Have unpaid child support? Your stimulus check will likely be impacted

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says stimulus funds are subject to garnishment if people are not up to date with child support payments.

While tax debts and defaulted student loans won’t reduce the amount received, the money remains subject to state and local government garnishments and court-ordered garnishments.

The policy is negatively impacting some who said they were garnished more than they should have when they made recent payments to catch up on owed child support.

WTVG reports Dan Skeens of Ohio and his wife Jayne should’ve received a combined $2,250, but they received less than $700.

“We don’t have a problem paying. That is not the issue at all. The issue is them taking it twice,” Jayne Skeens said. “It’s frustrating that no one anticipated that this would be an issue and had anything in place. And then when it is an issue, there’s absolutely not one person that you can talk to.”

Dan Skeens was at one point behind roughly $1,700 on child support payments, but they said they had cut that down to $150. The couple believes the bureaucracy was behind in reporting the recent payments before the stimulus funds were allocated.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s office has encouraged Ohioans with questions or concerns on stimulus checks to contact his Senate office directly