Michigan Now Accepts Child Support Payments at Retail Locations

In a change announced this week, Michigan will now accept child support payments at nearly 20,000 retail locations across the country.

On Wednesday, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and its Michigan State Disbursement Unit announced they are launching a partnership with electronic payment provider PayNearMe® that allows parents to make their child support payments with cash at more than 550 Michigan and 17,000 nationwide participating 7-Eleven® and Family Dollar® stores.

“Michigan is committed to offering child support customers a variety of convenient options to make their payments. We are continually adding innovative services that respond to customer preferences and needs,” said Erin Frisch, director of the Office of Child Support within MDHHS. “If we make this process more convenient, children will receive the support that they need and deserve more quickly.”

Parents can:

1. Visit the misdu.com website and select the “Cash Payment” option.
2. Enter requested account information on the PayNearMe website.
3. Select whether they want the payment code sent to their phone or printed out.
4. Choose from the list of payment locations closest to them.
5. Visit the store and provide both the payment code and cash to the cashier.

Customers pay a $1.99 convenience fee and PayNearMe payments can take up to three business days to post.

The Michigan State Disbursement Unit within the MDHHS Office of Child Support, known as MiSDU, is the state’s centralized payment processing center for collecting and distributing support payments. In 2015, the Michigan child support program collected and paid $1.36 billion in child support, with $1.2 billion sent to families.

While a majority of payments made to MiSDU are made by employers on behalf of their employees, a significant number of non-custodial parents still pay on their own. Customers can pay online, by phone or by mail using a credit card, check or money order.

This new service offers a way to pay child support with cash at a participating retail locations anywhere in the nation.