EBT card service restored after outages in Mass., 16 other states

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- An EBT vendor serving 17 states, including Massachusetts, announced a system outage that rendered electronic benefits transfer cards useless has been resolved.

Xerox announced at about 10 p.m. Saturday that the system was restored.

Earlier in the day, the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance announced Xerox was working to resolve an outage impacting many states.

Some Massachusetts residents contacted FOX 25 to report they were unable to access their welfare benefits while food shopping. Shoppers were reportedly forced to leave carts full of groceries in store aisles as a result of the outage.

According to FOX Carolina, people in Alabama, Michigan, Mississippi, and Ohio were also unable to access funds on their EBT cards.

Xerox Corporation released a statement Saturday afternoon, saying their EBT system experienced a temporary shutdown during a routine test of their back-up systems. The system was restored by Saturday afternoon, however beneficiaries in 17 affected states continued to experience "connectivity issues."

During the outage, beneficiaries at some participating retailers could activate an emergency voucher system.

Cox Media Group