Clients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are hereby notified that use of the Electronic Benefit Transfer card (EBT) has been temporarily suspended due to technical difficulties with JP Morgan, the company that provides SNAP benefits on the EBT card, according to a press release issued Friday by the V.I. Department of Human Services.
JP Morgan alerted Human Services Division of Family Assistance today of technical difficulties which caused a system shut down and rendered the EBT cards inoperable. The system malfunction has affected EBT transactions in 10 states mostly in the Eastern region as well as the Virgin Islands. JP Morgan has since issued an incident notification report to all state and territory agencies explaining the problem and procedures for vendors and clients.
They are working expeditiously on resolving the issue by end of business Friday but will execute a backup system if the problem is not resolved. Human Services advises clients to postpone using the EBT card until tomorrow if possible. Notifications and updates will be issued to clients and vendors as information is received from JP Morgan. Although this circumstance is beyond the control of Human Services, sincere apologies are extended to clients for any inconvenience.