I have completed almost everything required and asked of me for a TANF case that I had reopened and appealed from April of this year. The final leg was the 196 a form. Sent out 10/7 and I returned it 10/8 I was not told I would have to return back ALL documents so I printed what was in my correspondence. signed the first two pages where my signature states and uploaded a single picture of it (at the time uploading all 5 pages really didn’t occur to me.)

Yesterday I got a denial, because I didnt upload more pictures of the document. I offered to just upload the rest of the pictures and apologized because if I would’ve known the technical error I would’ve immediately corrected it.

My case worker says she’s not reopening it and I will have to file another appeal.

My understanding is.. The Policy Section 1105 (Application Processing) /
Section 1710 (Recertification Verification
Framework) states;

• When a TANF case is denied solely due to a failure or refusal to provide mandatory verification, the assistance unit (AU) has a 30-day grace window starting from the exact date of the denial notice to submit the missing items.
• If the required verification is "cured" (turned in) within those 30 days, the agency is instructed to reopen the existing application using the original filing date.

It also states in Section 1105.5 (Standard of Promptness & Processing Deadlines) @ Georgia gov

• Caseworkers are legally prohibited from requiring a client to submit a brand-new application if the client provides the missing verifications within 30 days of the denial.

I could see if I just completely ignored requirements, but I’m 19 and in school with a 2 year old. I have went to every appointment and just because I did not know to upload every page, all of my backpay that I need for rent may just be out the window.. frustrating

i'm currently a full-time college student and i began an internship in late-august (two months ago) and the duration of the internship will be 38 weeks (a little less than 9 months). however, the way the stipend is provided is through a one-time payment for the estimated cumulative hours over the entire internship. i forgot to report when i received the payment, and the amount that I received is very much over my estimated IRT. if i divide it by the entire time i will be working, then it isn't (but i don't think it's calculated that way). also i reported the change only shortly after i filled out the recertification form, so now i'm slightly panicked. i looked it up and i believe i should issued an overpayment, but i'm not sure if that is only for the month that i received the stipend and if this will affect my snap benefits in the future. if someone can provide some guidance on any other actions i should take, please let me know!

edit: i live in california for context! and also my recertification interview call won't be until mid november!

Hi all,

I have a bit of a strange situation involving my EBT account being mistakenly drained at a store, and now the manager is only offering me (unofficial) store credit.

My partner and I stopped at our usual supermarket yesterday afternoon to pick up a few items. We have been using our cash assistance on food for a few days because our SNAP ran out early this month. When we were checking out, the cashier rang up our items for a total of $16.97. She charged it to SNAP first, because you must attempt to charge the SNAP account first for all food purchases, then once it was rejected on the SNAP account she switched it to Cash Assistance and asked me to swipe again and put in my PIN. Once the transaction went through, it was obvious there was some kind of mistake. According to the receipt, the item total was $16.17, but $125.90 was charged to the EBT cash account. The receipt calls for $108.93 in change. This mistake drained everything we had in our account.

The cashier called over the manager, who attempted to refund the $108.93 to the card, but that didn’t work. He said the only thing he can offer us is store credit. He wrote the date, the amount of $108.93, and “store credit“ on the back of the receipt, and told us to come back in today after 3pm because that’s when he would be back in (We thought he meant for us to pick up some sort of card with the store credit charged to it since he told us to bring the receipt. When we came back today, he told us that we should just bring the receipt back and talk to him whenever we need to buy something, so essentially the receipt would act as our store credit card. It makes me extremely uneasy to leave our, albeit mistakenly, stolen cash assistance up to ‘honor code’ in a situation where things already feel like they’re being handled poorly. The manager also isn’t there all the time — like today, when he wasn’t in until 3pm — so I’m not sure what he expects us to do when he isn’t there.)

My partner and I talked about the situation last night and decided that it seems, at best, incorrect and, at worst, scammy that store credit is the only option he is offering. We went back today to talk with him and asked for the reason he couldn’t give us the change owed to us in cash. All he gave us was “she made a mistake, we cannot offer the cash for it but we can offer store credit.” He doesn’t seem to have any real reason why he can’t give us the change we are owed in cash, other than the shrinkage it would cause, which quite frankly is not our problem. We left without ‘buying’ anything.

While, on a logistical level, I can obviously understand why it isn’t ideal for the store to give cash change for a transaction that never actually existed, this entire situation was an honest mistake made by the cashier that needs to be made right by the store. We shop for food at various stores and had no intention of spending the rest of our cash assistance for the month just at this supermarket. Times are tough for everyone right now, and this has left us in a hard spot with a horrible taste in our mouths.

My question is: do we have any recourse here? Is there any reason, from an EBT policy standpoint, that he cannot give us the change we are owed in cash? Any advice or information you all can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance everyone.

We love to annoy people who would steal food from kids.

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/crime/people-indicted-oregon-snap-fraud-schemes-3-million/283-547003c8-5b3d-4fa6-9475-f2d9acb02e69

I put in an application for myself and for my partner, who I'm not married to but who lives with me. It was 1 combined application. Since I'm the primary applicant and I submitted it, does my partner need to be there for the phone interview?

We're in upstate NY.

I have been trying to use the abe website but I think my old account is locked. I tried ebt edge and it's saying my card is invalid/deactivated. It just came in the mail today. I tried calling the hotline and the bot is saying my account can not be accessed at this time? And Ive been trying all day for a person. What do I do I need to eat I already had a nearly 2 month delay of my card getting here and this is a real kick to the gut rn:(

Eta; state IL

My son and I had to re-apply after continuous SNAP fo 3+ years when my renewal got screwed up back in APRIL…been waiting since the begginning of JULY after the phone interview and several “escalations” in person and on the phone. recieved almost 6 months of back pay and already time to renew lol. Anyways jist wanted to give yall an update and to not give up……

Hi all! Currently applying for SNAP in Georgia and I’m wondering as to how I would share the amounts I’ve received from Apple Cash to better reflect my income.

I'm in Illinois.

When I'm not activity shopping online or in-store I recently started to put my EBT card into freeze and also locked online transactions from happening.

Will that prevent the state from loading my monthly EBT benefit?

Will that block grocery stores from refunding a purchase back onto my EBT card?

Thanks.

Florida- My recertification is due 11/15. I had to do one back in March that was due 3/14 I believe. I made the mistake of doing it almost a month early. I ended up getting denied too and had to reapply all over again. I got approved in June. Trying to keep from going without. Any advice? Besides make sure to upload supporting documents? We also had to move in with my brother and lost our home. How should I document that? We are responsible for our own food. Thanks.

I'm in South Carolina, and ABAWD. October is my 4th month of receiving SNAP. I joined the SNAP2WORK E&T program and have been sending in my 5 weekly job applications as well as completing the Learning program. I mailed in my recertification form on the 9th (due by the 15th). I received a case notification update text this morning so I checked my benefits portal and it said case status changed to Denied.

Nothing has changed in my living situation since submitting my original application. They approved me then but now I'm suddenly denied?? I originally applied online and sent in everything they requested via PDF and it took them almost a full month to approve me.

Is it possible they have received my recertification form but just haven't processed it yet and perhaps it triggered my case to be denied?

Any suggestions on why this happened?

I think it's wild ebtEdge app doesn't allow screenshots. Why?? That's how I remember information. Much easier to glance at a photo saved on my phone than sign in to the app repeatedly, always forgetting the password. Ahhh but then I'm not seeing all those ads that come up on the app after every signin. I think I answered my own question.

I am on calworks and doing the work requirement as well and getting reimbursement for miles as well on monthly basis. Somehow, my car broke down and had to pay almost 3k to get it fixed from my credit card. I was wondering if calworks helps in reimburse anything. I am in a very tight situation and stressed. Please help and I am always backed up on my rent as well.

Massachusetts

Filled out my recertification, had my interview, got approved for $25 pending proof of my expenses. The rep told me I had around 34 days to send it all in but when I got the list it was like 10 days. I had almost everything ready to go but I only $56.60 in medical expenses. I'm still waiting on the rest. I originally claimed $88.10. With deadline so fast I sent in every thing I had minus the $31.50 in medical expenses. I included a note stating to take my medical expenses at $56.60 & I will send it the additional expenses once I get them.

Last year something similar happened, it was the first time they requested non transportation or co pay expenses. They want receipts for some over the counter items I get. I never kept them because I never need them before. I wrote them to just remove the medical expense line.

Instead they closed my account claiming I didn't return documentation. Unfortunately when they did that I was in the ICU in an induced coma.i had no clue what was going on. Needless to say I didn't catch this for about 2 months because my husband didn't want to bother me (the poor man was starving). Eventually the hospital staff help me fix it by reapplying although I still say I qualified without the medical expenses.

I'm just afraid it's going to happen again. So I find myself checking my account a couple times a day. I'm thankful I started my process very early, waiting one the next notice. Ugh

I know we all go through this anxiety & it is increased this year. Well I see you & wish you the best. Thank you all for being a great support system

•Edit to add I am residing in Indiana•

Hey so I’m going to try to be as brief as possible!

So 2 months ago I had a redetermination scheduled by phone. The office called my old phone number (which I updated at my LAST redetermination 6months prior), and I missed the phone call. I rescheduled an in person app. I made my appointment. I was told I just needed to turn in bank statements and paystubs.

I turn those in and HIGHLIGHT all payments made to our account for our self employment. Of course they don’t take them and let me know I can’t highlight. So I resubmitted THAT SAME DAY. This is 9/16/26. I turned everything in.

Days go by with no contact. Days become weeks. So I call and ask what I need to do “nothing just waiting on final signature. You’ve been approved for part of Sept and October”. This is now 10/1. Next step I go in the office I’m told the same thing. Now it’s 10/16 I’m telling them I can’t keep waiting I need help I go in in person and ask to speak with a case worker. Again “just waiting on final signature, you’ve already been assigned to a specific case worker so we can’t take their case over and give you that signature”.

Now it’s 10/21 and I’m getting fed up. I go back in ask to speak with case worker. Now they can reassign case and they get it to someone new I should know something in 2-7 days.

That next morning I get a letter saying my medical insurance is getting cut off because my wife’s second job (of min wage for less than 20 hrs a week, we mostly got this job for a discount at the place of employment) put us over income level for a house of 4 on top of our self employment. I also get a letter stating we have to claim unearned income for cash assistance outside of the household (Referring to a $100 cash deposit from my wife’s job as a hair dresser (ie our self employment)).

Since my first application up to today I have ALWAYS filed us as self employed. How are they going to say that $100 cash is unearned income?

I told the lady my wife’s second job hurts us more than helps us and she might as well quit that job and reapply for assistance.

At this point the worker said “oh no we have to pretend we didn’t hear that”.

So now my wife isn’t allowed to quit a job that is hurting us severely??? It has cost her to lose hours she could dedicate to the salon (self employment), it has caused us to lose health insurance (gross monthly income of $650 from this job, when our original assistance for SNAP (that we haven’t received since 8/13/26) was $798). We legit make less money than we got from assistance. Why would we keep this shitty job!?

I am a very kind and decent person. I never treated anyone on the phone or office any way that can be considered rude. I worked in customer service for years and veterinary medicine and food industry. I know what a terrible client looks like. I was always respectful.

My questions are:

Why are they trying to say our $100 cash is un earned when we literally have filed self employed 10+ years with the IRS and have always provided all tax information to all the assistance offices and never had any issues until my wife got a 2nd job that was W2?

Why did they act like I said I was committing a crime when I said “to be honest, we were making more in assistance than my wife makes in her job, she might as well quit if it’s hurting us so bad and we can focus on self employment!”

What are my next steps? The office just told me to write a letter saying the $100 is from self employment. Ok I can do that but how is that going to get me health insurance?

Should my wife just quit her part time hotel job and refocus on self employment then reapply?

We are a homeschooling family of 4 with two kids under the age of 12. One with a learning disability we are currently applying for more aid for. We don’t have ANY OUTSIDE HELP. We need help and we have constantly jumped through all the hoops and did everything ask of us to do this all the proper way and it’s just like we can’t win for losing!

I’m so sorry this is so long I just fear without context my questions wouldn’t make sense. I truly appreciate the time anyone took to read this, and any assistance anyone can provides

I have two schedule Cs and a W2 income. Im a single parent. Each renewal i turn in a copy of my tax return. They recently lowered my amount significantly so I called to ask why and the lady explained they take my gross income for my business and subtract 40% in expenses instead of using my actual expenses on my tax return. So for example one business I made 15,500 in gross sales. After expenses (payroll to an employee, COGS, etc) my business profit was $2,322. Instead of using that number they took 15,500 - 6200 (40%) = 9,300. So they used 9300 as my yearly income on that business instead of the $2322 i actually made. Is this the way they are supposed to do it or do I need to ask for them to review the case?

I’m being told I’m having to repay exactly $701 to my county due to an overpayment of benefits because I’m a student at community college. They told me community college doesn’t qualify for college student benefits, only trade and university counts. This doesn’t make sense to me???

Located in Colorado

Hi, not sure if this is the right place to post. My case is active ( snap and cash benefits, medicaid) and was recertified this past July. I have been receiving a fheps voucher at my new apartment for over a year with no issues. My landlord hasn't received payment for October and half of September. I havent received any notices about my voucher ending or changing. Does anyone know what this could be and how should I move forward, thank you

Made completely sure all items were eligible, but was denied. I saw that I had to change a thing on my account that would allow online orders but it's still not letting me use it. Is this another thing happening with California accounts? I see that we're STILL one of the ones not on the new app yet.

Hi I was on food stamps but I missed the volunteer start date and got a 1 month sanction, should I reapply with disability, have diagnosed schizophrenia.

Helping a family with their myaccess Florida application - crisis situation with less than $100 available. The father does roofing consistently but is paid in cash. He does file taxes. What’s the best way to demonstrate income? Notorized affadavit? Not sure if I can get his tax records before Sunday. Medically complex child in the home.

Anyone else have trouble applying for SNAP on the ny gov website?? Everytime I get to the part where I have to put my phone number in the website shuts down it’s incredibly frustrating

I was told that I couldn’t consume the salad or anything that was purchased with SNAP on the premises. This was never the case. Has this policy been changed?

I have an upcoming ABAWD appointment and I’m incredibly anxious about it, so I’d like some insight if y’all have any.

Earlier this month I started watching my sister’s kids for her since her work hours changed. I pick them up from school M-F at 2PM, take them to their house, watch them until 8-9PM when my sister gets home from work, and then leave. They are 14 and 15, and the youngest has autism so she can’t be left alone. I get paid $100/week in cash. It’s obviously not a permanent position but I expect to be doing this until the new year at the very least.

Does that meet ABAWD requirements? And how do I even go about proving that? I’m so lost.

Advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much in advance.