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West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Chapter 10
West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Page 9 Chapter 10 The Case Maintenance Process
10.3.2.B Client Returns EBT Card EBT cards are not accepted by the Worker. When the client mails his EBT card to the local office with or without a request to return benefits, or intentionally/unintentionally leaves his card at the local office, the Financial Clerk must secure the card and contact WV EBT by email with the card name, number, and an explanation of how it was received in order to have the card deactivated. The card is then destroyed, the action is noted on the negotiable log, and the Worker is notified. This includes cards found in the office lobby or a store parking lot and returned by another person. If the client wishes to return benefits from the EBT account, he must complete and sign the IG- IFM-BENPAY-1 indicating the amount to be returned. When the client is unable or unavailable to sign the IG-IFM-BENPAY-1, the Worker must write “Signature Not Available” and record the reason. Benefits are removed from the account by a Supervisor or Investigations and Fraud Management (IFM) Repayment Investigator (RI). Unless the request to return benefits is mailed to the local office along with the card, the client may retain the card. In this instance, the card is destroyed using the above procedures. 10.3.3 BENEFIT LEVEL EXPUNGEMENT “Benefit” refers to the procedural process of depositing any Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or cash benefits into an EBT cardholder’s account. “Expungement” is the removal of benefits from an EBT account. The “aging process” is based on a first-in, first-out basis, oldest to newest, which means that each grant month deposit has a separate aging cycle. The issuance date will be the parameter that determines the aging of a benefit month. Once a benefit month account has reached 122 days after issuance for Summer EBT, 274 days after issuance for SNAP and 365 days from the date of last use for WV WORKS, the benefit is expunged. The Worker must check the EBT account and card status when speaking with a client regarding the receipt and/or access to both SNAP and cash benefits. Although an account has an expungement, there may be remaining benefit month amounts in the account.