CalWORKs EBT card frozen with no warning - everyone at county office with same issue!

omg same thing just happened to my sister!! she called me crying cuz she was at the store and her card got declined. this is crazyyyy

It's so ridiculous! Did she come to the office too? I'm still waiting and have been here almost an hour. The workers are saying they don't know what happened but are trying to fix it county-wide. Some system glitch or something.

This happened about 6 months ago as well - it was a system-wide glitch where the EBT processor accidentally flagged thousands of cards as lost/stolen. Unfortunately, each card has to be manually reactivated by a worker. Make sure when you finally get to the window that they:1. Verify your card is the valid one in the system2. Remove the lost/stolen flag3. Give you a print-out confirmation 4. Call the EBT hotline with you right there to confirm it's workingLast time they fixed some people's cards but didn't complete all the steps, so those people had to come back again. And definitely explain your eviction situation - they can provide an emergency letter for your landlord explaining the system error.

Thank you SO MUCH for this info! I'll make sure they do all these steps. Do you know how long it took last time for cards to start working again after they fixed them? Is it immediate or is there a delay?

this is exactly wut im freaked out about with CalWorks everything can just stop working with no warning the whole system is broken af. did anyone get a notice in the mail before this happened? Im on my 2nd month and scared to rely on it now

No, this isn't a normal occurrence - it's a technical glitch that happens very rarely. I've been on CalWORKs for 3 years and only seen this type of mass card issue twice. For regular discontinuances, they're required to send a Notice of Action 10 days before any benefits stop, which gives you time to appeal. This situation is different because it's a system error, not an intentional discontinuance.

I just left the office after dealing with this exact problem. They told me it was a system-wide issue affecting most CalWORKs recipients in our county. Apparently during a routine system update last night, something went wrong and flagged active cards as lost/stolen. After waiting 2.5 hours, they fixed mine on the spot and I was able to use my card immediately after. They're prioritizing people with urgent needs (rent, utilities due today), so make sure you tell them about your landlord situation when you check in.They're also offering to print temporary emergency fund letters if you need proof for your landlord that this was a county error and not your fault.

That's a bit of a relief to hear yours was fixed on the spot! I'm still waiting but moved up a bit in line. I'll definitely ask for that emergency letter for my landlord. Thanks for the update!

This is unbelievable! The county keeps making these massive errors and WE suffer the consequences. Last year they randomly discontinued my Welfare to Work childcare benefits because of a \

for real!! and then they wonder y people don't trust the system. how we supposed to plan our lives when they can just cut everything off without warning?? my friend missed a WTW appointment cause her car broke down and they cut her off in 3 days but when THEY mess up we just gotta deal with it smh

I had this EXACT same issue 2 months ago (though it was just my card, not county-wide). Called the EBT card line and it kept saying reported stolen when it wasn't. I spent 3 DAYS trying to reach my worker. Kept getting voicemail and no callbacks. Tried the main line and waiting on hold for hours only to get disconnected. Finally I found this service called Claimyr that got me through to a real person at the county in about 10 minutes. They charged a fee but at that point I was desperate. You call them and they connect you directly to a CalWORKs worker and stay on the line until someone answers. My card was fixed within 20 minutes of talking to a real person. Might be worth it if you can't wait at the office all day. Their website is claimyr.com and they have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/jzISHxCPLwE

Thanks for this suggestion! If they don't fix it today at the office, I might try this tomorrow. I can't afford to miss another day of work to come back here.

I'm a volunteer at the county office today helping with this situation. Here's the latest update as of 3pm:- This is affecting approximately 60% of all CalWORKs EBT cards in the county- The technical team identified the cause as an error during last night's system maintenance- They're prioritizing cases in this order: 1) Homeless prevention (rent/utilities due today), 2) Medical needs, 3) Food needs, 4) All others- Most cards are being fixed on-site immediately- For those who can't come in person, they're setting up a special phone line (different from the regular one) specifically for this issue- The special line number is (555) 123-4567 and will be active until 8pm tonightImportant: When your card is reactivated, request a \

Thank you for sharing this! But what about people who already paid late fees or had other financial consequences because of this county mistake? Will there be any way to get reimbursed for those costs? It's not fair that we have to pay for their mistakes!

Great question. They're developing a

UPDATE: Finally got my card fixed! For anyone else dealing with this, here's what happened:1. After 2.5 hours of waiting, I finally saw a worker2. They had to manually remove the lost/stolen flag in their system3. They called the EBT hotline with me there to confirm it was working4. I got a letter explaining the system error for my landlord5. Card worked immediately after - I checked at the ATM right outside the officeThe worker said this affected about 60% of all Cash Aid recipients in our county! Some massive system error during maintenance. They're working overtime to fix everyone's cards. If you're dealing with this but can't get to the office, someone posted a special phone number above that's just for this issue.This was so stressful but at least it's fixed now. Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions!

Glad you got it fixed! Did they say anything about this happening again in the future or how to prevent it? I'm paranoid now and thinking I should withdraw all my cash the minute it hits my card each month...

They said this was a rare technical glitch during system maintenance that shouldn't happen again. But tbh I'm with you - I'm definitely going to withdraw my rent money as soon as it deposits from now on. Can't risk going through this stress again!