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update: my benefits just loaded! it was 12:14am when i checked lol. thanks everyone for the help it was driving me crazy
Off topic but does anyone know if the IRT (Income Reporting Threshold) went up for 2025? I just got a small raise and I'm worried I might be over the limit now and need to report it before my next SAR7. I know this isn't related to benefit deposit times but I don't want to start a whole new thread.
Yes, the IRT amounts did increase for 2025. For a household of 1, it's around $2,850, for 2 it's about $3,510, and for 3 it's approximately $4,360. These are rough figures - the exact amount should be on your last approval notice. Remember you only need to report before your SAR7 if your income goes over your specific IRT limit.
i tried Claimyr yesterday after seeing it mentioned here and it actually worked! after 2 weeks of trying to reach my worker i got through in like 20 minutes and got my case fixed. definitely worth checking out if ur getting nowhere with the regular phone number
Thanks for the recommendation! I'm going to try calling one more time the regular way tomorrow and if that doesn't work I'll give Claimyr a try. At this point I just need to talk to someone who can fix this calculation error.
UPDATE: I just saw your comment about your mom being 67 and having a disability. This is very important! Make absolutely sure her medical expenses are being counted. For elderly or disabled household members, medical expenses over $35 per month are deductible for CalFresh purposes. With $495/month in medical costs, that's a deduction of $460 from your countable income. Also, for a family your size, missing the housing costs is a huge error. The difference between $900 and $2800 in housing costs could easily explain why your benefits are so low. When you do reach someone, ask them to recalculate your benefits with the correct expenses and request retroactive benefits for any months you received the incorrect amount.
Thank you! I finally got through this morning after trying that service someone mentioned. The worker found THREE major errors in my file. They had our rent wrong, missed mom's medical expenses completely, and had our income calculated incorrectly (they double-counted one paycheck). She's fixing everything and said our benefits should be closer to $1,100/month which makes WAY more sense for our situation. They're also giving us the difference for last month! I'm so relieved ðŸ˜
my sister had this happen and she got her benefits back in like 5 days. just depends which county worker u get i think. some r nice some r not.
Just to follow up on the petition idea - while petitions alone may not solve the problem, documented cases help advocacy organizations fight for policy changes. The California EBT Cardholders Rights Group (search for them on Facebook) is collecting theft reports to present to the legislature. They've already helped push through the recent security improvements coming in 2025. Send them your case details if you want to contribute to systemic change.
Also, just to clarify how CalFresh works for new applicants: Benefits are prorated from your application date. So if you applied on July 30th, you'd only be eligible for 2 days worth of July benefits. For such a small amount, they often just add it to your first regular issuance. Check your approval letter - it should specify the exact benefit amount you're approved for monthly and any retroactive amount.
I just dug out my approval letter and you're right! It does mention my monthly benefit amount going forward would be $343, but there's nothing about any retroactive payment for July. I only applied on July 28th so maybe it was too small an amount to bother with? Anyway, I'm convinced now it's just my September payment coming early because of the weekend. Thanks for all the help everyone!
my frend got double benefits once and spent it all and then they made her pay it back over like 6 months by taking some from each months benefits so dont spend it if ur not sure!!!!!
While it's true that overpayments need to be repaid, in this specific situation, the OP is just receiving their regular September benefits a few days early due to the weekend. This is standard practice and not an overpayment. However, your friend's experience highlights why it's always good to verify unexpected deposits before spending them.
Ally Tailer
Just to give some additional clarity: Sometimes when people refer to "extra" benefits, they might be referring to retroactive benefits if there was a delay in processing your application or a change. For example, if you reported a change that would increase your benefits but it took the county a month to process it, you might receive the increase for the current month plus a supplement for the previous month all at once. Has anything like that happened with your case recently?
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Brian Downey
•No nothing like that has happened. I think my neighbor just confused me with bad information. But good to know that can happen if there are delays.
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Aliyah Debovski
i just want to say my benefits amount changes slightly sometimes and i never know why lol. i got $432 last month and $447 this month with no explanation. i don't question it anymore, just grateful for whatever helps feed my family. the calfreh system is so confusing sometimes!!
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Callum Savage
•You should always receive a Notice of Action explaining any changes to your benefit amount. If you're seeing unexplained changes, you might want to check if your mailing address is current with the county, or log into BenefitsCal to check for electronic notices. It's important to understand why your benefits change so you can make sure you're receiving the correct amount.
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