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USDA proposes adding chip and tap-to-pay tech to EBT cards

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USDA proposes adding chip and tap-to-pay tech to EBT cards

The National Grocers Association said the payment technologies, which are currently available in nearly a dozen states, can help reduce SNAP fraud.

The newly proposed rule would require states to issue EBT cards with chip and tap-to-pay technology and also require SNAP-authorized retailers to accept them.

Chip cards are a more secure payment option because cards with chips are harder to copy, making it more difficult to steal SNAP account information, according to the USDA.

The industry trade group National Grocers Association said in a Friday press release that it supports the proposal.

“States that adopted SNAP EBT chip cards have seen a significant drop in skimming fraud, and we appreciate USDA and the [White House] Task Force to Eliminate Fraud for moving every state toward that standard,” Stephanie Johnson, NGA’s senior vice president and head of government affairs, said in a statement.

If the proposal becomes a final rule, states would have two years to comply.

Nearly a dozen states, including California, Oklahoma, Alabama, Michigan, Virginia and Massachusetts, have already issued EBT chip cards to their SNAP participants, and half a dozen more are in the process of doing so, according to the USDA.

In the proposed rule, the USDA said the transition to chip and tap-to-pay tech for EBT cards “will come at a financial cost to the State agencies administering SNAP and to other entities involved in the operation of EBT systems.



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