The Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS) says that the technical issues impacting some Cash Assistance Program prepaid card transactions have largely been resolved.
From the press release from the Georgia Department of Human Services:
Throughout the weekend, DHS worked with Mastercard and the payment processors that connect many Georgia merchants to the network to implement the technical fix. As the fix was installed, DHS and its partners continued to see rising numbers of successful purchases using the Cash Assistance prepaid card.
DHS and its partners continue to work with all parties to monitor the situation and support Georgians’ use of the cards. With this positive development, DHS is distributing the second wave of cards to eligible citizens who have opted to receive email only and email and U.S. mail communications. This distribution will continue through Thursday, Sept. 29th.
Since the Cash Assistance Program launched on Sept. 20th, 328,433 Georgians on Medicaid, PeachCare for Kids ®, SNAP, and/or TANF have claimed $114,951,550 and spent $62,709,599.02 through 1,462,001 successful transactions.
As the program continues, recipients are encouraged to review helpful information about and restrictions on the use of the card, such as attempts to transfer card balance, buy money orders, or convert the card balance to cash. See a list of these impermissible uses and other frequently asked questions at dfcs.georgia.gov/services/cash-assistance-medicaid-snap-andor-tanf-recipients.
These funds can be used for online purchases or added to digital wallets for in-store use where accepted. The cash assistance cards cannot be used to buy alcohol, gamble, game, buy a money order, or transfer the balance to Apple Cash, Cash App, or Zelle, among other reasons listed in the cardholder agreement. Also, in-store Walmart purchases using the funds on Apple Pay will be declined since Walmart does not accept Apple Pay. The top two categories for declined transactions thus far are restricted purchases and attempts to convert the card to cash.
My Amazon purchases through this card keep declining . I’ve been searching for someone else dealing with the same problem and have found nothing. I was able to get my card to work successfully on one website but Amazon is not wanting to accept this form of payment
My Amazon works at first it didn’t try again at a time when not a lot of ppl are using card. I’ve used in Target T-Mobile Pizza Hut also but now the cards stopped working.
Mine wouldn’t work either. In fact I’m shocked when it works anywhere!
I used the card for a couple purchases on ebay. I’m declined online at walmart. Thought changing over to an nfc enabled phone would take care of it but google declined me using it for tap and pay. Why does government need to be so complicated? If they got their paycheck on one of these cards, this problem would not exist
I have been trying for over a month to use my card that states it was suspended or declined. I have yet to be able to talk with anyone. Is there a good contact number that can resolve this on going problem. The numbers I get all hang up. This is ridiculous
Did you have to activate your card first or you just started using it?
It has not been resolved on my end, yet; I can’t even pay my bills (they are declined) while everyone says it works on walmart; spend it there. Walmart has no priority over my car insurance and rent.
I got my card last Friday I tried using it at a Family Dollar Store to see if it’s activated it got declined I called the cashassistent number they said it got suspended due to fraudulent use. Here it is Thursday and when I got to check on my card online it still saids suspend
REALLY Brian Kemp you issued CASH assistance on a VIRTUAL CARD through EMAIL funded by SUTTON BANK AKA CASH APP!!!! PUT SO CALLED LIMITS ON PURCHASES, CANT GET CASH….WELL MY ACCOUNT WAS HACKED FOR $315 online at GOAT and UBER…. purchases i did NOT authorize!!! and there is NOTHING i can do about it. you give no way to contact the bank or anyone else for that matter. I STOOD INLINE looking STUPID trying to purchase new warmer CLOTHES FOR MY KID…. DECLINE $198 told to make purchase under $100 did that and decline 98$ ran it again and Limit reached… i had only spent 10$ at store prior… THIS CASH ASSISTANCE HAS BEEN A NIGHTMARE AND NOT HELPED ME AT ALL. i spent BILL money buying the clothes for my kid that YOUR VIRTUAL JOKE was suppose to stimulate
#BrianKemp #georgia #Gateway #suttonbank #CashApp #CashAssistance #gdhs #government
You are so right!!! WalMart put a $164 hold on my “card” for a truck battery it then refused to give me, and the money has not been put back into the account. It was STOLEN! Walmart told me to shut up and go away, DFACS won’t answer the phones or immediately hangs up on you if they accidentally do pick it up, Kemp is claiming everything is just fine when it isn’t, MasterCard pretends the cards don’t exist, I can’t even find Sutton Bank online, and after reading the comments here I’m not even going to TRY using this counterfeit money on Amazon. This “virtual” (read “fake”) card has been declined at the pharmacy for medicines meant to keep me alive, doctor’s offices won’t take it so we had to cancel our appointments, and the issue at Walmart means $12 worth of Drano and cat litter cost me $164 (since I didn’t get the badly needed $100 truck battery and the $152 difference in the money was STOLEN; yes, that’s correct, the math is off by a full 52%) at Walmart. This program is not a joke, it’s a nightmare. You can’t buy food (unless you Door Dash it for far more than its actual worth), you can’t get any medical care, pay your utility bill or fix your auto with it. This program has caused nothing but pain and anxiety for me – and my husband threatened suicide when he also tried to buy the passenger vehicle battery and his card got locked down and his “money” STOLEN by Walmart too. Kemp isn’t trying to help us, he’s trying to kill us. Also: For all of us Georgians who didn’t get any food stamps at all in June and an insulting pittance in July and have been rationing food and going hungry as a result, this is where the “Kemp cash” funding was taken from – and stores (specifically Kroger, which is listed by DFACS as an “accepted” store) won’t take it for grocery purchases. For an attempt at buying votes, this scam is the worst failure in the history of voting. For an attempt at plundering disabled/retired/poor people’s safety nets and leaving them without hope, food, medical care, transportation, utilities and (as you pointed out) clothing for your children it is an absolutely brilliant example of fascism.
I have been trying to pay my rent the only way I can pay it is to load my checkfreepay card at Walmart or get a money order Walmart does not accept Google pay and we are not allowed to get money orders I could have paid online but they sent the money in increments so I can’t make multiple payments this is the worse why shop at Walmart when I can’t keep a roof over my family head
This card is only working for spending at fast food or gas stations…have not been able to use for anything that would be good cause couldn’t use at family dollar for cleaning supplies but I could buy a Big Mac??? This virtual card isn’t accepted ANYWHERE!!! My bills can’t get paid with this either??? At this moment this virtual card is NOT HELPFUL FOR REAL LIFE PURCHASES!!!
I’ve had the issue with Amazon as early as 12 hours ago. I purchased a few things that were declined. Funny thing is that my $6.99 Prime membership was paid by the card on October 4th but orders totaling $60 were declined when my balance is $279. I’m CERTAIN that part of the problem is Sutton Bank’s inability to handle the volume (some friend of Kemp’s probably owns it) and part is PROBABLY that Kemp — without telling us — has the cards designed to payout a total maximum daily amount. It was a ruse to curry favor with black voters but he never intended to allow all of the money to be spent.
Since the only person I’ve heard that will be “reached out to” to solve the spending problem is a man who was on the news, perhaps we ALL need to bombard TV stations around Georgia so we can get OUR relief. ONLY the squeaky wheel gets the grease… ESPECIALLY WHEN DEALING WITH POLI-TRICKS!!
It would probably go better if you maintained some measure of composure. No one on here can make your problem go away so there’s no point in going off on people.
Sooo… you don’t like comments that criticize the governor? Don’t like calls to action? Don’t like truth revealed? Well you bitches don’t have to publish my take. I took a screenshot of just what the fuck you disallowed to be here and will use it in a YouTube video escoriating YOU BITCH ASS FUCKERS!!!
Hi Howard,
I wanted to personally apologize for the delay in the approval of your comment on a TGV article. We’re a small site with limited resources and without an account with our site, comments are not automatically published. It’s a spam thing more than anything.
The delay was due to my being in court all day Thursday for without access to the site and Friday was a site maintenance day for us as we’re working on some exciting updates.
We actually do publish all comments, irrespective of their content, so both of yours now appear.
Thanks again for reading and I appreciate your willingness to promote TGV on your YouTube channel! Have a great weekend.
Jessica Szilagyi
Publisher
You’re complaining about free money
My card has declined six times at Walmart. I was told we could buy anything in Walmart as long as it want alcohol, gaming, tobacco through Walmart pay but it isn’t working.
My card is declining also at Walmart. I used it at Walmart and for gas when I first received it. Now it’s declining everywhere. Plus I can’t log into the system.
Made a couple small purchases on ebay. Was turned down online at Walmart. Thought changing over to an nfc enabled phone would solve the problem but google pay declined me being able to use it for tap and pay. Why does the government make things so complicated for poor people? Bet if they got just one of their paychecks on these cards, this problem wouldn’t exist. Right Brian?
Jessica Szilagyi,
And I’d like to apologize for my outburst. This thing is frustrating, though. You think you have money to ease the economic pain only to find that you were probably never intended to spend but a fraction of it. Batteries @ Amazon, mobile phone bill, uhaul storage bill, all decline, decline, decline.
Since I’ve precipitously gone into a rage and lashed out without warrant, it’s only fair that I now offer assistance.
THE NUMBER TO CALL FOR ASSISTANCE WITH CARD ISSUES IS 1+833-907-0683.
This number is visible after clicking the “terms and conditions” link — which most people don’t read — at the bottom of the dashboard screen. It’s also available in the FAQs section under “What happens if I lose my Card, or if it is stolen?”
I spoke to a representative @ 12:45PM Sunday afternoon (10/09) so they’re available after hours, though I can’t say if it’s 24/7. The rep informed me that my card had been locked because of an attempted purchase of a VPN service — SurfShark — that is apparently an international company. After confirming my identity and the fact that my card hadn’t been hacked, he flipped a switch and my card was active again and all purchases went through.
One caveat: Point of sale purchases with pay wallets — even with regular debit and credit cards — offer tremendous opportunities for hackers to pirate your card, though you may eventually retrieve your funds. That’s why I’ve only used mine on trusted online site: Tello Mobile, Amazon, U-Haul,etc. The last $140 will probably be used to register a non-profit with the state of Georgia — paying them with their own money. LOL
Once again, I’m sorry that my frustrations took me outside of myself. Hope this makes amends…
Howard, you are one lucky person to get a representative on Sunday, and I’m going to try after hours. I’ve gotten that phone number answered exactly once – and the DFCS representative hung up instead of putting me back on hold. I have spent most of my time listening to the same voice mail recording before it hangs up (the mailbox is broken/full/disabled). It is really frustrating, and from the tone of the worker’s voice when she said “hold on” and the absolute mess of a Medicaid denial for my husband with the wrong case number on it we received today, I think the DFCS workers are frustrated too (the ones who aren’t temp workers, at least.) They are definitely overwhelmed, and had been before the shenanigans began.
I’ve done some more digging since my first post and found Sutton Bank. Its website gives you the same DFCS number because it alleges it cannot access the “Kemp card” accounts. Mastercard told me it does not back the cards, which I found interesting, nor withhold money from them. Walmart is blaming the holds on “your bank” but doesn’t say which of these two companies they mean.
Also, I’d like to point out that both Walmart and Amazon, along with a lot of the other companies I’ve seen in this thread, are engaged in interstate commerce. Not everything we buy there originates in Georgia, it is shipped in. Having thousands of seemingly counterfeit “virtual” debit cards that don’t work correctly flooding the market is not only a felony, it is unconstitutional.
Can you tell me how you added the card as a debit or credit card on Amazon? Keeps getting locked and the
purchase will not go thru!
I have been scammed by Walmart for a purchase of $199 then a purchase for $149. It took the entire balance of my card. I’m so confused with this virtual card. Then I have to tap pay like six to 8 times before a payment goes through on the card. What a complete inconvenience.
How can I get my virtual card unsuspended.
How can I get my virtual card unsuspended?
I used the card for a couple purchases on ebay. I’m declined online at walmart. Thought changing over to an nfc enabled phone would take care of it but google declined me using it for tap and pay. Why does government need to be so complicated? If they got their paycheck on one of these cards, this problem would not exist
Made a couple small purchases on ebay. Was turned down online at Walmart. Thought changing over to an nfc enabled phone would solve the problem but google pay declined me being able to use it for tap and pay. Why does the government make things so complicated for poor people? Bet if they got just one of their paychecks on these cards, this problem wouldn’t exist. Right Brian?
My card was suspended, and that was the main reason I was unable to use it. I called the 1-833 number that was suggested under Howard’s post in the comments above. You can use the automatic system to unlock the card but you must have your client ID number and the card number with the 3-digit code. I haven’t tried using it since unlocking it but I hope it works. I was only able to use the card once to purchase food online. Not sure what happened and why it was suspended in the first place. Hope this helps!
How do you get unsuspended?
This card is useless. It works nowhere! Kemp is a scammer and a fraud.
I used card at Exxon Goodluck gas station in Riverstone pkwy canton Ga. on November 13-2022- card declined. Would not process & funds were in the account. I Canceled transaction did not even take pump out to even pump any gas – went elsewhere to Chevron. got gas. Card was taken there. yet Exxon processed $100 out of my account. Please correct
Put the money back in Thank you
My card still declines every time i try to use it anywhere. Then i get an email that it was declined and locked and have to log in again to unlock it. I do. Then it declines and locks again. Rinse and repeat. None of them work. AND TO MAKE IT BETTER NONE OF THE CUSTOMER SERVICE NUMBERS WORK!!!!!! You cant talk to ANYONE> WTF
How to order a new card if it’s been lost need help??? Kemp card please help 9126925796
I am looking for the same answer. I have called the number on the paper work that came with the card but cannot get thru to anyone to answer, it just says due to high call volume they cannot take my call then it hangs up. So frustrating! Please let me know if you have any luck. Thank you and good luck!
I recieved emails saying that I have spent more money on the card then I was supposed to. I don’t understand how this is possible.Can someone help me?
My card has been locked I have repeatedly called all numbers provided and emailed department human services without being able to contact a human being at all this is ridiculous it was how hard it is to reach somebody. The log in portal provided to unlock the card yourself will not work the department of human services phone numbers are nothing but a Waste of time That directory is confusing and when you do get to the option to talk to a person it hangs up on you because no one is available.