Lost, stolen or damaged EBT card: how to report it and get a new one

If your EBT card is lost, stolen or damaged, call the 24-hour EBT customer service number for the state that issued it, or report the card in your state’s official cardholder app or website. Do it before anything else. Your SNAP balance is not on the plastic. It sits in your account, and federal rules make the state freeze that account as soon as you report the card and take responsibility for anything spent from it after that moment (7 CFR 274.6(b)(2)). The state must then mail you a new card, or have one ready to pick up, within two business days of your report. Mail adds time: the states in the table below quote about three to seven days for the card to arrive. Your remaining benefits move to the new card.

Each state’s number is in the table at the end of this guide.

Step 1: Report the card right away

Federal rules require every state to run a card-loss reporting line that is “continually operative” and to give every household a 24-hour number (7 CFR 274.2(e)(4); 7 CFR 274.6(b)(2)). The number is on the back of the card. If the card is gone, use the table below or your state page.

You can usually report in one of three ways:

• By phone, at any hour. The automated line will ask for your card number. If you do not have it, keep listening. California’s EBT Project, for example, tells callers to 1-877-328-9677 not to press any keys when asked for the card number, to press nothing again at the second request, and then to press 1 to report the card lost, stolen or damaged (California EBT Project, Client FAQ). Other lines will check who you are another way. Illinois’s Link line, 1-800-678-5465 (TTY 1-877-765-3459), asks for the full Social Security number and date of birth, usually of the primary cardholder, plus either the card number or the PIN (IDHS, Report or Replace Lost/Damaged Link Card).
• In the processor’s cardholder website or app. In states that use FIS, that is ebtEDGE; in states that use Conduent, it is ConnectEBT. Georgia, Indiana, Alaska, Illinois and Delaware all accept card reports online (Georgia DFCS manual 3805; Indiana FSSA; Alaska DPA card guide; IDHS). Use only the app your state names; How to check your EBT balance lists them.
• Through your SNAP office. Some states also take reports at an office. Connecticut lists its 12 DSS Resource Centers and its Benefit Center, 1-855-626-6632, alongside the EBT line (CT DSS, Using Your EBT Card). Georgia lets a county worker order the card through the state EBT team (Georgia DFCS manual 3805). Idaho is the opposite: its local offices “will not issue a replacement card,” so call FIS at 1-888-432-4328 (Idaho DHW, Manage my SNAP).

Reporting cancels the old card. Connecticut puts it plainly: asking for a new card “deactivates your old card so that no one else can use it” (CT DSS). If you later find the old card, do not use it. It will be declined. Destroy it.

Not sure the card is really lost?

If the card is probably in the house or the car, a lock buys you time without cancelling anything. Most cardholder apps let you freeze or lock the card and unlock it later. Arizona’s DES suggests freezing the card in ebtEDGE whenever you are not using it (Arizona DES, EBT Card). A lock does not replace a report: if the card is not found within a few hours, report it so the old number is closed for good. Lock settings by processor are explained in EBT skimming and stolen benefits.

What happens to the money on the card

Your benefits stay in your account. The state may not open a second account for you, so the new card draws on the same balance (7 CFR 274.6(b)(1)). Connecticut: “If any SNAP or cash benefits are left on your old EBT card, it will automatically transfer to your new EBT card” (CT DSS). Monthly deposits keep arriving on your usual date, and they go to the new card.

The line that matters is the time of your report. Once you report, “the State agency shall assume liability for benefits subsequently drawn from the account and replace any lost or stolen benefits,” and the state must keep a record of the date and time of every report (7 CFR 274.6(b)(2)). Spending before the report is a different matter. State pages say so directly:

• Florida’s manual replaces stolen benefits only when the agency or EBT Customer Service failed to shut off a card already reported; money spent before you called is not replaced (see the Florida page).
• Indiana: “If food and/or cash benefits are lost due to theft or loss of your card and PIN, they will NOT be replaced by the State of Indiana” (Indiana FSSA).
• Florida and Illinois both warn that someone holding your card and PIN can spend all of your benefits, and those benefits cannot be replaced (Florida DCF; IDHS).
• Arizona’s DES says “Arizona EBT cards are NOT insured” (Arizona DES).

Worked example: when the clock starts

A household of three in Illinois gets the FY2027 maximum for three people in the 48 states and D.C., $808 a month (from October 1, 2026). On a Friday at 6 p.m. the cardholder’s bag is stolen with the Link card and a slip of paper with the PIN on it. At 9 p.m. the thief spends $150 at a store. At 9:30 p.m. the cardholder calls 1-800-678-5465 and reports the card stolen. At 10 p.m. the thief tries again for $200.

• The $150 spent at 9 p.m., before the report: not replaced. Illinois does not replace benefits taken by someone who has the card and PIN.
• The $200 attempt at 10 p.m.: the old card was already cancelled, so it fails. Had it gone through because the line failed to cancel the card, federal rules would put that loss on the state.
• What is left on the account: $808 − $150 = $658, which moves to the replacement card.

Had the cardholder called at 8:45 p.m., the whole $808 would have been protected. That is why the first step is to report, not to search.

Skimmed benefits are a different problem

If you still have the card but money vanished, the card was probably skimmed or cloned, not lost. The rule above does not help, because there was no lost card to report before the theft. Federal money replaced skimmed SNAP only for thefts through December 20, 2024 (USDA, Addressing Stolen SNAP Benefits). A few states use their own funds. Read EBT skimming and stolen benefits for which states and how to claim. Either way, cancel the card and get a new one: the new card has a new number, so the copied one stops working.

Step 2: Get the replacement card

Under federal rules, the state must “make replacement EBT cards available for pick up or place the card in the mail within two business days” after you report the card lost, stolen or damaged (7 CFR 274.6(b)). Cards go by first-class mail in sturdy envelopes that the post office will not forward (7 CFR 274.2(f)(1)). Because the envelope is not forwarded, a card sent to an old address will not follow you.

How long it takes, by state, from the agencies’ own pages:

The D.C. centers are at 645 H Street NE and 1649 Marion Barry Avenue SE, Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.; DHS notes hours may change (DC DHS).

Fix your address first

The EBT customer service line mails the card to the address your SNAP agency has on file, and in several states it cannot change that address for you. Arkansas’s Help Desk, for example, is “not allowed to change addresses”; if your address is wrong, it marks the card lost and tells you to update the address in Access Arkansas or at the county office first, and the county then orders the card (Arkansas DHS, EBT). In D.C., change the address through the DHS Call Center, 1-202-727-5355, Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. (DC DHS). If you have moved, update the address with your SNAP office before or right after you call.

Waiting for the card

You cannot use your SNAP until the new card arrives or you pick one up. The benefits are safe in the meantime, but there is no federal rule that gives you food money for the gap. If you will run out of food first, ask whether your state or county hands out cards in person (D.C. and Maryland do, and Hawaii does when a mailed card does not arrive), and check your state page for food banks and other help. Online grocery orders also need a working card.

Step 3: Set up the PIN

Whether your PIN carries over depends on the state:

• Same PIN as before: Arkansas (“The recipient will continue using their PIN”), Georgia (“the existing PIN will transfer to the new card”), Illinois, Indiana and Delaware (Arkansas DHS; Georgia DFCS manual 3805; IDHS; Indiana FSSA; Delaware page). Georgia’s replacement cards also arrive already active.
• New PIN needed: Connecticut: “You will need to select a new PIN for your new EBT card” (CT DSS).

If your card was stolen together with a written PIN, or you think someone saw you enter it, choose a new PIN as soon as the new card arrives, even in a state where the old one carries over. Federal rules let every household pick its own PIN (7 CFR 274.2(f)(2)). Most states set or change it through the same 24-hour line or the cardholder app. If you only forgot the PIN and still have the card, you do not need a new card. Indiana, for example, lets you pick a new PIN by phone without knowing the old one (Indiana FSSA).

Fees: what a replacement can cost

States may charge for a replacement card. The fee may not be more than the cost of the card, it is taken out of your monthly benefits, and states may waive it for good cause (7 CFR 274.6(b)(3)). Fees found on official pages, checked October 16, 2026:

Sources: Arizona DES; Indiana FSSA; Maryland DHS.

Other states’ pages checked for this guide did not list a fee. If yours is not here, ask the EBT line before you order.

Example. An Arizona cardholder loses the card in March 2026 and again in August 2026. The March card is free. The August card costs $5. A third card in November 2026 would cost another $5. The count starts over on January 1, 2027, when the first replacement of the year is free again.

Too many replacements: the four-card rule

Losing cards often is not against the rules, but it is watched, because selling a card and then reporting it lost is a known form of SNAP trafficking. The federal rules work like this (7 CFR 274.6(b)(5)-(6)):

• On the fourth replacement request in 12 months, the state sends a notice that your account is being monitored for suspicious activity.
• A state may go further and withhold the next card until you contact the agency to explain. It must warn you in writing first. Its threshold cannot be lower than four cards in 12 months unless it has other evidence of trafficking.
• Once you make contact, the state must make the card available within two business days “regardless of whether or not an explanation was provided.” If you never make contact, no card is issued and the case is referred for investigation.
• States must protect households with homeless, elderly or disabled members, crime victims and others who may lose cards without committing fraud.

How states apply it: Illinois sends a warning after four replacements in 12 months and refers the fifth to its Bureau of Investigations; Idaho and Delaware send a notice at four (see the Illinois, Idaho and Delaware pages). Arizona’s page says that if you request three or more replacement cards in 12 months, you will get the card but “may not be able to use it until you make contact to explain” (Arizona DES). If you get one of these notices, call the number on it. Your benefits stay in the account while the matter is open.

Damaged cards, cards eaten by an ATM, and cards that never came

• Damaged or worn card. A cracked card or a stripe or chip that stops reading is replaced the same way as a lost one. Report it as damaged.
• ATM kept the card. This happens with cash benefits. California’s EBT Project says banks often destroy a retained card even if you show ID, so order a new one through the EBT line (California EBT Project). Indiana gives the same advice (Indiana FSSA).
• First card never arrived. Florida’s EBT line takes reports of a card “not received in the mail” (Florida DCF). Check the address the agency has for you before you order another.
• Returning to SNAP without your old card. In many states a card stays tied to your case, and new benefits load onto it. Florida notes that a new card is not mailed automatically when a case is approved again, so call EBT customer service if you no longer have the old one (Florida DCF).
• Old card design or chip card swap. Several states are mailing new chip cards to everyone in 2026. Colorado asks anyone still holding an old Quest card to order a replacement in its newer, harder-to-copy design (CDHS, Colorado EBT). These scheduled swaps are covered in EBT skimming and stolen benefits.

If your food was destroyed, not your card

A fire, flood or other household disaster can destroy food you bought with SNAP. That loss can be replaced under a separate federal rule (7 CFR 274.6(a)):

• Report the loss to your SNAP office, by phone or in writing, within 10 days of the day the food was destroyed.
• Sign a statement of the loss and get it to the office within 10 days of your report. If you cannot come in because of age, disability or distance, it can be mailed.
• The state verifies the disaster, for example with the fire department, the Red Cross or a home visit.
• The replacement equals the loss, up to one month’s allotment, and arrives within 10 days of your report or two working days after the office gets your signed statement, whichever is later.
• There is no limit on how many times this can be granted. A household that gets disaster SNAP (D-SNAP) for the same event cannot get both.

Georgia’s form for this is Form 841, Food Loss Replacement, linked from its SNAP manual (Georgia DFCS). Connecticut calls it Replacement of Value of Lost Food (CT DSS). Alaska’s manual says the same 10-day rule applies to food spoiled in a power outage (see the Alaska page).

A denial or delay of a food-loss replacement can be appealed at a fair hearing (7 CFR 274.6(a)(5)). See SNAP denied: how to ask for a fair hearing.

A wrong charge on your new card

If a purchase or ATM withdrawal shows up that you did not make, or a store charged you for a sale that did not go through, report it to the EBT line. For errors in the system, federal rules require the state to act on requests made within 90 calendar days of the transaction, and to investigate and decide within 10 business days of your report (7 CFR 274.2(g)(2)(i)). Report quickly; Delaware and Florida both ask you to report within 90 days (see the Delaware and Florida pages).

Do not let benefits expire while you wait

A long gap without a card can cost you money. If no one uses an account for three months (91 days), a state may move the benefits off-line; they come back within 48 hours after you contact the agency. Benefits are permanently removed (expunged) after nine months (274 days), either from an inactive account or, in some states, from each month’s deposit nine months after it was issued, whatever your activity. The state must send a notice at least 30 days before (7 CFR 274.2(h)-(i)). Indiana, for example, removes unused SNAP about 274 days after issuance “regardless of whether the card has been used,” and expunged benefits “cannot be replaced” (Indiana FSSA). So if you found a card months later, or stopped using SNAP for a while, ask for a replacement now rather than later.

Avoid replacement scams

USDA has warned since March 2023 about phony text messages saying a SNAP EBT card “has been locked” and giving a number to call (USDA, SNAP Scam Alerts). Do not give your EBT card number or PIN by phone or text. A real replacement starts with you calling the number on the back of the card, in your state’s table below, or using the official app. State agencies and EBT processors do not call or text to ask for your PIN or card number (USDA). Ignore websites or social posts that offer to “order your new EBT card” for a fee.

EBT customer service numbers by state

Call the number for the state that issued your card, even if you have moved. Each line takes reports of lost, stolen and damaged cards.

Sources

• 7 CFR 274.6, Replacement issuances and cards to households, eCFR, read October 16, 2026
• 7 CFR 274.2, Providing benefits to participants, eCFR, read October 16, 2026
• Addressing Stolen SNAP Benefits and SNAP Scam Alerts, USDA Food and Nutrition Administration
• Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Card, Arizona Department of Economic Security
• EBT, Arkansas Department of Human Services
• Client Frequently Asked Questions, California EBT Project Office
• Colorado EBT, Colorado Department of Human Services
• Using Your EBT Card, Connecticut Department of Social Services
• Electric Benefits Transfer (EBT) Cards, DC Department of Human Services
• Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, Florida Department of Children and Families
• SNAP Manual 3805, EBT, Georgia Division of Family and Children Services
• General EBT Card Information and FAQ, Hawaii Department of Human Services
• Manage my SNAP, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare
• Report or Replace Lost/Damaged Link Card and Illinois Link Card FAQs, Illinois Department of Human Services
• Hoosier Works Card FAQs, Indiana FSSA Division of Family Resources
• SNAP FAQs, Iowa Department of Health and Human Services
• EBT Theft Reimbursement, Maryland Department of Human Services
• Alaska Quest EBT card guide, Alaska Division of Public Assistance