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I got my kids PEBT but it was only for 1 of my 3 kids even tho theyre all at the same school on the same lunch program??? Makee NO sense!
This is actually a common issue with the P-EBT 4.0 rollout. It's likely because the school submitted inconsistent data for your children. Call your school district's nutrition services department first to confirm all three children are properly coded in their system as free/reduced lunch participants. Then contact your county CalFresh office with this confirmation. They'll need to submit a correction request to the state.
Update: I decided to try Claimyr like someone suggested above. I was skeptical but it actually worked - got connected to a real person at my county office in about 15 minutes! The worker checked and said my kids' P-EBT benefits are scheduled for the second wave of distribution in early June. She said there was nothing wrong with our case, just that our district is in the later processing group. I'm still frustrated about the timing but at least now I know what's happening and can budget accordingly. Thanks everyone for the help and suggestions!
Does anyone know if the deposit time is the same every month too? Like does it always hit at midnight or can it come later in the day? Sometimes I check at 12:01am and nothing's there yet lol
In my experience, benefits are usually loaded very early in the morning on your assigned day - typically between midnight and 2am. If you check at 6am on your assigned day, they should definitely be there. I've never seen them come later in the day, but I suppose system issues could delay it occasionally.
Thanks everyone for all the helpful info! I checked my approval letter and my case number does end in 7, which matches up with when I've been getting my benefits. I'll mark the 7th on my calendar each month so I can plan better. This community is so helpful! 😊
This happened to me too!!! I kept checking my old card and getting mad that no money was on it. Then a new card came in the mail like 10 days later with all my benefits. So annoying they didn't tell me
I'll definitely keep an eye on the mail too, thanks for the heads up! Though the worker specifically said they'd use my existing card, so hopefully that's accurate.
When I call CalFresh they never answer anyways so good luck trying to figure it out lol
Thanks everyone for the helpful responses! I understand now that P-EBT is specifically for school-aged children who would normally receive meals at school, which is why my 6-year-old qualified but my baby doesn't. We already have regular CalFresh and WIC for the whole family, so we're covered. I appreciate all the clarification!
Ryan Young
Also, just to clarify how CalFresh works for new applicants: Benefits are prorated from your application date. So if you applied on July 30th, you'd only be eligible for 2 days worth of July benefits. For such a small amount, they often just add it to your first regular issuance. Check your approval letter - it should specify the exact benefit amount you're approved for monthly and any retroactive amount.
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Samantha Hall
•I just dug out my approval letter and you're right! It does mention my monthly benefit amount going forward would be $343, but there's nothing about any retroactive payment for July. I only applied on July 28th so maybe it was too small an amount to bother with? Anyway, I'm convinced now it's just my September payment coming early because of the weekend. Thanks for all the help everyone!
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Sophia Clark
my frend got double benefits once and spent it all and then they made her pay it back over like 6 months by taking some from each months benefits so dont spend it if ur not sure!!!!!
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Madison Allen
•While it's true that overpayments need to be repaid, in this specific situation, the OP is just receiving their regular September benefits a few days early due to the weekend. This is standard practice and not an overpayment. However, your friend's experience highlights why it's always good to verify unexpected deposits before spending them.
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