Until retailers are able to update their POS systems for EBT chip (insert or tap), they should ensure that terminals successfully fall back to magnetic stripe processing. A terminal update to recognize the service code of “220” is required for the terminal to identify an EBT chip card and allow fallback to magnetic stripe after one chip attempt. POS systems must also continue to accept EBT cards with the “120” service code, because magnetic stripe-only EBT cards will continue to be coded this way.
If a POS device is chip-enabled but has not been updated to accept the EBT chip card, the terminal will respond to an EBT chip card in one of two ways, depending on how the transaction is attempted:
Merchants, acquirers, and financial institutions should ensure that all EBT cards continue to work during the transition period. It is important that merchants test their POS systems to ensure uninterrupted processing of SNAP with EBT chip cards. To achieve this, we strongly recommend that you utilize the ECL Test Scripts available at https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/ebt/modernization/chip-resources to ensure that your POS systems can process all SNAP EBT cards. These test scripts provide a comprehensive list of test cases that should be completed. It is highly advised to conduct these test cases in a live (production) environment to guarantee accurate results.
Please reach out to your POS service provider or Acquirer for SNAP EBT chip test cards. EBT Host Processors have supplied Acquirers with test cards to distribute for testing ECL fallback. Please keep the test cards for future testing.
Please complete the test scripts and report successful ECL Fallback using the form above. Failure to test your POS system prior to accepting customer chip cards may result in disruptions in SNAP EBT processing. If you encounter any issues during testing, please reach out to your POS service provider or Acquirer for assistance. Please note that SEMTAC and FNS are interested in collecting information about test results to better prepare and inform EBT chip card implementation.