Using your EBT card safely

Shopping

At the checkout, swipe or insert your card and enter your PIN. SNAP pays for the eligible food, and you pay for anything else another way. USDA's retailer locator shows every store near you that takes SNAP, including farmers markets.

SNAP online shopping works in all 50 states and DC. You still enter your PIN online. SNAP pays only for the food, so delivery and service fees have to be paid another way.

Benefits you don't use

Whatever you don't spend carries over to the next month. If you don't use your card at all for a long time, though, you can lose the benefits. Your state can move them offline after a stretch with no use, after sending you a notice, and benefits in an account with no activity for 9 months (274 days) can be removed for good. Using the card even once in a while keeps the account active.

If your card is lost, stolen or damaged

Call your state's EBT customer service line right away; the number is on the back of your card and on your state's SNAP website. When you report it, the state must put a hold on the account and get you a replacement within 2 business days. Once you've reported it, the state is responsible for benefits taken after that. Your state may take a small replacement fee from your benefits.

Card skimming

Thieves sometimes put devices on card readers to copy EBT cards and drain the benefits. To protect yourself:

• Keep your PIN private and cover the keypad when you type it
• Check your balance often, and look at the card reader before you swipe
• Change your PIN regularly, and right away if you think it was seen
• Use your state's app, if it has one, to lock your card when you're not using it

If your benefits were stolen, report it to your state SNAP agency right away and ask whether they can be replaced. Federal replacement of skimmed benefits has ended, but some states replace them with their own funds.

Sources: 7 CFR 274, issuance and EBT, eCFR; SNAP online purchasing, USDA; SNAP retailer locator, USDA.