EBT Magnetic Stripe Issue for New Cards Received 11/19/2020 – 11/17/2020

Posted on Nov 19, 2020 in Featured

A programming change within Fidelity Information Services (FIS) card facility caused the mailed EBT cards (for SNAP) printed between 11/09/2020 and 11/17/2020 to have improperly encoded magnetic stripes.

This means that the correct card numbers are printed on the cards, and the card may be used by keying in the numbers manually. Only the magnetic stripe is faulty

FIS identified the defect 11/18, and has implemented an emergency fix to address any future card printings.

FIS will implement a mass card replacement plan to provide impacted cardholders with new cards as quickly as possible. The plan will include the following:

  • Impacted cardholders’ existing card will remain active for manually keyed transactions.
  • FIS will order replacement cards to be produced, starting 11/19.
  • The cardholders’ current mailing address as of 11/18 will be used.
  • Defective cards will have a 30 day expiration date placed on them in order to allow time for the new card to arrive.
  • After expiration, the cards will be set to “Deactivated/Canceled” status.

This does NOT include any P-EBT white generic cards as these were not impacted.

Depending on the Merchants Device, the error message when swiping these card may read “unable to read card.” Please ask the merchant to manually enter the card number using the keys on the register.