Everybody’s gotta make their dollar!

You Can View More Information About Tennessee Child Support at My Other Blog:

http://mothercluckerblogger.blogspot.com/

Tennessee has a fairly new way of collecting child support. It used to work like this. The non-custodial parent of the child paid the child support, and then the custodial parent got a check in the mail. It was all very simple. But, alas, no more. A few years ago, Visa Card (aka JP Morgan/Chase) saw a hidden money maker. Someone at Visa said, “hmmmm…how could we tap into this child support thing..it’s an awful lot of money that we could sink our chops into!” And so was born the Visa Child Support Debit Program. Yes, that’s right, I received a letter one day stating that I would no longer be receiving a paper check in the mail, but a shiny, new, convenient plastic card. This card was supposed to make my life so much easier. I would receive my payments quicker, and a card is just so much more fashionable, right? Well, that’s not what happened…after I received my card, I found out that it was going to cost me 60 cents everytime I used the card. I have to pay anywhere from 2 – 4 dollars to get my money off the card. So needless to say, after Visa gets finished with my tiny child support check, I barely have enough money left to use it for anything. The icing on the cake came today, when I called to check my balance. I pressed 1 for English, and then received a recorded message telling me that from here on out I was going to be charged $1.70 everytime I call to check my balance. That would mean anywhere from $20 – $30 dollars a month, just to check my balance. This is absolutely highway robbery. I have no other choice but to have my child support placed on this card. To make matters worse, here in Tennessee, since I have never been on cash assistance through the State of Tennessee, and I have managed to fight tooth and nail to collect child support, I get punished. The State takes 25 dollars a year from my child support and redirects it to people who are unable to collect any child support and receive cash assistance. So…to make a long story short, the State of Tennessee and JP Morgan are making a killing off of people like me. I think that it is a shame, because these people know that we have no other option to receive our money. It is a monopoly on the child support program. It really burns my biscuits that some CEO at JP Morgan is living in a huge home, eating steak dinners, and taking luxury vacations with money collected from people who can barely afford a peanut butter sandwich. What’s next? Hey, I know, why don’t we figure out a way to use our child support for the giant automobile company bailout? By all means, let’s help make rich companies like JP Morgan even richer! Woo hoo! As for the State of Tennessee, shame on you! You could figure out a better way to help people who can’t collect child support. Here’s a good idea, HOW ABOUT STARTING WITH DOING YOUR JOB IN THE FIRST PLACE! Instead of making all of us who struggle to get what little we have pay for it instead. How about taking $25 dollars a year from the paychecks of government employees? How about that? No matter how you look at it, it really all boils down to one thing…everybody’s gotta make their dollar!