SSA is not able to transmit collections electronically, so each payment will be a paper check. In answer to a question about changes in the entitlement amounts, the SSA representative reported that SSA benefit amounts increased approximately 2.7% at the beginning of 2005.

Documents SSA has Received other than Income Withholding

Some documents, other than income-withholding notices, are being sent to the post office box. States should take steps to prevent this, as these documents are not processed by SSA and states will experience a delay while the documents are returned to them or forwarded to an SSA District Office. Furthermore, states should not staple their income-withholding documents or use highlighter pens. Both actions cause problems in SSA’s automated processing of documents.

Economic Analysis and Evaluation of the Data

OCSE’s Economic Analysis (EA) team discussed efforts to gather data and analyze the results of the match. The EA team would like to work with any state able to provide information on the number of matches received, the number of income withholdings sent to SSA and the amount of the collections. During the calls, representatives from Washington, Iowa, Wisconsin, Alaska, and Oregon volunteered to work with the EA team. Other states will provide data to their respective State Technical Support Liaison as it becomes available.

State Progress on Processing the Match Results

States representatives shared their progress to date in processing the SSA garnishment match data. The following matrix provides information on each state’s progress.

State Progress   State Progress
Alabama Distributed lists to counties with results from three. 30 IWNs sent. Several of these to Responding states.   Montana Received 84 matches. 29 IWNs sent. 39% of matches were open interstate cases.
Alaska Had 288 matches. 234 IWNs sent. 30 sent to Responding states.   Nebraska Still researching.
Arizona No results to report.   Nevada Distributed to counties. Second largest office already sending IWNs.
Arkansas     New Hampshire 19% under order. 1 died. State gets SVES through TANF.
California Distributed to counties. One consortia system will process automatically. Not sure about the other.   New Jersey IWN’s will begin being sent in about 1 month.
Colorado 44% were already paying cases. 38% eligible for IWNs. 34% IWNs sent.   New Mexico  
Connecticut No results to report.   New York 98% are new reports of income for IWN.
DC Working cases and researching interstate.   North Carolina 54% resulted in IWN. Some cases were already known as SSA recipients.
Delaware No results to report.   North Dakota 54% already have IWNs in place.
Florida * Already sending some. Should begin sending most IWNs in one month.   Ohio  
Georgia     Oklahoma  
Guam     Oregon Centralized operation. 9 cases with existing IWN. 33 new IWNs for $9600.
Hawaii No results to report.   Pennsylvania 3 to 4 weeks before IWNs will be sent.
Idaho No actions taken.   Puerto Rico Distributed to counties last week. No actions yet.
Illinois * 54% completed. Sent 2,200 IWNs.   Rhode Island Process beginning. Hampered by being a totally judicial state.
Indiana     South Carolina 109 referred to Courts. 38 garnishments sent so far.
Iowa 36% already under withholding. IWNs sent on others. Doris has details.   South Dakota  
Kansas No actions taken yet.   Tennessee 1,223 IWNs submitted. Maintaining a report. Of 78 cases, 23 IWNS resulted and 9 CPs referred to SSA.
Kentucky No results to report.   Texas In process of developing method to handle matches.
Louisiana     Utah 39 matches. They already had IWNs in place.
Maine     Vermont  
Maryland     Virgin Islands  
Massachusetts Have begun the process. No results to report.   Virginia  
Michigan IWNs will begin going out within the next two weeks.   Washington Completed the project. 162 IWNs. 50% are getting payments.
Minnesota Completed the project using automated system process set up for SVES.   West Virginia Central Process. No results to report.
Mississippi Have sent 150 of 1,300 IWNs.   Wisconsin Completed Project. 800 IWNs.
Missouri     Wyoming Sent reports to district offices. No results to report.