January 6, 2010

Supportkids the sequel..is there no end?

Just like Redhatty, I received the e-mail below today. OK, let me get this straight....Supportkids sold our contracts to RJBA, who then sold them to ParentFinancial Services, and they in turn reclaimed the original name Supportkids?? Whats really going on here?? Obviously RJBA and ParentFinancial were getting no where legally so they bought out Supportkids or was it just the name they bought? Im sorry, this is ridiculous and I cant believe its legal. RJBA didnt own my contract, neither did ParentFinancial. I think they are throwing out a line hoping someone will take the bait. It stated there was a direct deposit form attached, there wasnt. You've gotta give ParentFinancial some credit, they appear to be a little better with the smooth talk. However, my contract was sold in May to RJBA. I have the proof, which made our contract together null and void. I never signed up with RJBA nor did I sign up with ParentFinancial.

For those parents that really need this service, I wish you all the luck in the world. I, on the other hand, do not. I set up this website to put Supportkids out of business. I tried for many years to terminate their contract. I have a call out to my SK source to see what is really going on. The way she described SK was a company that had no idea how to figure out arrears and who kept no record of what was actually owed. I'm sending out another certified letter. I will be enclosing a copy of my original termination letter, a copy of the proof that my account was transferred via the letter from RJBA, and the certified receipt I got back. This battle is far from over. Did anyone else get this? And while your at it, check out this post by another unsatisfied customer.




January 6, 2010


Dear Lori,

We are delighted to inform you that Supportkids Services, Inc. is now the servicer (??) of your case.

What does this mean?

On December 22, 2009 your case was transferred from Richard J. Boudreau & Associates, LLC (they didnt own our contract to begin with) to Supportkids Services, Inc. (“Supportkids”). As the new servicer (is this even a real term?) of your case, we’d like to assure you that we will give you the dedication and attention that you deserve.

Who is Supportkids Services, Inc.?

Supportkids Services, Inc., formerly ParentFinancial Services, Inc.,(Did anyone actually get a letter from Parentfinancial, I only read about them in an article) has been in business for over eight years. We hired some of the best child support experts from Supportkids, Inc., who bring decades of knowledge in collecting and processing child support. We are solely dedicated to child support collection, and we are enthusiastic to begin working on your case.

Will I still receive my payments?

Our goal is to make this transition as seamless as possible. We have already begun processing payments and anticipate few delays, if any.

You will initially receive payments in the form of a check. We are in the process of setting up a new ADP Money Network pay card for you, and you will receive additional information regarding this pay card in the near future. If you previously had a pay card through Supportkids, Inc., all future payments from Supportkids will be placed on your new card. If you prefer to receive your payments by direct deposit instead, please complete and return the enclosed direct deposit form.( There was no form attached)

What do I need to do?

Since the agreement that you signed with Supportkids, Inc. remains binding, the only action that you need to take is if you want to change your payment option as outlined above.

How do I contact Supportkids?

· Email us at clientline@supportkids.com

· Call our automated IVR line at (512) 437-6025

· Call our live call center at (512) 437-6001 Mon-Fri 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. CST or Wed 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. CST

· Access your case information via the web at www.supportkids.com



At Supportkids, we pride ourselves on delivering results for our clients, and we are thrilled to be able to service your case.



Sincerely,

Supportkids Services, Inc.

Supportkids Services, Inc. P.O. Box 18988 Austin , TX 78760

Phone (512) 437-6001 Fax (866) 337-3387 www.supportkids.com



31 comments:

Keisha said...

I received the email today and my letter reads the same as the one listed. I live in CA and was able to get RJBA to stop taking any of my child support. However, when I read the letter I received today from Supportkids, I called the California Disbursement Unit to see when the last time I received a child support payment and it was today 1/6/10. I called my bank and the money was not there. I am hoping that the system just has not updated. The CA Disbursement Unit is closed for the day so I could not call to see if my bank account is still the one on file but I will call tomorrow. Has anyone who was able to receive their payments directly had any recent payment intercepted by this new Supportkids?

RedHatty said...

I wish I had good news for all affected by this recent action, unfortunately, I only have good news for Louisiana CSE clients.

I just finished speaking with my case supervisor. Louisiana will NOT deal with ANY 3rd party CS collection company, PERIOD.

If you live in Louisiana and have been through the SK, RJBA debacle 6 months ago & had your case reverted back to Louisiana, it WILL NOT BE CHANGED regardless of what paperwork they receive from SK Services.

Lori said...

I wouldnt panic just yet. All of the state organizations have a heads up about Supportkids. They were glad to see them go under. I sent out a letter to the new owners alont with proof of my termination. This is BS and I wont stop until the fight is over!!

Lori said...

Just another unsatisfied customer that I received a letter from today. She obviously hasnt seen the struggles we've already gone thru with Supportkids:

Hi, I am e-mailing as a frustrated single parent and consumer. I would like to make you aware of a company, Support Kids Inc. This is a private collection agency for past due child support. The problem that I am having with this particular company is that they scam single parents into contracts where they charge a fee of 475.00 in addition to a continuous fee ranging from 15 to 34 percent of the whatever funds are able to be collected until the child turns 18. My question is: IS THIS LEGAL/ ETHICAL? My ex-husband has not worked consistently for the previous three years. I already had an active case on file with the attorney general's office. My path crossed with Support Kids when the attorney general office did not have a current address for my ex-husband and therefore could not locate him in order to enforce my child support order. I contacted Support Kids and was told that they would be able to locate him and recoup any back child support that was owed to me, as well as enforce my current court order. They told me there would be a fee of 475.00 that would be applied once funds were able to be collected. This seamed reasonable to me at that time because I had not received any support payments for the previous 2 years. They were able to locate him on my behalf.. However, I was never informed about the 15 to 34 percent fee that would be with held from my support payments. In addition, I was never informed that the child support funds recovered would go to pay the 475.00 fee before I receive payments. To date I have not received ANY CHILD SUPPORT. All funds garnished from my ex-husbands wages have been sent directly to Support Kids( They recently received two payments in December totaling 160.00 and I received a check from Support Kids for 4.80) and will continue to be sent to Support Kids until the upfront $475 fee is paid. I have a copy of the contract I signed and NO WHERE in that contract does it mention the continuous percentage that will be withheld from my support payments. From this day forward the attorney general's office will send this company 15% of any child support received. This company stands to receive $6091.00 of money that is meant for the support of my daughter. Is there any advice on what I can do.Thanks

CrAzY Working Mom said...

It's horrible that we live in a country where single parents are being scammed like this! Why hasn't anything been done about it?!?!

MeLaNiE RyAn said...

Hello,

I don't understand this crap either! I thought I was done with Support Kids. I actually thought that I had a blessing happen to me over 6 months ago! But no, they are back in my life again.

I have asked my child support agency if this is legal, and they said that there was nothing that they could do.

I hate this stupid company. It's funny! They pull you in without telling you that you have to pay them while they sit on the butts and we have to find all the information. But then even after we find the information on the dead beat piece of sh**, they still can't do a thing to get the money.

Now after months of working with my state child support agency and the posibility of getting something done finally, SK comes back into the picture, just so I can start all over again and pay them to sit on the asses! This is so upsetting!

Lori said...

I received this response from my Supportkids insider:

LOL, I knew RJB would flop at this.. I told them that they would... What a bunch of idiots. I looked at the website, it looks like someone took over the whole Supportkids everything... phones, website all of it...I put feelers out and I can promise you this, I knew the best of the best at Support kids and NOT one of them has gotten a call back. I also noticed they took off the management team pages from the site...Those people were the best. None of the Million $$ money makers were called. Parentfinancial is an old company out of Dallas, been around for awhile and was trying to compete with supportkids... I got nothing good or bad to say about them at all. I think I applied to them once for work, but dont believe I talked to them. If Im remembering right, they only took TX originated cases. Actions to get them off the case is the same, and even the forms I provided are the same. your readers will have to fill them out again, only this time putting Supportkids and Parentfinancial. Before your readers would have put RJB on the forms. If you got the address change and filed the termination of power of attorney with RJB, now do it again because they will be putting in the new "old" forms back into the state. Hopefully this will be the last time since its back to SK again... At this point I would file using Supportkids Services/Parent Financial Services on all forms.

TELL ALL YOUR READERS NOT TO SIGN THE DIRECT DEPOSIT FORM!!! I JUST NOTICED IT ON THE EMAIL AND OPENED IT... IT AUTHORIZES THEM TO NOT ONLY DEPOSIT, BUT TO WITHDRAW MONEY FROM THE ACCT, IN CASE OF ERROR....YA , THEY NEVER MAKE ERRORS..DO NOT SIGN IT OR GIVE THEM YOUR CHECKING INFO!!

Georgene said...

This is some serious BULL!!! I cant even believe we are here again talking about these shenanigans being played by Supportkids or Supportkids Services, Inc...WHATEVER!! I live in NJ and was able to switch my address and all back to my current place of resd in NJ. I told my case worker in my county that Supportkids went out of business and I needed to get my stuff switched over ASAP! So they did. I just spoke to my case worker on Tuesday, Jan 12th, and she did not mention any sort of payment from him. But I will be calling tomorrow make sure that no one, even Supportkids, cannot change my information back to their address in Texas. lets see what will happen with this crap. There has to be someone out there that can check this out. Legally that are a lot of shady activities going on... to be continued..... ANGRY and DISGUSTED in NJ

Anonymous said...

SK defaulted on a loan and 20,000 cases were sent to RJB by the lender. When SK defaulted, the loans became property of the bank. Currently, these 20k contracts are either owned by the bank and are just being serviced by RJB or RJB bought them outright.

Supportkids filed a voluntary petition for liquidation under Chapter 7 of the federal bankruptcy code. A trustee came in and sold off every asset they had to pay their debts. Which means the contracts that ParentFinancial have were purchased from the bankruptcy trustee to pay what SK owed. Parentfinancial didn't buy Supportkids - they bought their assets (websites, phone numbers, etc along with the contracts), then they changed their name to Supportkids Services and moved to Austin and opened. Note - it isn't the same name.

When they filed Chapter 7, Supportkids had to stop all operations immediately and they went completely out of business.

Either Supportkids Services purchased an undisclosed amount of the 20k contracts that were sent to RJB or are contracted themselves to service them. Either way, Supportkids no longer owns any contract in any kind of way because they no longer exist.

While all the contracts differ, they all had a right to assign clause on it. That's the right to sell a contract and it has your signature on it.

Revoking the Power of Attorney should stop them from collecting, yes - but the contract itself isn't broken. They had to of broken the contract in some way other than it being sold because of that one clause that gave Supportkids the right to assign.

With all of that being said, I think Supportkids was a shady business with bad practices and I'm glad they went out of business. Good luck to everyone!

Lori said...

Thanks for the info!!:)

RedHatty said...

Everyone who reads Lori's blog should have, when SK transferred cases to RJBA, sent in a revocation of power of atty to 1) SK, 2) RJBA & 3) their state collection agency.

If you didn't, then get it done NOW.

While "legally" it may not break the contract, it does stop SK from the ability to collect your child support & leaves only your state as the authorized collector.

Let SK spend the $$ to take you to court to fight it. I will bet that they will not bother, it is a loss to them to do so, plus, they KNOW there is a very real chance that when it all comes out in the wash, the courts will tell them to step off too.

Go back through this blog to last years posts, we all documented the steps we took, and they worked!

Read those comments to the posts & follow the steps that apply to your situation.

You can beat this company, you just have to fight then the right way.

Lori said...

I WON!!!! I received a letter today stating that Supportkids has OFFICIALLY closed my case!! WOOHOO!!! That termination letter and years of struggles finally paid off. As far as I was concerned, It closed last May when RJBA took over. However, to get a letter from Supportkids made my day. I am so freakin jazzed!!!

lilbit221959 said...

Well, I think I have gotten the SupportKids/RJBA monkey off my back finally, time will tell. I have been trying for almost a year now to revoke RJBA's assistance on my case. A few weeks ago, RJBA sent me paperwork to revoke Supportkids authorization and authorize them as my payees, I filled out the paperwork revoking Supportkids authorization and did not fill out the new paperwork for RJBA and sent the revokation and my bank account info (for direct deposit) to Tallahassee and not back to RJBA so that the State of Florida Disbursement Unit no longer has authorization to send RJBA my payments, especially since RJBA can't legally even call my sons dead beat dad or have any kind of communication with him as Georgia protects their residents with laws that stop RJBA from contacting him. So my son and I have been calling and harrassing his father to get his money. So I don't see RJBA collecting any more of my sons payments, if the state of Florida follows laws and actually revokes Supportkids authorization as I refuse to sign up with RJBA since being ripped off by supportkids!!!!!!!!!! I will update more later to let ya'all know how this turns out.

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lilbit221959 said...

Whomever this Antoin is you need to go become a man of God to preach this is not the place

Lori said...

I agree lilbit, thats why I deleted them. Some people have nothing better to do. I tell everyone, if you have something to say...start your own blog. Obviously,they dont listen.

Lori said...

I WON!!!! I received a letter today stating that Supportkids has OFFICIALLY closed my case!! WOOHOO!!! That termination letter and years of struggles finally paid off. As far as I was concerned, It closed last May when RJBA took over. However, to get a letter from Supportkids made my day. I am so freakin jazzed!!!

lilbit221959 said...

RJBA is calling me daily, trying to get me to send them back my revokation for support kids and the authorization for RJBA so I took it upon myself to sign the revokation and throw away the RJBA authorization and send the revokation and a voided check to Tallahassee child support division so I will get my child support direct deposited from the STATE of Florida not RJBA, I believe I beat them at their own game...time will tell.

Anonymous said...

HEY FOLKS, ABOVE:

I hail from California, and a friend asked me to look into SupportKids, Inc. (for why, see your posts here!), and I got here by a simple "Google" search. I'm a mother who was pursuing child support years ago -- it was around $10,000 -- and the CS agency wasn't doing "squat" about it; in fact, I had to call local political leaders (or rather, a nonprofit who knew one or more of th em) to get them to even recognize there was, er, an "arrearage" that was affecting us. (am also a DV survivor, which meant we were already rebuilding from scratch right after separation). . . . .While the agencies stalled (I never did contact a private agency), and I was not on any social services at the time, the ex (& new girlfriend) simply snatched the girls on an overnight apparently satisfied the "powers that be" that all was now well in the world -- the courts got more business, and our kids just did without. Since then, I have had to go BACK onto a form of welfare, which is pretty annoying..

ANYHOW, this info might be helpful with you. If someone emails me privately (like blog author), I might give more basic info -- but it's available on Google. Also, we know there is a connection between movements in the family law arena and child support, child custody switching, and so forth. I wish I[d known that information years ago, and now advise women to do ANYTHING rather than go to a child support collection agency. Whether by government agency who contracts with private profits or nonprofits or (we now see, case in point) private agency, the risk of getting scammed is pretty high. And that time is likely to be wasted is not even a risk, it's a certainty, almost. . . . . . Some of this dates back to the 1990s and switches to TANF supposedly to go after deadbeat parents (like, Dads). This backfired, as a way was found to use that contact with the Dads to keep the litigants in virtually constant turmoil, and so forth (at least particularly in cases involving abuse or allegations of it). If this is too much for an initial comment, that's fine. I'm going to paste this chart into my comment, and afterwards, if it'll fit, the link. Good luck to y'all, and keep bloggin' !! This is from the TEXAS Dept of Banking -- banking~state~tx~us~ (etc.). (for "~" put a ".") >>>>>

http://www.banking.state.tx.us/asp/entities/respond.asp?entity=80&ename=&ecity=&ecounty=&status=active&Branches=Yes&Sort=city&Submit=Submit

Active Private Child Support Enforcement Agencies Download

(SORRY TO BE ANONYMOUS here...)

3J's Mommy said...

Hey all!!! Haven't been on here in awhile and for that I apologize. Well I did not receive an e-mail from RJB concerning my child support case. Indiana Child Support Office was not pleased with RJB and refused to send them any monies because they "RJB" would not send the proper documentation to Indiana. After not receiving any support for 6 months I finally started getting half the monthly payment, but it is coming directly from the State of Indiana. A bonus for now. I am waiting to see what happens now that I have read about this other company taking over. Hopefully the non-stop phone calls to RJB and revocation of POA & demanding termination of contract worked and I can wash my hands of this horrible ordeal. To those who still choose to use these services really look at all the trouble many of us have experienced here, and choose wisely!

lilbit221959 said...

I wrote a letter today to RJBA along with Revokation of Power of Attorneys for both Supportkids and RJBA it reads as follows:
I am writing you today to inform you that I am terminating your services, and that you are no longer authorized as limited power of attorney and have no authorization to my case, number 396298, XXXXXXXXXX of Rossville Ga, is the NCP and XXXXXXXXX is the custodial parent. I am also sending revocation of power of attorneys to you, DOR in Ocala, Florida Disbursement Unit and the State Attorneys offices in Ocala as well. You have no authorization from Georgia to even call, write or otherwise harass the NCP so you are collecting for services you aren’t allowed by Georgia law to do. I want my case closed as of the date you receive this certified letter or I will go forward with the State Attorneys offices to pursue charges of fraud against Richard J Boudeau & Associates LLC. Your cooperation in this matter is of grave importance.

I hope this will end my supportkids nightmare once and for all and I also will be calling DOR in Ocala where my child support case was held to change my address as I have been told to do in other blogs. Whomever anonymous is please email me at lilbit02021959@yahoo.com I would really like to discuss if I did this right.

Lori said...

Sounds good....I hope it works:)

lilbit221959 said...

In the state of Florida the Department of Revenue (DOR) collects our child support, and we have local child support enforcement offices, these are who we have to change our address with and it has to be in writing. I did this and sent them certified mail. I also sent a letter terminating RJBA/Support Kids contract and sent 2 notarized revocation of power of attorney certifed mail to RJBA/Support Kids, and also faxed a copy along with a copy of my drivers license. I also sent copies of all of this to the clerk of courts in the county that my child support case was decided in as well as a letter to the state attorneys office just in case to file fraud charges if RJBA/Support Kids touches another dime of my sons child support and RJBA/Support Kids are holding my 2/2/2010 payment I assume because I would not answer their calls or send in the paperwork they wanted to switch my case over to them from Support Kids as Support Kids bank acct was being closed 1/1/2010.
Now is where this gets interesting. RJBA is in New Hampshire abd Support Kids was out of Texas and all the clients are all over the U.S. so that makes this a federal case (intrastate commerse) and in Florida the Department of Revenue handles our child support which is a federal entity, so I am going to try to get my letter to someone at the federal level and see if we can't somehow file criminal and civil charges against them. As many women as I see on this blog we could most likely get someone to listen. Especially when RJBA/Support Kids is unable by law as collection agencies to use any collection proceedures in some of our U.S. states such as my sons fathers state of Georgia and both RJBA and Support Kids knew of this when they accepted the signed contract and all the money they stole from my son ie 475.00 initially and 34% of every other check while my son and I "aggressively" sought his child support! I am damn angry!

lilbit221959 said...

Ok here's another thing I found. On the bottom of your Authorization for release of information, that support kids had me sign in 2007 states that I may revoke this authorization at any time by submitting a completed Revocation of Authorization for Release of Information. I went online and found a form from the texas state attorneys office and changed the wording to have the State of Florida Disbursement used as the collector of our state money and on there you have to put who you are revoking authorization for and I put RJBA and their address and Support Kids and their PO box in Austin and faxed it to RJBA, the state disbursement unit and my local child support enforcement off ice in Ocala Florida. Now I know I have all the bases covered, it's just a waiting game to see what RJBA is going to do with it, and since ParentFinancial is taking over and renaming it support kids again I believe I have them whipped.

lilbit221959 said...

Today I contacted the local office of the FBI here in Florida. He took a report and is passing it further up the ladder, to see where it may lead. I have also contacted an attorney to file a class action suit against Support Kids aka Richard J Boudreau & Associates aka Parent Financial. What I need from all of you is names and contact info for the attorney to contact all of you so he knows there are more than me trying to file this suit it takes 4 people to file a class action suit and I know from reading here we have many more than that. As you may or may not know a class action suit the attorney doesn't collect unless we win it's just like a personal injury suit as far as payment. Lori if you read this and get others approval I need a list of all disgrutled clients who would like to get in on this suit to try to recoup money lost and damages as well.

lilbit221959 said...

Or you can contact me directly at lilbit02021959@yahoo.com. I really want to get these people for "stealing candy from our babies"!

lilbit221959 said...

I got a cancellation letter today from RJBA weeeeeeee hawwwwwww! They no longer handle my sons case and I got that monkey off my back!

Lori said...

My brother (who is disabled) has had great troubles in dealing with Supportkids.com since around 2000. Please feel free to send Class Action Suit info to me at LoriFCL@gmail.com that I may pass it along to him.