Late or Missed Payments

We know the payor may never fall behind in their support payments but if this happens there are consequences under BC law. BCFMA can:

• charge interest and default fees on late or missed payments
• report the payor to a credit reporting agency
• take collection action 

If the payor does fall behind, here are some options:

• contact us about a Voluntary Payment Arrangement
• consider changing the order or agreement

Voluntary Payment Arrangement

A voluntary payment arrangement is a plan developed between the payor and BCFMA where the payor agrees to pay the arrears in addition to making ongoing support payments.

To set up a voluntary payment arrangement, the payor needs to:

1. Complete an Income & Expense Form with a Payment Proposal Form (PDF 242 KB)
2. Attach supporting financial documents.
3. Mail or fax the forms to our office.

The Case Manager assigned to the case will review the payor’s payment proposal and let the payor know if it’s acceptable.

Credit Reporting

Credit reporting is a credit report document that BCFMA may send to a credit reporting agency (also called a credit bureau) when a payor is more than $2,000 behind in support payments. The credit report can remain part of the payor’s credit history for 6 years, even if the arrears drop below $2,000.

When would BCFMA take this step?

We may file a credit report if:

An order or court-filed agreement has been enrolled with BCFMA for more than 90 days

• The payor owes more than $2,000 in arrears
• We cannot reach a voluntary payment arrangement with the payor
• We have had no reply to our contact attempts

Before taking this action, we will:

• Send a notice to the payor offering a grace period of one month
• Work with the payor to develop a voluntary payment arrangement
• Suspend sending the report if the payor bring the arrears to less than $2,000 within the one month grace period

Credit reporting: quick facts

• The report will include the payor’s name, date of birth, address, phone number, social insurance number and amount of arrears
• Once it receives a credit report, the credit reporting agency will inform anyone authorized about the payor’s credit history
• We will send monthly updates to the credit reporting agency
• As the arrears are paid, the updates will show the balance going down
• We may file a new report if the arrears go over $2,000 again after the 6 year period ends
• If the payor’s order or agreement is withdrawn from BCFMA, the report may remain on the payor’s credit history for 6 years after the original reported date

Review of credit reporting

A payor can ask us to review their case if they believe they were less than $2,000 in arrears at the time we made the credit report. If we find the arrears were less than $2,000 (for example, if the payor made a payment we did not know about directly to the recipient), we will advise the credit reporting agency to erase the report.