March CalFresh benefits not showing up in EBT provider app - what's going on?

mine didnt show up either this month!! thought it was just me. did u check ur actual card balance by calling instead of just the app? sometimes the app is glitchy

This happened to me back in January. It turned out there was a verification document they needed but the notice got lost in the mail. Check if you've missed any Semi-Annual Report deadlines. Your SAR7 might have been due in February for your March benefits. If you missed submitting it, they would discontinue benefits without the app necessarily telling you why.

THE COUNTY DOES THIS ALL THE TIME!!! They "lose" your paperwork or "forget" to process your case and then BOOM - no food money for your kids! I bet if you call they'll say "oh we sent you a notice" but they NEVER DID. My worker does this CONSTANTLY. The system is designed to make us fail and then they blame us. I'm so tired of fighting with them every other month just to feed my family!!!

Before panicking, check BenefitsCal.com to see if there are any pending notices or actions needed on your case. You can see the status of your benefits there. Also, in 2025 benefits are issued based on the last digit of your case number, so if your case number ends in a higher digit (like 8 or 9), your benefits might just be scheduled for later in the month than you're used to.

No, you don't need to reapply from scratch! Since it's been less than 30 days since discontinuance, you can submit your SAR7 late and request what's called a "restoration of benefits." Download the SAR7 form from BenefitsCal, fill it out completely with all your income information from January, and submit it ASAP. Include a note explaining why it was late (kids being sick is a valid reason). The county should restore your benefits, though there might be a processing delay.

I had a similar issue last year when my benefits randomly disappeared. Found out that sometimes they need income verification even if you've been consistent. My neighbor said the same thing happened to her but with her Medi-Cal not CalFresh... she had to take a whole day off work just to go to the county office to straighten it out. The system is so frustrating! Have you tried connecting with anyone at the county office yet?

I recently discovered a service called Claimyr that helped me get through to a CalFresh worker when I was in a similar situation. Instead of waiting on hold for hours, they place the call for you and call you back when they reach a real person. Saved me literally hours of frustration. Their website is claimyr.com and they have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/eZ19FHRETv8?si=_CXnXqNXbLl26WB8. This was way better than taking time off work to visit the office in person.

Just to be 100% clear for anyone in a similar situation: If your CalFresh benefits were discontinued due to a missed SAR7, you have 30 days from the date of discontinuance to submit the late report and have your benefits restored without having to reapply. This is called "curing the discontinuance." After you submit the late SAR7, your benefits should be restored within 3 business days if you qualify. They should also provide retroactive benefits for any months you missed. If it's been MORE than 30 days since discontinuance, then unfortunately you would need to submit a new application. But it sounds like you're still within the 30-day window.

I want to point out something else - make sure you're looking at your balance for CalFresh specifically, not CalWORKs. I've seen people get confused because they're looking at the cash aid section of the app instead of the food benefits section. They're on the same EBT card but show up differently in the app. Just double-checking you're looking at the right benefit type?

let us know what happens!! i always get nervous around reporting time cuz one mistake and boom no food

UPDATE: I used that Claimyr service someone recommended to reach a worker, and they confirmed my case was discontinued due to the missing SAR7. Good news though - they received the one I submitted yesterday and said they'll process it as a restoration within 3 business days! They also said they'll add a note to my file to send me text reminders for future SAR7 deadlines since I mentioned missing the notice. So relieved this is getting fixed!