California CalFresh
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Can't reach California CalFresh? Claimyr calls for you, so you don't have to wait on hold.
Claimyr is a pay-as-you-go service. We do not charge a recurring subscription.
Using Claimyr will:
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- Redial until on hold
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What time do CalFresh benefits get loaded onto EBT card each month?
Does anyone know wat exact time benefits show up on EBT card? Its the 10th and im supposed to get my calfresh today but nothing on my card yet. Do they load at midnight or during business hours? Im trying to meal plan for the week n need to know when I can go shopping!
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Only $120/month CalFresh for family of 8?! How are bigger households supposed to survive?
Just got my recertification letter and I'm in complete shock. County is only giving us $120/month for CalFresh and we're a family of 8! That's like $15 per person for an entire month of food. How is that even possible? I reported everything honestly - our income, rent ($2800/month), utilities ($350), medical expenses for my mom who lives with us ($495/month), childcare costs for the younger kids ($1200). We're already struggling with gas prices at $5.50/gallon for my commute, car payment went up, and my daughter's medical bills are piling up. Our family is ALWAYS in the negative by the end of each month, and we're already cutting corners everywhere. Does anyone know how benefit calculations work? Are there any expenses I'm not reporting that could help increase our benefits? This just seems impossibly low compared to what other families get.
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i tried Claimyr yesterday after seeing it mentioned here and it actually worked! after 2 weeks of trying to reach my worker i got through in like 20 minutes and got my case fixed. definitely worth checking out if ur getting nowhere with the regular phone number
Thanks for the recommendation! I'm going to try calling one more time the regular way tomorrow and if that doesn't work I'll give Claimyr a try. At this point I just need to talk to someone who can fix this calculation error.
UPDATE: I just saw your comment about your mom being 67 and having a disability. This is very important! Make absolutely sure her medical expenses are being counted. For elderly or disabled household members, medical expenses over $35 per month are deductible for CalFresh purposes. With $495/month in medical costs, that's a deduction of $460 from your countable income. Also, for a family your size, missing the housing costs is a huge error. The difference between $900 and $2800 in housing costs could easily explain why your benefits are so low. When you do reach someone, ask them to recalculate your benefits with the correct expenses and request retroactive benefits for any months you received the incorrect amount.
Thank you! I finally got through this morning after trying that service someone mentioned. The worker found THREE major errors in my file. They had our rent wrong, missed mom's medical expenses completely, and had our income calculated incorrectly (they double-counted one paycheck). She's fixing everything and said our benefits should be closer to $1,100/month which makes WAY more sense for our situation. They're also giving us the difference for last month! I'm so relieved 😭
CalFresh EBT account drained AGAIN - can we start a petition against county's poor card security?
Just had my CalFresh benefits completely wiped for the second time this year! I waited 32 days to get my benefits restored last time, and now I'm facing the same nightmare again. My family had to borrow money for groceries while the 'investigation' dragged on. This is getting ridiculous - the county clearly isn't implementing proper security measures for our EBT cards. When I asked about switching to direct deposit instead of the vulnerable EBT card, I got nothing but excuses and bureaucratic runaround. Nobody wants to use these insecure cards that the county refuses to properly protect! Has anyone successfully fought back against this? I'm thinking we need to organize somehow - maybe a petition or a class action? There has to be a way to force them to take our benefit security seriously. Anyone else dealing with this or have ideas for how we can collectively get their attention?
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my sister had this happen and she got her benefits back in like 5 days. just depends which county worker u get i think. some r nice some r not.
Just to follow up on the petition idea - while petitions alone may not solve the problem, documented cases help advocacy organizations fight for policy changes. The California EBT Cardholders Rights Group (search for them on Facebook) is collecting theft reports to present to the legislature. They've already helped push through the recent security improvements coming in 2025. Send them your case details if you want to contribute to systemic change.
Thank you for this! Just found and joined the Facebook group. They have nearly 3,000 members all dealing with the same issue. I feel less alone now and it's good to know there are already organized efforts underway. Going to document everything this time and share my case details with them.
Unexpected September CalFresh payment on 9/4 - early deposit or back benefits?
Confused about an extra CalFresh deposit! I applied at the end of July and got approved for August benefits, which loaded on my EBT card as expected. Then yesterday (9/4), I checked my balance and there's another deposit for almost the same amount as August! My regular issuance date is supposed to be the 7th of each month according to my approval letter. I'm trying to figure out if this is just my September benefits coming 3 days early, or if it's some kind of retroactive payment for part of July (since I applied late July)? Or could it be a duplicate August payment by mistake? I don't want to spend it if it's an error they'll make me pay back later. Has anyone experienced something similar with their CalFresh timing?
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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.
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!
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!!!!!
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.
Got P-EBT for my 6-year-old but not 3-month baby - will benefits come separately?
So I just received a P-EBT card in the mail today for my 6-year-old (name starts with I). The card had about $650 loaded which is really helpful! But I'm wondering if my 3-month-old baby should also qualify? Will they send a separate card for the baby or should both kids be on the same card? I don't remember selecting anything specific during the application process about how benefits should be distributed. Has anyone with multiple kids experienced getting P-EBT cards at different times?
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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!
Ella Harper
update: my benefits just loaded! it was 12:14am when i checked lol. thanks everyone for the help it was driving me crazy
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Daniel Rivera
glad u got it! happens to me every month i get all nervous lol
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Molly Hansen
Off topic but does anyone know if the IRT (Income Reporting Threshold) went up for 2025? I just got a small raise and I'm worried I might be over the limit now and need to report it before my next SAR7. I know this isn't related to benefit deposit times but I don't want to start a whole new thread.
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Sophie Footman
Yes, the IRT amounts did increase for 2025. For a household of 1, it's around $2,850, for 2 it's about $3,510, and for 3 it's approximately $4,360. These are rough figures - the exact amount should be on your last approval notice. Remember you only need to report before your SAR7 if your income goes over your specific IRT limit.
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