New child support website experiences 'bugs,' revamps payment system

MCALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Texas Attorney General's Office recently announced the rollout of its new child support website ChAMP, which stands for "Children are my priority." The website aims to modernize child support operations and replace a 30-year-old system.

Parents who pay child support, like Javi Dimas, say this was long overdue and shows that the state is finally embracing the technology to make sure parents are able to accomplish their payments on time and schedule them.

“When you have to go down to the office make a payment, one, stand in line, wait for your number to be called, and then make a payment," Dimas said. "Now, with the click of a phone, a couple of, you know, clicks, and you can make your payment. You can do it on your computer.”

Dimas says the new website is a far better tool than its predecessor.

“There was a couple of things that were hard to get," Dimas said. "One of them was like a running total, right? So just like an account balance, with the website, you can actually pull a history of all of your payments, which is really great. And then it also allows you to pre-schedule payments in advance.”

Dimas notes one small issue is that the website often prompts users to change their security passwords.

Attorney Savannah Gonzalez, who represents many child support clients like Dimas, says the system is a useful tool for both payers and payees; although, some early bugs have been detected.

“This new system is something that the clients will have much more access to in real time," Gonzalez said. "I cannot emphasize that enough, the old system didn't allow you to see a payment that was posted generally within the last two to three weeks. Perhaps you could see something of 30 days.”

Gonzalez adds that the system also helps her in court.

“The last thing you want is to be brought to court," Gonzalez said. "You're having to pay extra 1000s of dollars for an attorney and to prove that you did pay. This system allows you to log in, keep track of that and make sure that you're avoiding the possibility of an enforcement down the road.”

The new system also enables users and employers to update information directly from the website.

The office of Attorney General Ken Paxton says over 100,000 Texas employers now use the portal. Paxton's office also reports that they have processed 3.1 million payments totaling $614 million in support since the roll-out of the website.

The state is also implementing new changes starting in September, raising the amount parents must pay. Gonzalez says this will impact many local families, and the website will help them view those changes in real time.

“Currently, it's 20% for the first $9,200 and then 5% for each child thereafter, that guideline is going to go up," Gonzalez said. "So, we like to call it the cap that's going to be increased very soon.”