USDA has proposed that food stamp systems show households 12 months of card transaction history instead of the current two, in a rule published October 23 with comments due December 22, 2026. It is a proposal, and nothing in it is in effect. The history change rides inside a 40-page card security package that would also move recipients to chip cards and keep every new card switched off until its holder turns it on.
Two months of history would become 12
The notice, 91 Federal Register 66958, says EBT systems would be required to “provide 12 months of transaction history instead of the current requirement of 2 months.” EBT is the electronic benefit transfer system that runs the card. The notice gives the reason as alignment with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Regulation E, the federal rule for electronic fund transfers.
Transaction history is the running list of what posted to the card: deposits on the monthly issuance date and each purchase made with the card. Today a state has to keep only the last two months of that list available. Under the proposal, a household could look back a full year.
The practical gain would be for the household that notices a problem late. A balance that looks short in October could be traced to a charge posted the previous winter, which falls outside a two-month window now. A year of history would span twelve monthly issuance dates, not two.
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How a household would weigh in before December 22
USDA is taking comments under docket FNA-2026-0496 at Regulations.gov, by email to SM.FN.SNAP.Issuance.Policy@usda.gov, or by mail to the SNAP Innovation Policy and Issuance Division in Beltsville, Maryland. The deadline is December 22, 2026. USDA says comments are public and may be posted online, so a comment should leave out card numbers and PINs.
December 22 is the last day to comment. It is not the date anything changes for a household. A final rule would come only after USDA reads the comments, and the department has not said when that would be.
The notice also sets a long runway. It proposes a two-year timeframe after the date of publication of a final rule for issuing benefits on chip and near-field communication cards, the tap-to-pay kind. A state that moves faster could still do so, since the notice says seven states had already issued chip cards as of August 2026.
The card would change in other ways too
New cards would arrive inactive. The notice says households would be required to activate them on receipt, and USDA expects chip and NFC technology to cut theft, writing that it “believes EBT cards utilizing chip and NFC technology will significantly reduce SNAP benefit theft.” The card’s account number would be printed on its back.
Several rules would target PINs and phone access. States could not allow certain common PINs, such as sequential or repeated digits. A caller asking for a balance by phone would have to be verified first, and online purchases would require the card security code and expiration date.
States would also have to offer account controls, including out-of-state blocks and transaction limits. Retailers would have to monitor their EBT terminals, and manual vouchers would be limited to significant connectivity problems with narrow exceptions. Household training would add theft-prevention topics.
The proposal would also strip magnetic stripe references from the rules ahead of a future move away from stripes. It does not set a date for that move. Offline EBT references would be deleted as well.
What households are told to do while the rule is only a proposal
Current guidance sits on USDA’s stolen benefits page. It tells households to avoid easy PINs such as 1111 or 1234, to cover the keypad, and to change the PIN at least once a month, right before the benefit issuance date. It says state agencies and EBT processors never call or text to ask for a PIN or card number.
The same page says to check the EBT account regularly for charges that were not made, to change the PIN right away if any appear, and to report suspected skimming to the local SNAP office. Those habits matter more under a two-month window than a 12-month one, because older activity drops off the list.
What the proposal does not touch is the monthly amount. Nothing in the notice changes allotments, eligibility or the deposit schedule. A household’s benefit stays what its state calculates, and the card rules change how the money is protected and how far back it can be seen.
That leaves a narrow question for any household that wants the longer view: whether the 12-month window survives the comment period unchanged. Until a final rule appears, the two-month limit is what applies, and the date to circle is the one on which comments close.
Will a missing-balance report still fit inside two months of history?
Under the rule as it stands, a household has two months of card history to prove when a benefit went missing, and the proposal that would stretch that to 12 months has not been finalized. A charge noticed in week nine can already be out of view.
The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer pairs 51 state packs with a renewal and reporting calendar, and its Part 7 covers reporting changes and EBT problems. A household can set the monthly balance check and the comment deadline on the same calendar as its recertification dates.
Put EBT balance checks and SNAP reporting dates in the renewal organizer →
More Financial Reading
- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- 15 Steps to Stop the Scams That Took $7.7 Billion From Seniors
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
