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The Illinois Department of Human Services announced Monday it has signed an agreement to outsource management of court-ordered child-support payments. The department signed a five-year agreement with Affiliated Computer Services Inc., a Dallas-based company that will process transactions initiated with reloadable prepaid MasterCards, replacing paper checks. Comerica Bank, also based in Dallas, will issue the cards, says Ken Ericson, an Affiliated Computer Services spokesperson. The agreement eliminates the need for the state to mail child-support payment checks, which the department predicts will save it nearly $233,880 annually, Tom Green, the agency's spokesperson, wrote in an e-mail message to ATM&Debit News, a CardLine sister publication. The department makes one mailing per month, and the monthly mailings cost the state $19,490, Green says.
