Are you an American residing or an alien (foreigner) do you reside in the United States of America and you find it difficult to feed? Do you need help buying fresh and nutritious food? Then you should try Applying for EBT Food Stamps. You never can tell, you might be next in line to receive benefits from the program.
Applying for EBT Food Stamps
Applying for EBT Food Stamps would need you as an applicant to meet some requirements given to become eligible to receive EBT food stamps. Here in this guide, we would be talking about Food Stamps, EBTs, EBTs Food Stamps, and how to apply for EBT Food Stamps and the requirements included. Read on to find out more.
Food Stamps
Food stamps as it is formerly and still commonly called is actually a program. This program is now legally and formally called SNAP. SNAP which is the current name for food stamps is a federal program in the United States of America that helps to provide food-purchasing assistance to people in the country. These people are usually low-income or no income earners and they find it really hard to fend for themselves.
The Food Stamps program is administered by the United States Department of Agriculture under the Food and Nutrition Service. The program has grown into the largest nutrition program of all the programs administered by the Food and Nutrition Service. Now, the SNAP (Food Stamps Program), is a key component of the social safety net for the low-income citizen and a means to employment as it has over
EBT
EBT as it is commonly called is the acronym for Electronic Benefits Transfer. This is a system that works similarly to that of a debit card. The system makes use of plastic cards that have been magnetically encoded. These cards are what is being referred to as EBT cards.
These EBT cards contain benefits given to an eligible recipient by the state. Therefore, when a person applies for benefits or assistance from SNAP and is deemed eligible, the information of the person is sent to the EBT Company and an account would be created for that person. That account is the person’s benefits account. After the information has been processed and approved, a card with the person’s information and a unique card number would be created and given back to the state’s agency. The state sends the person that EBT card with the benefits contained in it.
An EBT card can carry either a food stamps benefit or a cash benefit like TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). These benefits can be used to purchase food items and get cashback or cash withdrawn of the cash benefits from ATMs.
The EBT cards can only be used in stores or accepted by retailers that have been approved by the program. Using this card elsewhere would invalidate any form of purchase or usage. Also, in withdrawing cash from an EBT cash benefits card, only participating ATMs that have been approved by the program can do this cash withdrawal transaction. If a cardholder wants to go with the option of cashback to make cash withdrawals from the card, it can only be done in stores and with retailers who have been approved by the program.
EBT Food Stamps
The EBT Food Stamps general refers to EBT cards that carry solely Food Stamps benefits. When applying for assistance from the program, one can state if he or she needs cash benefit assistance or food benefit assistance. EBT food stamps only carry benefits for food purchases alone. Cashback or cash withdrawals cannot be processed with this card. In other words, one cannot withdraw the equivalent cash to the food benefits contained in the card.
In using the EBT food stamp card, there are restrictions involved in it. These restrictions are to be strictly adhered to in order not to get penalized for fraud. The EBT food stamps restrictions are solely on the type of items and not to buy. Knowing the program only promotes healthy living, the card can only approve the purchase of healthy, nutritious staple foods. Here are the approved and prohibited items one cannot purchase using the EBT food stamps card.
The approved items whose purchase would be approved by the program are;
- Vegetables
- Breads
- Fruits
- Steak and deli meats
- Dairy products
- Poultry
- Fish
- Meat
- Cereals
- Seeds and plants that can produce food for the household
- Soft drinks
- Bakery items
- Pumpkins (the ones that are edible)
- Live seafood (such as lobster, fish, and shellfish)
- Cakes
- Energy drinks (the ones that a nutrition label)
- Snacks crackers
- Ice cream
- Candy
- Cookies
Also, there are certain items that you cannot use the EBT food stamp card to buy. They are;
- Medicines
- Vitamins
- Household supplies
- Grooming items and
- Cosmetics
- Hot food
- Tobacco products like tobacco and cigarettes.
- Alcoholic beverages like liquor, wine, etc.
- Non-food items
- Pet food
- Soaps
- Paper products
These are the items that are approved and not approved by the benefit program.
How to Apply for EBT Food Stamps
There are two ways to apply for EBT Food Stamps. One can apply in person or one can apply online. Either way, meeting up with the requirements is important. In applying for EBT Food Stamps there are, however, steps to take. These steps would be listed below.
- Get detailed information on the program and its application process and requirements.
- Search for your current state of residence local agency closest to you.
- Get the application form. This could be gotten from the online information site of any of the local states agency.
- Submit a duly signed copy of the form to the local office closest to your area of residence. This can be done in person, mailed, or faxed to the office.
Having known the steps to take, here on this guide, we would tip you on some of the requirements to be met before you can be deemed eligible to receive any sort of benefits from the program. Here are the requirements;
Requirements
- You must be a resident of the state.
- You must specify your employment status.
- Specify if you are applying as an individual or as a family (household)
- Specify the size of the household. This is the number of persons being applied for.
- You must not exceed the state’s minimum income allowed by your specified household size.
- Specify if there is an aged, disabled, or mentally challenged person in the household.
- Should have an idea of the maximum benefits received for the household size.
These are the main requirements and every other requirement revolves around the ones listed above. An interview is also conducted for the applicant or applicant in the case of the household. You should also note that the requirements for each state are quite different. The maximum amount of income allowed and the maximum amount of benefits received are different.
If deemed eligible by the states, then you are fit to receive benefits from the program. The benefits can be received within seven days of approved eligibility. After receiving the benefits on the EBT Food Stamps, you can also track your transactions, amount of benefits received next benefits payments, and also print out your transactions. This would help you plan out the best management for the benefits.
