Michigan currently collects 71 percent of child support owed. But the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services hopes to increase that rate by making it easier for parents to pay child support.
Parents will be able to pay child support in cash at any 7-11 or Family Dollar in Michigan for a convenience fee of $1.99.
The service is offered through Pay Near Me and is a nationwide method of paying child support using 7-11 and Dollar General.
Erin Frisch is the director of the Office of Child Support. She says the new method will hopefully make paying child support easier for parents.
“We look at this as a good opportunity for another way, convenient, easy way, for parents to support their children in Michigan and anywhere in the country, actually,” she said.
The new service starts Monday.
Bob Wheaton, a spokesperson for MDHHS, says the new method is especially beneficial for people without checking accounts or credit cards.
“It also is beneficial to the children and anything we can do to make it [easier] for them to receive their child support payments means that they’ll receive their payments, they’ll receive them more quickly,” he said. “And they’ll have the financial support that they need and deserve.”
