SNAP Benefits Update: EBT Payments Outage Resolved in Some States, But More Are Still Dealing with the Massive Problem

A nationwide SNAP outage has been reported across the country, with more than a million people failing to make EBT payments for their purchased goods at retail stores.

Among the states that have experienced SNAP outages include Massachusetts and South Carolina, with their respective agencies managing SNAP benefits reporting that customers were unable to access their EBT cards, according to a FOX 29 News report.

Down Detector noted that on August 30 at 12:11 a.m., a total of 586 SNAP outage reports were recorded. By 7:41 a.m., it went down to 206 SNAP outage reports.

The South Carolina Department of Social Services tweeted on Sunday that it was experiencing EBT payments issues due to a "third party processor outage," which affects multiple states. Later that day, the DSS noted that all systems were restored after resolving the processing issues.

Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance also said in a tweet that their EBT card processing was affected but was resolved later on.

SNAP Outage and EBT Payments

Cincinnati, Ohio also experienced SNAP outages and issues when making their EBT payments. The outage of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program also affected the Ohio City's Findlay Market, wherein vendors said that there was no warning about the SNAP outage, adding that they had to turn away customers that did not have cash.

One vendor, Roth Product owner Dario Guintini, said that half of his business comes from people who use EBT payments. Guintini added that it was the worst Sunday record he has had in the three years he has owned the place, as reported by WLWT News report.

The store owner said that he did not get an email or call. He added that he even called his merchant supplier, and they did not know that it was down.

Guintini said that people who use EBT payments to procure their goods make up 60 percent of his business. He said that he had turned customers away while giving them one or two items, but he cannot give away everything.

Ohio's third-party EBT vendor was Conduit INC, which had an outage on Sunday. It was restored midafternoon.

Pennsylvania also faced issues with its EBT payments, with 1.8 million residents locked out of their SNAP benefits.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a Pennsylvania Human Services Department spokesperson noted that the office was aware of the outages. However, they do not know the cause of the issue.

IT company Conduent administers the EBT card system in the state, among several others.

Sean Collins, vice president for external communications for Conduent, said that they have managed to successfully restore all impacted services.

SNAP Benefits Update

Some states will receive extra SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, in September.

The list of states to provide financial aid in September 2022 include Oregon, Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, among others, according to a MARCA report.

SNAP benefits can be used to buy food, including fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy products, bread, snack foods, and other non-alcoholic beverages.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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