Child Support Enforcement Stole from Me!

by Tony Miranda
(Rochester, NY)

I have recently encountered some problems with the New York State Child Support enforcement team.
I am going to explain this in depth in hopes that someone can give me help or legal advice on what I
should do.

So to begin, I owed Child Support a little over $500 and did not know this. I never received
a letter or call notifying me that I was behind. I had recently started a new job at a restaurant and gave them my Child Support information along with notifying Child Support that I was employed with a new company and the address there.

So a few weeks later I receive a notice in the mail stating that I owed a little over $500 and that my Bank Account would be seized if I did not reach an agreement with Child Support in 15 days.

Well 3 days passed and my bank account was put on hold. But it wasn't for a little over $500 because my bank doubles the amount for legal holds on the account. This prompted me to
call Child Support immediately. I talked to a customer rep and explained that I was given 15 days and why did they already go in and hold my account?

The customer service rep could not help and told me I could fill out a form if I felt the amount was not right or I was wronged in this process. Well I received the form 3 days later, filled it out and called for an email address to scan it and send it.

Now this form had all my private information in it. (SS#, bank account info, etc......) I was told there is no email address and I had to mail it or fax it. Fax? It's 2012 and I have to fax? So apparently a state funded govt. agency doesn't
have email? So I faxed and mailed the letter and was contacted again and was told to supply more info regarding my bank account.

Meanwhile while all this was happening my employer was paying my overpayment amount due to Child Support used to get me caught up on what I owed. Also while my bank account is on hold, I can't pay any of my bills, including my rent.

So a month goes by and the hold is finally
released and I was told they were taking $722 out. I don't know where this number came from. I don't know how it even got to that when I was paying over the amount of a regular payment. They took the amount and all was done supposedly.

Well I was forced to vacate my NYC apartment, move back home to Rochester, NY and i now live with my daughter and her mother. My final work paychecks still payed over the normal limit which was $56/week. My employer was paying out $84/week.

Also I had a second part time job and
when I quit I was payed a check for vacation pay and $67 was taken out for Child Support from that. All this money was taken out after the $722 was taken from me. I called Child Support to find out how much they now owed me and found out it was $238 which didn't even sound right and I don't know how they came up with that low number.

Anyways I demanded I get refunded the amount and they agreed and I thought all was done. I now
work here in Rochester, and notified child support immediately of that as well. Well I get my check in the mail and to my surprise it is for $14.05?

I called them up again and this time it says I have $179 in credit? I asked why I have a check for $14 when I am owed over $200 and was told they have the right to hold my funds.

Now my questions are, How is this not theft? How is this not negligence? How is that a company can go into my personal bank account and take what they want and not refund me when they clearly made a mistake?

I am just a father actually trying to work hard at paying my child support and have done all the right things only to be treated like a person that is running from it.

I believe this is harassment and am embarrassed that this is happening. Basically my hard earned money was stolen and I'm being told that I can't have it back. Is there any legal action I can take against them for this?

I have called numerous times and when I get called back the person has no email or phone number that is handling my case?

I just don't understand how this can be? Can someone help me out here?