HARRISBURG – The Department of Public Welfare is alerting all Electronic Benefit Transfer card users that they will be unable to use their card beginning 11 p.m. Saturday, March 23, through noon Sunday, March 24.
The temporary outage is needed because of information technology changes as a result of a change of card vendors. The time was selected to minimize impact to cardholders because of transaction volume, DPW said.
Cardholders will not be able to make purchases with their card or access account information while the transfer is taking place.
The Electronic Benefit Transfer card, often referred to as the EBT card, is a blue card with yellow wording spelling out “ACCESS.” The EBT card may contain any of the following benefits: Food Stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or Medical Assistance.
Clients should be advised that after the transfer:
- Their benefits will not change;
- They can still use the same EBT card they have now;
- They will be able to shop at the same grocery stores and use the same ATM if they are eligible for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefit; and
- The recipient hotline number located on the back of the card will remain the same.
Beginning at noon on March 24, cardholders can go to www.ebt.acs-inc.com to access their benefit information.
The vendor switch will let the cardholder get benefits sooner, order replacement cards at any time and more easily replace a missing PIN number.
For more information, visit www.dpw.state.pa.us or call 1-800-692-7462.
